TRICKY ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION MADE EASY: TABLE vs COMFORTABLE / SHIRE vs YORKSHIRE ...

1/4/2016

English pronunciation has no logic but if you LISTEN carefully you will be able to hear the SUBTLE DIFFERENCES between how a NATIVE says a word & how a learner of English will read a word. DON'T READ! LISTEN & IMITATE the sound you hear - that's the correct pronunciation! Don't be distracted by the way it's written - LISTEN & REPEAT IMITATING!!

TABLE /teɪbəl/ and VEGETABLE /'vɛdʒtəbl/ have COMPETELY DIFFERENT SOUNDS.

COMFORTABLE /'kʌmftəbl/ not only sounds like vegetable but ONLY REFERS TO THE COMFORT OF AN OBJECT (a sofa, a bed, clothes) and not to whether it is practical or convenient - in some languages the same word is used for all three meanings.

CHOCOLATE /'tʃɒklət/ is not pronounced like LATE /leɪt/.

SHIRE /ˈʃʌɪə/, a medieval area of jurisdiction, is pronounced completely differently from YORKSHIRE /'jɔ:kʃə/ and as a consequence the breed of dogs with the same name: Yorkshire Terrier.

So remember: Don't be distracted by the way it's written - LISTEN & REPEAT IMITATING!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFRv4jYhNp8

You can download the pictures below.

I hope you find this useful.
Susan

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Author

My name is Susan Brodar, born in London into a multilingual family and brought up bilingual English / Italian.

I went to school in London until 15 when we moved to Germany where I finished my British education at Munich International School. I started teaching Italian at evening classes aged only 17 and studied Mass Communications and Journalism at Munich University.

I continued teaching parallel to interpreting at trade fairs and business meetings as well doing translations. After working at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade for a year I married my Italian globetrotting companion in 1983 and we set up our home near Venice, Italy where we continue to live with our two teenaged children.

Having taken my British High School-leaving ‘A’ Level exams in English, Italian, French & German I am completely fluent in all four languages and am taking a DELE certification in Spanish to complement them.

ENGLISH (native)
ITALIAN (native)
GERMAN (C2)
FRENCH (C2)
SPANISH (B2)