auf DeutschLesson Three: Syllable Structure Can Vary A Lot
The main reasons why speaking English is so hard
This special pronunciation section will explain to you why English is hard to speak correctly and give you some help on improving your pronunciation. These are the main reasons why English is so hard. There is a lesson for each one.
Note that the pronunciation examples are in American English accent. In the last lesson you will find American and British English examples.
Another reason English is so hard to pronounce correctly is because of its 'syllable structure'. In many languages, especially Asian languages such as Japanese and Chinese, syllables very often go:
Consonant - Vowel - Consonant - Vowel
This means that English words are often said this way.
For example, the word 'hot dog'
Has structure:
consonant vowel consonant consonant vowel consonant
This is shown here, with C standing for consonant and V standing for vowel
| Hot | dog | |
| CVC | CVC |
Now this can often be said wrong:
| Ho | ta | do | ga | |
| CV | CV | CV | CV |
Notice how there are now four vowels instead of two.
This often happens with English words that end in a special type of consonant called a 'stop' consonant. 'stop' consonants are sounds like b, d, g, p, t, k and here are some words that end in them:
Bed
cab
bag
cat
cap
brick
It is important that you do not put an extra vowel at the end, for example some people will say 'bed' like 'bed a' however this is wrong.
Syllable structure can get quite difficult in English, for example:
'conscientious' has this structure
| Con | sci | en | tious |
| CVC | CV | VC | CVC |
And 'glimpsed' like before, is like this:
| Glimpsed |
| C C V C C C C |
This has two consonants, then one vowel, then four consonants in a row.
How To Test, See And Hear Your Pronunciation On Your Computer
Do you want to quickly and easily perfect your English pronunciation?
These lessons are a good start, but if you really want to learn how to speak english perfectly then you'll need a little more help. EyeSpeak English have an amazing system that can listen to your pronunciation, analyze it and then instantly teach you how to improve. It's a really great idea.
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The special Ego4you EyeSpeak English package for people who want to quickly reduce their accent and improve their English pronunciation is only available at this link:
Changed: 10th Dec 2010 19:35
URL: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/pronunciation/syllable-structure