WHAT IS THE ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION BUNDLE?
The English pronunciation bundle is a set of the essential Anki flashcards to learn English pronunciation in Received Pronunciation (British English) or General American English.
It is made for English learners at the beginners level who would like to learn and memorize English pronunciation within 1-2 months. Even intermediate and advanced English learners will find this useful, especially if you still have English pronunciation problems.
With this digital flashcard bundle, you’ll learn the English alphabet, English IPA pronunciation and English minimal pairs.
Receive a discount by buying all 3 flashcard decks now.
WHY SHOULD I LEARN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION?
Sounds of English are the Foundations of the Language
If we breakdown the English language and examine what makes up a language, we can see that English conversations are made up of sentences. Then, each sentence is made up of words. But each English word is made up of unique English sounds. These sounds are the foundations of the English language.
The sounds of English are different to your native language. The way we would pronounce letters from the alphabet for example, are different in English compared to your native language. In order to begin learning English and the sounds of English, we need to learn English pronunciation.
Learn English Pronunciation to Avoid Permanent Errors in Speaking
If you speak with terrible English pronunciation to a native English speaker, they may not understand you, even though your English vocab and grammar are perfect. We want to make sure that you get the foundations of English handled right from the beginning because it might be very difficult to change your accent later on.
Language experts call this phenomenon “fossilization”. It’s when language learners make permanent errors in the way they speak a foreign language because they constantly use language features of their native language. If you skip learning pronunciation, you’ll most likely create bad habits, which can prevent you from being able to communicate in English.
Self-correction and Boost of Confidence
If you have terrible pronunciation, then you’re more likely to face situations where you are misunderstood and confused. When this happens, you might feel embarrassed and frustrated because you’re unable to communicate properly and this hinders your ability to learn English.
It would be impossible to have a English tutor follow you everywhere and correct your pronunciation in all situations. So we recommend that the best solution to your poor pronunciation is to improve your ability to self-correct yourself. In this way, you will be able to catch yourself making pronunciation mistakes, and then correct yourself before miscommunication occurs. The English Pronunciation Flashcards Bundle helps you remember all of the important sounds of English so that you can self-correct your pronunciation in any situation.
When you improve your English pronunciation, you also get the added bonus of improving your confidence and motivation to learn English, and research studies have shown this to be true. By self-correcting your own pronunciation difficulties, it will help improve your listening comprehension and give you confidence to speak in English. Your English pronunciation can enhance your fluency and native speakers will understand you better.
HOW DO I LEARN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION?
English pronunciation can be broken down into 3 parts: English alphabet, English IPA and English minimal pairs. All 3 parts will help to improve your English pronunciation in different but essential ways.
1. English Alphabet
In order to improve your pronunciation, the English alphabet is the first step because the alphabet is used to write out English words and represent English sounds.
Native English speakers use this alphabet to write words and sentences, so it makes sense when learning English to start with the English alphabet.
Although English letters mostly look the same in other languages, the English name of the letter and its use in English words will be different. Your native language might be Japanese or Hebrew for example, where the English letters are not used at all.
Again, we want to familiarize ourselves with the English sounds in order to avoid “fossilization” from occurring and affecting your speech.
By learning the English alphabet, you’ll also expose yourself to some words that start with those letters. This can help you associate how those letters sound in actual English words.
2. English IPA
The English IPA (English International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is useful because the IPA of a word tells you how to pronounce it correctly in English in a standardized way.
The regular English alphabet is different from the English IPA. Take the example of the English word “nation” ( /ˈneɪ.ʃən/ ), which means “a large area of land that is controlled by its own government”. If you read this English word as it’s spelled in regular English letters, then you may not pronounce it correctly.
As a non-native English speaker, you may pronounce it as “na-tee-on”, but that is incorrect and a English speaker will be totally confused. You’ll feel embarrassed and not get your point across. But, if you read the IPA of “nation”, you’ll find it spelled like this ” /ˈneɪ.ʃən/ “. The “ti” of “nation” is more of a “sh” sound represented by the “ʃ” IPA. It is not a “tee” sound.
By learning the English IPA you’ll be able to pronounce sounds in English from the written IPA. In time, you’ll be able to see the IPA symbols and know how the word should be pronounced correctly.
3. English Minimal Pairs
Minimal pairs are 2 words that seem very similar when you hear them, except for just 1 sound. In English, there are minimal pairs such as “bite” and “bike”. On the one hand, “bite” means to press down on with the teeth. Whereas “bike” is the shortened word for bicycle, and it is a 2-wheeled vehicle.
These subtle differences in sound can make all the difference when you are trying to understand or speak English.
Learning the English minimal pairs can improve your pronunciation skills as well as your listening comprehension. This is proven by academic research.
Ann Bradlow from Cornell University and colleagues did academic research that found that minimal pair training results in improved pronunciation. Language learners of English improved their ability to discriminate between the /r/ and /l/ sounds to around 82 percent accuracy from 65 percent from a training period of 15-22 hours over 3 weeks.
In a recent study published in 2020, academic researchers from UCAM University did minimal pair testing in Spain. The researchers studied 52 language learners, focused on minimal pair words that compared sounds like /æ/ , /ɑː/ , /ʌ/ , and /ə/, as well as comparing the /s/ and /z/ sounds. They concluded that minimal pair training fostered substantial improvements in the learners’ perception and production of the target sounds.
English minimal pairs are important as there is strong academic evidence that shows that it can improve your English pronunciation.
Also, if you can distinguish between the different English sounds, you’ll be able to understand English native speakers better and you’ll enunciate words clearer.
English minimal pairs are important as there is strong academic evidence that shows that it can improve your English pronunciation.
Also, if you can distinguish between the different English sounds, you’ll be able to understand English native speakers better and you’ll enunciate words clearer.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION BUNDLE?
The Anki English pronunciation flashcards bundle includes all 3 digital flashcard decks for Anki you’ll need to learn English pronunciation. The 3 flashcard decks included are:
Learn the English alphabet with pictures and audio. Get familiar with the sounds & letters of the English language.
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Learn the fundamentals in English pronunciation using the English IPA Anki flashcards.
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Learn the most common English minimal pairs to improve your English pronunciation.
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