I have not yet mastered all 44 sounds of the English language. Today we will analyze 4 sounds - paired | ʃ | – | ʒ | and | ʧ | – | ʤ|.
For those who are reading the section for the first time, let me explain: we select several similar sounds and compare them with their Russian counterparts. Afterwards we work it out correct pronunciation on several dozen words, tongue twisters and examples from songs.
1. English consonant sound |ʃ| - pronunciation
Pronounced in words: shape, she, shirt and etc.
The sound resembles Russian | w |, but there is an important difference:
Pay attention to the advice to “make the sound noisier.” Due to the different position, the English version is more “hissing” (imagine when you or your friend “shushed” so much that you could even hear a whistle).
It is also noisier and “whistling”. This “noise” can be clearly heard in the pronunciation of actor Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon Cooper.
Leonard: What are you doing?
Sheldon: We're going to be late. I'm pa c ing nerve s ly.
Leonard: You're jogging.
Sheldon: Thi s i s how the Fla sh pa ces.
Leonard; Just chill out, Sheldon.
Sheldon: I'm not Sh Eldon. I'm the Fla sh. And now I’m going to the Grand Canyon to s cream in fruit s tra tion. I'm back.
Exercises on English sounds
So, we figured out the pronunciation. Now let's hone our skills on a set of words. We adjust the speech organs to the desired position and proceed:
shower /ˈʃaʊər/
shrimp /ʃrɪmp/
shoulder /ˈʃəʊldər/
Tongue twisters for English sounds
- Sh e sells sea sh ells by the sea sh ore. The sh ells sh e sells are s urely sea sh ells. So if sh e sells sh ells on the sea sh ore, I'm s ure sh e sells sea sh ore sh ells.
- Sh irley has just finished sh ed wa sh ing this sh eet in the wa sh ing ma ch ine.
- Sh aron wa sh eddi sh es in a di sh wa sh er, next sh e wa sh ed sh ades in a wa sh ing ma ch ine. Sh might sh e wa sh the di sh es in the di sh wa sh er, before wa sh ing the sh ades in the wa sh ing ma ch ine?
And the last step is a line from a song that will be etched into your auditory memory. I settled on the immortal song “Shake Shake Shake” by KC & The Sunshine Band.
From 0:33 to 0:51
2. English consonant sound |ʒ| - pronunciation
Pronounced in words: vision, usual, beige, decision and etc.
Differs from the Russian version | f | exactly the same as his deaf predecessor.
Another important point– English sound | ʒ | is not stunned at the end of words, etc.: bei ge . It becomes weaker, but remains sonorous.
Examples of words with the sound |ʒ|
pleasure /ˈpleʒər/
measure /ˈmeʒə r /
treasure /ˈtreʒər/
leisure /ˈleʒər/
vision /ˈvɪʒn/
decision /dɪˈsɪʒn/
explosion /ɪkˈspləʊʒn/
invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒn/
usual /ˈjuːʒuəl/
casual /ˈkæʒuəl/
Asia /ˈeɪʒə/
occasion /əˈkeɪʒn/
conclusion /kənˈkluːʒn/
garage /ˈɡærɑːʒ/
confusion /kənˈfjuːʒn/
mirage /ˈmɪrɑːʒ/
provision /prəˈvɪʒn/
television /ˈtelɪvɪʒn/
massage /ˈmæsɑːʒ/
Tongue twisters in English for practicing sound |ʒ|
- After much persuasion si on he took the deci si on to watch “Trea s ure Island” on television si on at lei s ure.
- Bei ge lin g erie is more u s ual than a z ure bi j ou, a z ure bi j ou is less u s ual than bei g elin g erie.
- Vi s ual revi s ion of a fusela g e for corro s ion u s usually occa s ions gara g e, camouflage g e and demonta g e of the fusela g e.
Finally, a song: Argent, “Pleasure.”
From 1:01 to 1:14.
3. Consonant |tʃ| – pronunciation of English sounds
Pronounced in English words: chair, cheap, lunch, champion etc. Reminds me of Russian sound | h |, but not identical to it.
To accustom yourself to harder and noisier English version, report on the exercise on contrasting words: сheese - clean, child - tea, сhalk - Chop, choose - sensitive etc.
I also decided to find an example of this sound in a famous TV series. This time “Friends”:
Words: chair, Chandler, Joey (voiced version of the sound, but more on that below).
Examples for the unvoiced sound |tʃ| in English
chair /tʃeər/
champion /ˈtʃæmpiən/
change /tʃeɪndʒ/
question /ˈkwestʃən/
cheers /tʃɪəz/
chapter /ˈtʃæptər/
cherry /ˈtʃeri/
chicken /ˈtʃɪkɪn/
child /tʃaɪld/
China /ˈtʃaɪnə/
church /tʃɜːtʃ/
Tongue twisters with the sound |tʃ|
- Ch erry tea ch es ch ildren at ch ur ch. Ch erry also ch ecks the rooms and does ch ores.
- The tea ch er ch angry the questions t ion in the ch Allenge. The ch Allengers ch angry the answers for the ques t ion.
- Ch arles is a ch eerful ch icken farmer. A poa ch er is wat ch ing Ch arles' ch ickens ch oozing whi ch to snatch ch, and ch uckles at the ch ance of a ch oice ch icken to ch ew for his moon ch. But the ch uckle rea ch es Ch arles who ch ases the poa ch er and cat ch es him.
As a song example, the classic “We Are The Champions” by Queen.
From 0:38 to 1:17
4. Consonant |dʒ| – pronunciation of English sounds
Pronounced in words job, jam, jazz, joke etc. There are no analogues to this sound in the Russian language!
A typical mistake of Russian speakers is to pronounce this sound as a combination | j |. Actually sound | dʒ | – this is simply a voiced version of the previous sound – | tʃ |, as in chair. There will be no problems with it if you have learned to pronounce the unvoiced version. But we’ll repeat it just in case.
WE RECOMMEND: say it first Russian word hour, and then say it with the tip of your tongue at the back of the alveoli. Make the sound a little harder and noisier. The third step is to make the sound ringing ⇒ you will get an English sound | dʒ | and something like the word jazz :)
To feel the contrast between Russian |j| and English | dʒ |, compare pronunciation of words jazz with Catherine Zeta-Jones and jazz from Larisa Dolina:
If we look for analogies in the Russian language, then | ʤ | rather resembles a voiced one | h | in continuously pronounceable combinations: before whose _hero, ne whose _pancakes, le whose _yes_ to rest.
So, everything is clear with pronunciation, let’s move on to training in words.
Pronunciation of the sound |dʒ| in English: examples of words
procedure /prəˈsiːdʒə r /
jealous /ˈdʒeləs/
judge /dʒʌdʒ/
January /ˈdʒænjuəri/
Japan /dʒəˈpæn/
jeans /dʒiːnz/
jelly /ˈdʒeli/
jewelery /ˈdʒuːəlri/
jogging /ˈdʒɒɡɪŋ/
journey /ˈdʒɜːni/
Georgia /ˈdʒɔːdʒə/
bridge /brɪdʒ/
Tongue twisters for the sound |dʒ|
- J oyful j oggers j og j oyously. J ames, J ohn, J enny and J Ohnny are j oggers.
- The g enerous g ymnasts like oran g e j uice. The oran g e j uice makes the g ymnasts g enuinely happy.
- Can you ima g ine an ima g inary mena g erie mana g er ima g ining mana g ing an ima g inary mena g erie?
As a musical example (besides the already mentioned “All That Jazz”), Ray Charles’ song “Georgia On My Mind”.
Let's summarize: pronunciation of consonant sounds in English
- English sounds| ʃ | – | ʒ | noisier, stronger and softer than their counterparts | w | – | f |. To pronounce them, you should raise the alveoli to the posterior slope Tip of the tongue, and not its front part, pronounce with more noise.
- English sound | tʃ |, on the contrary, is harder than Russian | h |. Tip of the tongue again touches the posterior slope of the alveoli.
- English | dʒ | has no analogue in Russian at all. This voiced pair of previous sound– | tʃ |. Under no circumstances should you pronounce it like the Russian combination | j |. To improve pronunciation, first train the previous unvoiced sound, and then simply make it voiced.
- Don't forget that voiced sound| ʒ | and | dʒ | are not stunned at the end of the word! They become a little weaker, but remain sonorous.
See you later, friend!
After that we were left with 19 English sounds. Therefore, today there are 19 left - 4 = 15. Next time, according to tradition, we will take several similar vowels.
Noisy dull consonant sound. Similar to Russian sound [With] in a word WITH Am, but differs in articulation, in addition, the English sound is stronger and longer.
1 When spoken [s] the tip of the tongue is raised to the alveoli. A strong whistling sound is produced by a stream of air passing through a narrow gap between the tip of the tongue and the alveoli. The position of the lips depends on neighboring sounds.
And when pronouncing a Russian sound [With] the tip of the tongue is lowered, an air gap is formed between the front of the tongue and the teeth. The resulting sound is weaker and shorter than English [s].
2 Sound [s] is always long, especially in the final position, and the length of the vowel before it is shortened. Unlike the Russian sound, it does not soften before frontal vowels : seat [ S Jt] seat, sit [ S It] sit, say [ S EI] speak, step [ S Tep] step, desk desk, dress dress, lips lips.
I’m absolutely certain of success. – I am absolutely confident of success. |
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The video lesson shows how to pronounce the sound correctly /s/ using the example of words where this sound occurs at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of words.
It also compares two similar consonant sounds: / s/ and /z/ .
Examples of words with transcription:
soon— / su:n / - soon
mister— / ‘mistə / - sir, mister
hiss— / his / - hiss, whistle
cease— / si:s / - stop
Examples for comparing sounds / s/ and /z/ :
| Sound /s/ | Sound /z/ |
| hiss— / his / - hiss, whistle | his— / hiz / - his, yours |
| course— / kɔ:s / - course, route | cause— / kɔ:z / - reason, basis |
| place — / please / - place, put | plays — / please / - play (3rd person, chapter to play) |
| gross — / grəus / - rough, big | grows — / grəuz / - grow (3rd person, verb. to grow) |
English Joke
A woman got on a bus holding a baby.
The bus driver said, “That’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.”
In a huff, the woman slammed her fare into the fare box and took an aisle seat near the rear of the bus.
The man seated next to her sensed that she was agitated and asked her what was wrong.
"The bus driver insulted me," she fumed.
The man sympathized and said, “Why, he’s a public servant and shouldn’t say things to insult passengers.”
"You're right," she said. "I think I'll go back up there and give him a piece of my mind."
“That’s a good idea,” the man said. "Here, let me hold your monkey."
