Now, we will see vowel sounds. Vowels sounds are short and long. They are
1.The short  sound as in /sit/
Just open the mouth, move the lower lip downward and produce the sound.
e.g.pig,bit, it etc.
2.The long sound as in /sheep/
Open the mouth as if you are brushing the teeth and produce a long sound.
e.g.sheep,cheese, thirteen etc.
3.The short sound as in /cup/
It is a short sound in between the sounds in/ large/ and /girl/.
e.g. bus, thus, run etc.
4.The sound as in /part/
Keep the mouth wide open and produce the sound.
e.g. heart,grass,large etc.

( to be continued)

 

(continued)
22.The sound as in /think/
Just touch the tip of the tongue at the back of the upper teeth and release air. This is a voiceless sound.
e.g. thanks, mouth, bath etc.
23. The sound as in /them/
Just touch the tip of the tongue at the back of the upper teeth and produce sound. This is a voiced sound.
e.g. then,bathe,mother etc.
24. The sound as in /ram/
Roll the tip of the tongue backwards in the mouth and produce sound.The tongue touches slightly to the teeth at the sides.
e.g. red, right, sorry etc.
Note: There is a great variety in pronunciation of the sound r. For instance, when it is at the end of the word, in British pronunciation it is silent while in American, it is clearly heard.Also, combined with a vowel sound next to it, it is clearly heard. Hence, while listening to this sound, pay attention to these things and be careful.

(to be continued)

(continued)
18. The sound as in /let/
Keep the tip of the tongue  behind the upper teeth.Then produce sound and spread the tongue in the mouth to touch the lower teeth.
e.g. live,feel,cell etc.
19. The sound as in /hat/
Just open the lips and produce air from the back of the mouth.This is voiceless sound.
e.g. hat,hot, who etc.
20. The sound as in/yes/
Keep a small gap between the tongue and the roof of the mouth and produce voice.
e.g. yesterday,year, university etc.
21. The sound as in /what/
Round the lips and produce the sound like 'oo'.
e.g. wind, away, white etc.

( to be continued)

(continued)
12. The sound as in /tea/
Touch the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth and release air.This is a voiceless sound.
e.g.tea, ten,cat etc.
13.The sound as in /dog/
Touch the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth and produce sound.This is a voiced sound.
e.g. day, did,pad etc.
14. The sound as in /pen/
Close the lips and then open them to release air. This is a voiceless sound.
e.g. pull,paper, gap etc.
15. The sound as in /bat/
Close the lips and then open them to produce sound. This is a voiced sound.
e.g. bag, ban,tab etc.
16. The sound as in /cat/
Touch the back of the tongue to the roof of mouth and then open it to release air. This is a voiceless sound.
e.g.cat, chemical,college,walk etc.
17. The sound as in /gap/
Touch the back of the tongue to the roof of mouth and then open it to produce sound. This is a voiced sound.
 e.g.game, girl,tag etc.

(to be continued)

5. The sound as in /chair/
The tongue touches the front roof of the mouth. This is voiceless sound.
e.g.chair, chips, which etc.
6. The sound as in /jeep/ 
The tongue touches the front roof of the mouth. This is voiced sound.
e.g.jam,jeep,job etc.
7.The sound as in /fan/ 
Touch the lower lip to the upper teeth. This is voiceless sound.
e.g. fan, tough,phone etc.
8. The sound as in /van/
Touch the lower lip to the upper teeth. This is voiced sound.
e.g.van,vacuum,five etc.
9.The sound as in /man/
Close the lips, make sound. Obviously it comes through nose.
e.g. man, calm,some etc.
10.The sound as in /nose/
The tongue touches  the roof of the mouth behind the teeth with mouth opened.The sound comes through nose.
e.g. nose, nail,nice etc.
11.The sound as in /king/
The rear part of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth with mouth opened.Then produce sound.
e.g.king, sing,bank etc.

(to be continued)

              The technical details of pronunciation may be boring for some people; but they are important in understanding point of view.Also, knowing these details will help apply ' divide and conquer' rule to pronunciation.
              As  words are the building blocks of sentences, sounds are the building blocks of speaking or speech. These building blocks can be classified into the following categories-

1. Consonants
2. Vowels
3. Diphthongs (combination of two vowel sounds)

We see it one by one.

Consonants 

               To produce consonant sounds, use of tongue is required. Also, different positions of tongue produce different consonant sounds.It is better to start with simple sounds.A sound is represented by the symbol  '/ /'. Here, I have not used the phonetic transcription for simplicity.

1. The sound /s/

The tongue touches slightly to the teeth at the sides of mouth. It is voiceless sound.
e.g. sun, sack,bus, city etc.

      2. The sound /z/ 
The tongue touches slightly to the teeth at the sides of mouth. It is voiced sound.
e.g.zoo, zero, boys etc.

      3. The sound /sh/
The tongue points upwards and also it touches slightly to the teeth at the sides of mouth. It is voiceless sound.
e.g.shoe, shop, fish,ocean etc.
     4. The sound as in /vision/
The tongue points upwards and also it touches slightly to the teeth at the sides of mouth. It is voiced sound.
e.g. television,usual etc.

(to be continued)

Listening

               Listening is hearing with attention.It is the activity which requires concentration.Language is spoken in terms of groups of words, sentences etc. But to practise, we have to pay attention to some more fundamental aspects.Following steps would help a lot in the listening activity.

            Moreover, please keep in mind one thing- the source of listening must be authentic and of international standard, for example, BBC radio,CNN etc.If we try this English directly, there is no need to study additionally the standard English.

1. If you are already familiar to English, take a notebook and start listening to BBC. Write down only the words you listen to.Do not go for sentences or groups of words. After one minute or two, count the words.You will come to know how many words you are able to understand.Try this initially for some days.
2. If you are a non-native speaker, then you will come to know that some pronunciations are totally different form what we learnt.It is a common experience of  Indian students especially. If you try this activity on daily basis, you will automatically start pronouncing the word as exactly as that in BBC radio or CNN.
3. Slowly but steadily, you will start getting into the language.This is the' warming up' activity for listening.After this, it is worth to see some technical details of listening and pronunciation.

(to be continued)

 

 

Skills in Language

                A language has generally four skills-

1.Listening

2.Reading

3.Speaking

4.Writing

As we saw, the first two are inputs while the next two are outputs.Initially, one has to start with listening and imitating; but afterwards all the skills should go hand in hand.One skill cannot be separated from the other.They are interdependent.

           Listening is the skill that helps us to get into the language. It helps to understand pronunciation, word stress, sentence stress etc.It helps in one more way- developing vocabulary.

           Habit of reading pays a lot.It not only makes us familiar with language but makes us conversant with grammar, usage of words and logic in writing.

               Speaking gives us a chance to communicate with other people. We come to know about how the language is used by them. It is way of comparison to improve ourselves.

                 Writing is the last step step towards perfection.It teaches us how to choose words,usage of grammar,structures and so on.In fact, writing is a process. It is not mechanical. One must be original in writing.

 

                  One should be aware that one can choose any skill to start. But it is always better to follow the above way as it is more logical.I believe this way because it is my experience that it works best.

              

 (Continued)

The English Language 

                It is always a question in minds of the most of the people that how should we study English? Should the grammar be first or listening and speaking be given priority? My opinion is that we should start with listening- the 'natural' path we followed in our childhood. This helps a lot to get into the language. Trying to imitate the words,phrases and sentences helps to get into the language. After this one has to move towards grammar.

              Grammatical accuracy has no substitute. To have mastery on the language, one must learn grammar. It teaches us how to put the words in proper positions, how to form sentences to convey clear meaning, how to convey the same meaning using different forms etc.

               Then comes reading and writing. Habit of reading helps a lot.It not only provokes thinking but it makes one grasp the structure of writing also. Flow and coherence are the essential parts of writing. Hence good writers have the ability to convey their message in minimum possible words. We can say that writing makes man precise and perfect.

               In fact, listening and reading are inputs while speaking and writing are outputs. And output always proportional to the input.

               Taking all these factors into consideration, what I feel is  that though the English language has many drawbacks regarding the rules and regulations, one can overcome them by following the steps given below.

1.Start with listening standard English e.g. BBC radio or CNN etc.

2. Try to understand words, structures.

3.Try to imitate.

4.Opt for the grammar.

5.Start speaking and writing.

6.Study and learn continuously.

               

The English Language

            When one wants to express oneself, he/she uses language.It may be in spoken or written form.But it is not  mere expression in words the way one wishes. There are rules and regulations to use a language, which is known as grammar. Hence, language as a whole consists of vocabulary (words), grammar (rules and regulations) and sounds( pronunciation).

               In today's era,there is no need to say about the importance of the English language. All of us have everyday experience of it. Therefore, one must study the language properly if one wants to keep oneself abreast in the competitive world. But before that, I want you to pay attention to a basic question- What made the English language become so important?

               A language, by characteristic, must be live and update.It must maintain its flow to keep pace with time. As the English language has achieved the status of the global language of communication, there must be something in it.

               Actually, many students and people ( at least in India) find it very difficult to learn English. It is because, the spelling of the words is different than their pronunciation, there are varied sentence constructions, there are many exceptions to a rule or usage and the worst part - the prepositions etc. In short, in the English language, the rule is ' When there is rule, there is exception!' But sometimes,  even the drawbacks become the plus points. The English language is such an 'exception' itself !

               It is my experience  that our success depends on our attitude. If we look at the drawbacks in the other way, it is certain that we can study the language better and achieve success. 

(to be continued)

   

               

Introduction

Hello,

          'One should write something daily'- Samarth Ramdas Swami. 

        No doubt,writing makes man perfect;  it is very difficult to write something daily though initially it looks simple.Also, one has to keep freshness and variety in writing to make it readable.The quality of writing reflects the quality of reading, observation and of course thinking.All great personalities used to write more than speaking.

          As a profession, I teach mathematics and English. Also I am a research student. I am interested in software. I am not introducing all my aspects myself here. I would like you to know them through my writings.

         But, my main focus for this blog is English for various examinations and some things of general interests. 

          I am quite open minded to accept your comments which lead to improvement.Moreover, I expect you to suggest new areas on which I can write.

             It is always better to keep introduction as short as possible. I am doing the same.

Ramchandra