I transcription pronunciation translation. “A” as “house” and “e” as “frog”, or How to spell transcriptions of English words

Reading in English is a specific process. It is not like the usual formation of words from letters and syllables. Here we are dealing with the transformation of letter combinations into a word.

There are rules for reading, of course. But for every word whose reading follows the rule, there are 10-20 exceptions.

Transcription is the transfer of the sound of a word using conventional (transcription) signs that differ from the writing system that exists in the language. All transcription marks are international. That is, having dealt with transcription once, you will never lose this skill and will be able to use it when learning other languages.

Transcription characters are written without slanting and are in many ways similar to block letters English alphabet. That is, in order to write a transcription of an English word, you just need to check the dictionary and rewrite the transcription signs in block letters.

The specific sounds of the English language and the sounds conveyed by diphthongs are written completely differently and do not resemble any of the letters. For example, the sounds [ð] and [θ] are not found in the Russian language, but are vaguely reminiscent of the familiar [s] and [z], with the only difference that when pronouncing them, the tongue is located between the lower and upper teeth. Their transcriptional spelling is not similar to any of the letters of the English alphabet precisely because they are expressed by a combination of two letters - th. Another difficult transcription sign is [ʃ], which is found, for example, in the word sugar ["ʃugə] - sugar. You just need to remember that it conveys a sound close to Russian [ш], and in combination [ʧ] - the sound " h", as in the word church ["ʧɜ:ʧ] - church. On the letter it is represented by a sign reminiscent of an integral sign.

The signs [ɔ] and [ɔ:] are puzzling, since they look like an inverted Russian “s”. However, in transcription they convey the sound [o]. In order to remember this sign, it is enough to imagine that it is a slightly unfinished “o” and not “s”.

Let us next consider the signs [æ], [e], [ə:] and [ə]. They represent similar sounds. The first, [æ], conveys a wide, long sound, similar to the drawn-out Russian [e]. The sign [e] conveys a short open sound, as in the word “this”. The sign [ə:] conveys a sound that is similar to both [o] and [e]. It vaguely resembles the Russian “ё” in pronunciation. Finally, the sign [ə] slightly resembles the [e] in the word “this”. If you look closely, all these transcription signs vaguely resemble the sounds that are being conveyed.

A rather unusual transcription sign [ɜ:]. Outwardly, it is somewhat similar to a troika and conveys a sound close to the Russian “ё” in the word “honey”.

The sign [ʌ], which resembles “house,” actually conveys the short sound “a.” To remember it, you can mentally draw a horizontal line in the sign. He will look like a big one block letter"A".

You probably noticed that in the transcription there is a colon after some characters. It indicates the length of the vowel sound, nothing more. This is easy to remember if you compare the two icons: [ə:] and [ə]. Visually, the first one, with a colon, is larger. This means that it must be emphasized in pronunciation, drawn out a little.

When you start learning English, the first thing you encounter is English alphabet (alphabet |ˈalfəbɛt |). Writing English letters is not something completely new, even in the most initial stage training, because anyone modern man encounters English letters on computer and telephone keyboards every day. Yes, and English words are found at every step: in advertising, on the labels of various products, in store windows.

But even though the letters seem familiar, their correct pronunciation in English is sometimes difficult even for those who speak English quite well. Everyone is familiar with the situation when you need to spell an English word - for example, dictate an address Email or the name of the site. This is where the wonderful names begin - i - “like a stick with a dot”, s - “like a dollar”, q - “where is the Russian th”.

English alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, transcription and voice acting

The English alphabet with Russian pronunciation is intended only for beginners. In the future, when you become familiar with the rules of reading English and learn new words, you will need to study transcription. It is used in all dictionaries, and if you know it, it will once and for all remove the problem of correct pronunciation of new words for you. We advise you to compare the transcription icons in square brackets with the Russian equivalent at this stage. Perhaps, from these short examples, you will remember some of the relationships between English and Russian sounds.

Below is a table showing the English alphabet with transcription and Russian pronunciation.

← Move the table to the left to view in full

Letter	Transcription	Russian pronunciation	Listen	Add. information

If you want to listen to the entire alphabet, please!

English alphabet cards

Cards of the English alphabet are very effective in learning it. Bright and large letters will be easier to remember. See for yourself:

Features of some letters of the English alphabet.

In the English alphabet 26 letters: 20 consonants and 6 vowels.

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, Y.

There are a few letters in the English language that we want to pay special attention to because they have certain features that need to be taken into account when learning the alphabet.

• The letter Y in English can be read as a vowel or as a consonant. For example, in the word “yes” it is a consonant sound [j], and in the word “many” it is a vowel sound [i] (and).
• Consonant letters in words, as a rule, convey only one sound. The letter X is an exception. It is transmitted by two sounds at once - [ks] (ks).
• The letter Z in the alphabet is read differently in the British and American versions (as you probably already noticed in the table). The British version is (zed), the American version is (zi).
• The pronunciation of the letter R is also different. The British version is (a), the American version is (ar).

To make sure you pronounce it correctly english letters, we recommend not only looking at them and reading them (using transcription or Russian version), but also listening. To do this, we advise you to find and listen to ABC-song. This song is usually used when teaching children the alphabet, but it can also be useful for adults. ABC-song is very popular in teaching, it exists in various variations. If you sing it with the announcer several times, you can not only check the correct pronunciation of the letters, but also easily remember the alphabet along with the melody.

A few words about spelling

So, we have learned the English alphabet. We know how English letters are pronounced individually. But moving on to the reading rules, you will immediately see that many letters in different combinations are read completely differently. A reasonable question arises - as the cat Matroskin would say - what is the benefit of memorizing the alphabet? In fact, there are practical benefits.

The point here is not the ability to recite the alphabet from beginning to end, but the ability to easily spell any English word. This skill is necessary when you need to take dictation english names. If you need English for work, this skill can be very useful, since English names, even those that sound the same, can be written in several ways. For example, Ashley or Ashlee, Mila and Milla, not to mention last names. Therefore, for the British and Americans themselves, it is considered absolutely natural to ask to spell a name if you need to write it down (spell it) - hence the word spelling (spelling), which you can see in various tutorials.

Online exercises for learning the alphabet

Choose the letter that goes

Complete the letter with which the word begins.

Complete the letter that ends the word.

Decipher the code and write down the secret message in letters. The number corresponds to the order of the letters in the alphabet.

Well, the final, interactive exercise “Dictation”, you can follow this link.

You can apply the acquired knowledge in practice with the help. With the help of unique exercises, even entry level, you will be able to master not only reading, but also writing English words, as well as learn basic grammatical rules and continue learning further.

Transcription and reading rules in English - two closely related concepts. Reading rules explain how letters and letter combinations are pronounced in different cases, and with the help of transcription we record and read speech sounds.

Reading rules can confuse a beginner. There are many of them, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are only so scary if you understand them deeply and try to learn them by heart, along with the exceptions. In reality, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart.

While studying English language, you will constantly be doing something, and soon you will learn to correlate letters and sounds without thinking, automatically. There is no need to worry about exceptions either. Usually the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word are remembered as one whole - you just know that such and such a word is pronounced this way.

Feature of English phonetics: we write “Manchester” - we read “Liverpool”

The phonetics of the English language has a noticeable feature: words are often read differently from how they are written, that is, from the spelling of a word it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced. As linguists joke: “We write “Manchester”, but read “Liverpool.”

In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complex, but the letters and spelling remain the same or change with great delay. English is no exception. At the dawn of its development, words were read and pronounced more or less similar, but over time this discrepancy became greater and greater, the situation was aggravated by the diversity of dialects, and now we are in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

Nobody is in a hurry to reform English spelling; there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language has long no longer had a single “control center”. Reforms initiated in London may be coolly received in Sydney and rejected in Washington. And in general, spelling reform is always a painful process that meets resistance among a significant part of native speakers. It's much easier to leave it as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. She should not be afraid or avoided, because she is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great for saving time and helping to avoid mistakes. One glance at the transcription of an English word is enough for you to understand how it is read correctly.

When you memorize or write down a new word that comes across in the text, you definitely need to look at its transcription and/or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then they will not understand you.

Is it possible to write English words in Russian letters?

Sometimes on websites or even in books you can see “English transcription in Russian” or “pronunciation of English words in Russian letters” - that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn sophisticated icons if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from the English phonetics so much that the sound can only be conveyed very, very approximately. Some sounds English speech We simply don’t, and vice versa.

Transcription and pronunciation of all sounds of the English language separately (video)

With this interesting video table, you can listen to the sound of all sounds separately and see how they are recorded using transcription. Click on play and wait for the video to load completely, then click on the sound you want.

Please note that in the transcription, in addition to the symbols themselves denoting sounds, the following are used:

• Square brackets– traditionally, transcription is always written in [square brackets]. For example: [z].
• Vowel length icon– in English, vowels can be long or short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• Accent icon– if a word with more than one syllable is transcribed, the stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

In total, there are 44 sounds in the English language, which, like in Russian, are divided into consonants and vowels. Among them there are sounds similar to Russian, for example: [b] - [b], [n] - [n], and sounds that have no analogues in the Russian language: [ ð ], [θ ].

In English phonetics there are no such concepts as softness/hardness of consonants, but there is longitude of vowels (not characteristic of the Russian language) - vowels can be short [a] and long. It should also be noted that vowel sounds in English can be:

• single (monophthongs): [ i: ], [ e ],
• consisting of two sounds (diphtogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as solid sounds.

Table of English sounds with examples and cards

Having studied how English sounds are pronounced individually, be sure to listen to how they are read whole words. It is often easier for students to understand and hear the pronunciation English sounds when they sound as part of a word, and not separately.

In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. Using electronic cards you can listen to the pronunciation.

Consonants in English
[ f] fox	[ d] date	[ v] vase	[ k]cat
[ θ ] think	[ g] go	[ ð ] father	[ tʃ] change
[ s] say	[ dʒ] age	[ z] zoo	[ m] mom
[ ʃ ] ship	[ n] nose	[ ʒ ] pleasure	[ ŋ ] sing
[ h]hound	[ l] lazy	[ p] pen	[ r] red
[ b] bro	[ j] yes	[ t] today	[ w] wine

Vowel sounds in English
[ i:] he, she	[ ei] name	[ i] his, it	[ ai] line
[ e] ten	[ au] town	[ æ ] hat	[ ɔi] toy
[ a:] car	[ ou] go home	[ ɔ ] not	[ iə] here
[ ʌ ] nut	[ ɛə ] dare	[ u] good	[ uə] poor
[ u:] food	[ juə]Europe	[ ju:] tune	[ aiə] fire
[ ɜ: ] turn	[ auə] our	[ ə ]paper	[ ɔ: ] all

How to learn to pronounce English sounds?

There are two approaches:

1. Theoretical- usually in textbooks detailed description how to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to form a certain sound. With an illustration showing a cross-section of a human head. The method is scientifically correct, but it is difficult to use on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide your upper teeth along lower lip” and will be able to perform this action.
2. Practical– listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier this way. You simply repeat after the announcer, trying to imitate the sound as accurately as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should supervise, but you can simply record yourself on a webcam and watch from the outside.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the “Video Puzzles” exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down your speech and, as in Lingvaleo, watch the translation of words by clicking on them directly in the subtitles.

In video puzzles, you first need to watch a video and then assemble sentences from words.

Detailed review of this service:

In addition, many kind people have made many videos for practical training that are available on YouTube. For example, these two videos examine in detail the sounds of English speech in the American and British versions:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

When you start learning English, you shouldn’t strive to achieve “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the “generalized” British and American versions are presented above), and secondly, even native speakers who speak professionally (for example, actors) often take lessons from special trainers in order to master the features of or another version of pronunciation - practicing speech is not an easy task.

Just try to speak in a way that 1) is understandable and 2) doesn’t hurt your ears too much.

Reading rules in English: table and cards

Reading rules in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only that, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and types of syllables can be read as nine different ways, there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look – as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.

If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with to varying degrees diving into details. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is reading rules in English for children.

For this article, I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook “English. Grades 1 – 4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!

What is an open and closed syllable?

In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

• the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
• a vowel is followed by another vowel,
• a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.

A syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
• A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.

In these cards and the table below you can see how different letters are pronounced in different combinations and syllable types.

Reading rules
Reading the letter “A”
A – in an open syllable	name, face, cake
A [æ] – in closed syllable	hat, cat, man
A – in a closed syllable on r	far, car, park
A [εə] – at the end of the word vowel + re	dare, care, stare
A [ɔ:] – combinations all, au	all, wall, fall, autumn
Reading the letter “O”
O [əu] – in an open syllable	no, go, home
O [ɒ] – in a closed stressed syllable	not, box, hot
O [ɜ:] – in some words with “wor”	world, word
O [ɔ:] – in a closed syllable with r	form, fork, horse, door, floor
O – in combination “oo”	too, food
O [u] – in combination “oo”	book, look, good
O – in combination “ow”	town, down
O [ɔɪ] – in combination “oy”	toy, boy, enjoy
O [ʊə] – in combination “oo”	poor
Reading the letter “U”
U, – in an open syllable	pupil, blue, student
U [ʌ] – in a closed syllable	nut, bus, cup
U [u] – in a closed syllable	put, full
U [ɜ:] – in combination “ur”	turn, hurt, burn
Reading the letter “E”
E – in an open syllable, combination “ee”, “ea”	he, she, see, street, meat, sea
E [e] – in a closed syllable, combination “ea”	hen, ten, bed, head, bread
E [ɜ:] – in combinations “er”, “ear”	her, heard
E [ɪə] – in combinations of “ear”	hear, near
Reading the letter “I”
i – in an open syllable	five, line, night, light
i [ɪ] – in a closed syllable	his, it, pig
i [ɜ:] – in combination “ir”	first, girl, bird
i – in combination “ire”	fire, tired
Reading the letter “Y”
Y – at the end of a word	try, my, cry
Y [ɪ] – at the end of a word	family, happy, lucky
Y [j] – at the beginning or middle of a word	yes, year, yellow
Reading the letter “C”
C [s] – before i, e, y	pencil, bicycle
C [k] – except for combinations ch, tch and not before i, e, y	cat, come
C – in combinations ch, tch	chair, change, match, catch
Reading the letter “S”
S [s] – except: at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	say, books, six
S [z] – at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	days, beds
S [ʃ] – in combination sh	shop, ship
Reading the letter “T”
T [t] – except combinations th	ten, teacher, today
T [ð] – in combination th	then, mother, there
T [θ] – in combination th	thin, sixth, thick
Reading the letter “P”
P [p] – except for the combination ph	pen, penalty, powder
P [f] – in combination ph	photo
Reading the letter “G”
G [g] – except for combinations ng, not before e, i, y	go, big, dog
G – before e, i, y	age, engineer
G [ŋ] – in combination ng at the end of a word	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] – in combination ng in the middle of a word	strongest

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From this we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
• The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch is read as: match, catch.

Basic rules for reading vowels

• In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as in: no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember reading rules?

Most people who are fluent in English as a foreign language will not be able to immediately name even a few basic reading rules. Rules readings do not need to be memorized, you need to be able to use them. But is it possible to use what you don’t know? As much as possible! Thanks to frequent practice, knowledge turns into skills and actions begin to be performed automatically, unconsciously.

In order for the reading rules to quickly reach the automatic stage, I recommend:

• Study the rules themselves - read, comprehend, speak examples out loud.
• Practicing reading aloud will help develop pronunciation skills, and at the same time, the rules of reading will be reinforced. Take the text with audio, video with subtitles so that you have something to compare it with.
• Do small written works – writing practice is good for development vocabulary, consolidating grammar knowledge and, of course, improving spelling.

On our website we present to your attention a module that is quite useful in learning English: Sound Word. With its help, you can easily find out the pronunciation of English words and their transcription. In order to use it you need to enter the word you need and press the button "listen!".

After a short pause, the module will give you a transcription of the given English word, its pronunciation and, of course, translation. For the convenience of English language learners, there are two pronunciation options for the word: British and American. You can also listen to the pronunciation of English words online.

What is transcription?

Phonetic transcription- this is how the pronunciation of English words looks (written) in writing (graphically). Absolutely every single sound is recorded separately. Phonetic transcription is indicated only in square brackets, and special phonetic symbols are used to write it.

Why is transcription of English words needed?

English transcription is always useful to know for everyone, without exception, for everyone who studies the language. This will give you an advantageous opportunity to read with ease and greater accuracy and, as a result, correctly pronounce an unfamiliar English word on your own, without resorting to the help of a teacher. All students of the English language are well aware that reading English words is a rather specific process, which is based not just on the usual “folding” of words from letters, i.e. both it is written and read, but rather on the transformation of certain letter combinations into correspondingly certain combinations of sounds. Naturally, there are also certain rules reading, pronunciation of English words that need to be clearly known and impeccably applied in practice. But believe me, there are many more words that do not obey these rules in the English language. And here transcription comes to our rescue, which allows us to find out the correct pronunciation of an English word, and, as a consequence, its correct reading.

Pronunciation of English words online (listen) - 4.0 out of 5 based on 875 votes

Just Letters and Sounds Just letters and sounds

The English have 26 letters in their alphabet - seven less than ours. Which already makes it easier for us to get to know English.

The English Alphabet - English alphabet
Ahh(Hey)	Nn(en)
Bb(bi:)	Oo(OU)
Cc(si:)	Pp(pi:)
Dd(di:)	Qq(Q:)
Her(And:)	Rr[ɑ:] (a:)
Ff(ef)	Ss(es)
Gg[ʤi:] (ji:)	Tt(ty:)
Hh(H)	Uu(Yu:)
II(ouch)	Vv(in and:)
Jj[ʤei] (jay)	Ww["dʌblju:] (dabblju:)
Kk(kay)	Xx(the ex)
Ll(el)	Yy(wow)
mm(Em)	Zz(zed)

Square brackets indicate how each letter of the English alphabet is pronounced. In Standard British English the letter R sometimes it doesn’t “speak out” at all: car(car), star(star), door(door). In America, as well as in some areas of England, this letter sounds - a dull growl - and you can safely pronounce it if you wish: arm[ɑ:rm] (hand), form(form, form), turn(turn).

If you see a dotted line under the text, then there is a hint for that text. In this case it is approximate (≈) Russian pronunciation, represented in the English alphabet by parentheses. And now attention! Yours task for this lesson: learn to read as it is written in square in parentheses, not in round ones! The pronunciation in parentheses is given only for those who are new to the English language. Immediately after getting acquainted with all the sounds below, they will not be there. And if someone somewhere teaches you to read using Russian transcription, know that they are deceiving you. Below will be given text, audio, video explanations of each sound.

Alphabet need to learn by heart. Why? It happens that we are not sure how to spell a particular name correctly and we have to clarify:

Spell your name. - Tell your name spell by letter.
Spell it, please. - Tell his spell by letter, Please.

And the interlocutor, whose name is, say, Timothy, or, in short, Tim, dictates to us:

Timothy -

Additionally, to reinforce the English alphabet:

Word - Word

Spell- a useful verb that helps us clarify the spelling of any word, even the most “tricky” one. There is a city in England called Leicester. To the ear, the name has five sounds: ["lestə]. Let's try to find it on English map. Where is it? Let's check with our friend Tim:

How do you spell it? - How do you write it?
Spell this name for us. - Spell this name for us.

Tim spells the name. We write it down. We write down:

[ɑ:] - Leicester.

There are only five sounds, but nine letters! There are nine letters in Leicester . Historically, some letters in this name became "silent".

Tim will name a few more cities, and you will write them - right here on the lines.

	[ɑ:]
	[ɑ:]

Notes - Notes

Names (Ann, Tim), names of continents (Africa, Asia), countries (England, Russia), cities (Bristol, York), villages (Pendrift), streets (Oxford Street), squares (Trafalgar Square) and alleys (Penny Lane ) are written with a capital letter.

Your Dictionary
Your dictionary

Your dictionary is English-Russian, it contains English words with Russian translation. They are arranged strictly in alphabetical order.

Let's find the translation of the word please- in the section under the letter R. A few simple rules:

1. In order not to read the entire section from beginning to end, we look at the second letter of the word - l. The alphabetical principle applies again: letter combination pl comes after combinations pa, re, ph, pi. Here come the words to pl: place(place), plain(plain)... It’s time to look at the third letter e. Then on the fourth A. And then after pleasant["plezǝnt] (pleasant), but before pleasure["рлеʒǝ] (pleasure) we find the word we need.

2. After please worth the reduction v , after pleasant - A . What kind of "secret writing" is this? The solution-explanation is at the very beginning of the dictionary - in List of abbreviations. Bukovka n stands for noun(noun); v - verb(verb); A - adjective(adjective); adv - adverb(adverb).
These pointers are not meant to "burden" you with grammatical terms. In English, there are cases when the same word can act as a noun or a verb, an adjective or an adverb. The dictionary will tell you what part of speech it is and then give you the translation.

help 1. v to help. 2. n help; assistant.
fast 1. A fast, quick. 2. adv fast.

3. Nouns in all dictionaries are given in the singular.

Some words do not have a singular number. The letters indicate this pl : from plural(plural).

clothes n pl cloth
scissors["sɪzəz] n pl scissors

It happens, fortunately, rarely that the word “looks” like plural, but in fact it is in the only thing. The dictionary will not let you make mistakes: sing means singular(singular). For example, news(used as sing) news, news.

4. Verbs are given a stem from which others are formed. verb forms- in particular, the past tense.

5. A word can have two or more meanings, so don’t rush to take the translation that comes “first on the list.” Let's say noun letter translated as letter or letter. Let's read two sentences: the first one talks about letters, the second one about letters.

There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. - There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.

We write and get letters. - We write and receive letters.

6. It is useful to look at all the explanations for the paragraph in which the desired word appears. Let's quickly run our eyes through it, and something will be “deposited” in our memory.
Let's look at the paragraph (nest, as dictionary compilers call it) in which the word “nests” look. The first value is look. Second - to look like. And additional information: look in combination with after has the meaning take care(about someone) keep an eye on(behind someone). Combination look for translated search.
After some time, you come across a text with these combinations and, quite possibly, you will translate it from memory, without looking at the dictionary.

I look at my sister. - I look at my sister.
She looks fine. - She looks great.
I look after my sister. - I take care of my sister.
She looks for her doll. - She's looking for her doll.

7. The dictionary gives the transcription, that is, the pronunciation, in square brackets. Only with the help of dictionary transcription we learn that, for example, London(London) pronounced ["lʌndǝn], a Leicester(Lester) is read ["lestǝ] and nothing else.
If a word has one syllable, the stress mark is not placed in the transcription; there is no need for it.

If two or more syllables are pronounced, the stress must be indicated, and the sign appears before the stressed syllable.

alphabet["ælfəbət] n alphabet
England["ɪŋglənd] n England
English["ɪŋglɪʃ] and English
tomorrow n Tomorrow

In Russian, vowel length does not matter. In English, pronounce a long sound twice as long as a short sound. Otherwise fist will turn into feast, A pot- V port. The length of a vowel sound is marked with [ː] or simply a colon.

Transcription is especially necessary when there are letter combinations that are written the same but pronounced differently. As in these pairs of words:

The Sounds of English
Sounds of English

Click on the red button on the right to watch the video.
Also don't forget to point at tips, highlighted with a dotted line.
Different spellings of one sound are given through a fraction, i.e. for example, in dictionaries you may also find[i], And [ɪ] :)

Vowels - Vowels

[æ]	c a t (cat), c a rry (carry), r a t (rat), d a d, m a n (person, man) Note: This sound Not correspond to Russian E. If someone teaches you this, you are being cruelly deceived. Hover over the tooltip on the left for details.
[ɑ:]	h ar m (harm), f ar(far), cl a ss (class)
	h e(he), m ea l (food), tr ee(tree)
[i]/[ɪ]	i t (it), s i t (sit), t i ck e t (ticket)
[e]/[ɛ]	b e st (best), m e nd (to repair), p e n (handle)
[o]/[ɔ]	c o ffee (coffee), n o t (not), r o ck (rock)
[o:]/[ɔː]	m or ning (morning), b a ll (ball), sm a ll (small)
[u]/[ʊ]	b oo k (book), f oo t (leg), p u t (put)
	bl ue(blue), m o ve (move), s oo n (soon)
[ʌ]	c u p (cup), m o ther (mother), s o me (a little)
[ɜː]/[ǝ:]	th ir d (third), w or k (work), l ear n (teach)
[ǝ]	teach er(teacher), Sat ur day (Saturday)

Diphthongs - Diphthongs

(combinations of two vowels)

/	b a by (child), s ay(say), tr ai n (train)
/	i ce (ice), l ie(lie down), m y(my)
/	cl ou d (cloud), fl ow er (flower), t ow n (city)
/[ǝʊ]	n o(No), o nly (only), r oa d (road)
/[ɔɪ]	c oi n (coin), n oi se (noise), b oh(boy)
/[ɪǝ]	ear(ear), d ear(dear), h here(Here)
[ɛǝ]/	air(air), b ear(bear), th here(there)
/[ʊǝ]	p oor(poor), s ure(confident)

Consonants - Consonants

[b]	b ack (back), hus b and (husband), ri b(edge)
[p]	p ast (past), o p en (open)
[d]	d ay (day), d ark (dark), win d ow (window)
[t]	t ake (take), t ree (tree), ho t(hot)
[k]	k ing (king), c old (cold), si ck(sick)
[g]	g et (receive), ba g(bag), g irl (girl)
[v]	v ery (very), ha v e (to have), ne v er (never)
[f]	f i f teen (fifteen), wi f e (wife), ph rase (phrase)
[z]	z ero (zero), ma z e (labyrinth), ro s e (rose)
[s]	s o (so), ba s ket (basket), c ity (city)
[θ]	th in (thin), th ink (think), no th ing (nothing)
[ð]	th is (this), toge th er (together), fa th er (father)
[ʃ]	sh ip (ship), fi sh(fish), Ru ss ian (Russian)
[ʒ]	lei s ure (leisure), gara g e (garage), mira g e (mirage)
[ʧ]	ch air (chair), ea ch(each), mu ch(a lot of)
[ʤ]	j u dg e (judge), a g e (age), language g e (language)
[h]	h at (hat), un h appy (unhappy)
[l]	l ike (to love), pu ll(to pull), l ast (last)	n ever (never), li n e (line), rou n d (round)
[ŋ] y es (yes), on i on (bow), Ital i an (Italian)

Notes - Notes

1. Double consonants in English words are pronounced as one sound.

2. Unlike Russian, English voiced consonants at the end of a word do not become voiceless. For example, in the word rub should sound clear [b]. In a word good also clearly pronounce the sound [d], and in the word dog sound [g].

Conversation - Conversation

I want to speak as quickly as possible. And the best way to start a conversation in English is hello. This greeting corresponds to Russian Hello, Hello, Hello.

Hello, boys and girls. - Hello, boys and girls.
Hello, everybody. - Hello everyone.

Use hello in conversation with close relatives, friends, classmates.

Hello Mum. - Hello mother.
Hello Dad. - Hello, dad.
Hello Nick! Hello Tim! - Hello, Nick! Hello Tim!

Speak hello, calling out to someone on the street, attracting attention, or answering a phone call.

Hello! - Hey!
Hello. - Hello.

Discussion - Discussion

English dad And mum correspond to our dad And Mother. When talking about your own parents, these words become like names and are written with a capital letter: Mum, Dad. There is a more affectionate way of saying: Mummy["mʌmi] (mommy), Daddy["dædi] (daddy).
On more formal occasions they are used father["fɑ:ðǝ] (father) and mother["mʌðǝ] (mother).

Exercises - Exercises

Exercise 1. Place the words in alphabetical order.

Dog, girl, go, acorn, tree, and, spell, sit, dad, conversation, well, he, what, take, egg, make, sorry, little, big, wife, question, word.

Exercise 2. Spell these words. - Spell these words.

Father, money, which, quarter, seem, jam, gust, peck, next, zebra, capital.

Exercise 3. IN famous book"Alice Through the Looking Glass" the chess White Queen brags to Alice that she knows the alphabet (ABC) and can read single-letter words.

The White Queen says, "I know the ABC. I can read words of one letter."

Words with one letter are a very rare thing, for example, an article A. There are much more words of two and three letters, for example, go(go), do(do), in(V), and(And), but(But).

In the following text, without going into its meaning too much, select all words of two, then three letters.

London is a big city. It is very old. It lies on the River Thames. The history of London goes back to Roman times. London has a lot of sights. There are many parks in it. a

Phrases - Phrases

When saying goodbye, the British say:

Good bye. - Goodbye.
Bye! - Bye!
See you later. - See you later.
See you tomorrow. - Till tomorrow.

P.S. A little clarification for beginners:

• The lesson contains a description of the dictionary and an exercise for working with the dictionary. There is no dictionary on the site, only the lesson dictionary in the following lessons. You must have your own dictionary, whether paper or electronic, but you must have it. Among electronic ones, Lingvo X5/X6 and the Lingvo Live website are recommended. Google Translate- this is not a dictionary, it can guess correct translation, and may not guess, inexperienced people should not use it.
• In this 'English alphabet lesson' you only need to be able to read and reproduce sounds correctly. Start memorizing words from the following lessons.
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