Hi! It's me - Professor Panda with a new and really important new English lesson. Today we are going to cover for the first time, SIGHT WORDS! What is a SIGHT WORD?
SIGHT WORDS I
a
and
away
big
blue
can
come
down
find
for
funny
go
help
I
in
is
it
jump
little
oak
make
me
not
one
play
red
run
said
see
the
three
to
two
up
we
yellow
you
ENGLISH SOUINDS: PART I
Hi! This is Professor Panda again! How are you? I hope everyone is well.
Today I want to cover just a few extremely basic points that might be of help to you in understanding both how to speak and how to write in English. I must apologize for the fact that some of what I will talk about is a bit “slanted” toward those who speak Japanese (Nihongo), but along with English, they are the languages I know best. I used to know some Vietnamese but over many years and lack of practice, I have forgotten 99% of what I learned. I hope sometime in the next couple of years, to return to Viet Nam and then I can get a bit of much needed practice!
Anyway, let’s get started and remember to have a good dictionary with you for this lesson.
Before I do however, I want to mention something that will be very helpful to you. When you are studying all the words and phrases and sentences in these lessons, make sure that you articulate (speak) aloud. In fact, it is really helpful if you read the entire lesson aloud. Try never to read these lessons silently. Perception of a sound is not the same as the production of a sound – thinking the sound is not the same as speaking the sound. Clear speaking (articulation) is the best way to make your brain recognize sounds as English sounds. Silent reading does not activate your brain, speaking aloud does. I assure you that you will make much faster progress this way.
Consonants
Ok, the first things I want to talk about are consonants, which are simply speech sounds that are characterized by constriction or obstruction of the airflow at various points in the mouth or throat when talking. For example: “t” is a consonant because in order to pronounce it, you use the tongue to block airflow at the edge of the mouth between the upper teeth and the gum.
What letters in English are consonants? As you will see in a minute, anything that is not a vowel (I know, I know, I’m a big help!)
Vowels
Vowels are speech sounds that are produced without any obstruction of airflow in the mouth. For example: “i” is a vowel because to pronounce it, you push air forward and out smoothly, without using your tongue.
Syllables
A syllable is a unit or part of spoken language that consists of:
It is how words are divided when speaking. For example: the word consonant is divided into three syllables – con-so-nant. By looking up a word in your dictionary, you see that the word is broken down for you into syllables. Practice the word by slowly pronouncing each syllable slowly, and then you can increase speed until you are comfortable with how you are saying the word.
Sounds
Japanese is quite simple in comparison to English when it comes to sounds. Japanese has only 14 consonants and 5 vowels. English however has 24 consonants (which include the “semi-vowels “Y” and “w”) and even though English has only 5 vowels as well, it has at least 12 vowel sounds! It is much easier for and English speaker to speak Japanese sounds because they already exist in English; however, it is often a real struggle for Japanese speakers to master English pronunciation because they have to deal with many sounds that do not exist in Japanese!
Also, in Japanese, each syllable ends with a vowel and each syllable is considered to have the same “weight” or emphasis – Japanese syllables sound as though they have the same length. This is not quite the same in English, for example:
Karaoke – in Japanese the word has four syllables: Ka-ra-o-ke. In English the same word also has four syllables: car-rie-oh-key. You can already start to see a difference in pronunciation!
In Japanese, each syllable sounds as though it has exactly the same length as all the others. Each syllable is short and open. In English, syllables are not characterized by the same length – car-rie-oh-key. Pronounce both the Japanese word and the English word. With care, you can begin to hear the slight difference in length between “oh” and “key”. The same thing applies in other words like Eng-lish or Jap-a-nese. Can you hear the long “nese”?
Well, that’s enough for today! Next time we will discuss specific vowel sounds to help you along the way to pronouncing Western English. I’m a bit hungry now and need a snack! I think I’ll have a bit of panda soup! Would you like some?
Bye bye until next time!
Posts
All Comments
