English sounds and letters - a simple explanation. Sounds and letters English letters and sounds for 2

It is extremely important to navigate and remember in this topic as much as possible. Without such a base, it is impossible to advance further in the study of phonetics. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. The same letter can mean one or several sounds, besides, the letters influence each other's sound, so it is able to form its own sounds whole line letter combinations.

As a result, there are much more sounds in the English language than letters - 44. Is everything clear so far? We move on. In dictionaries and in general in writing to convey the sound of words and letters in English transcription is used - this is a series of special icons that allow you to clarify exactly what the sound of a particular letter (or letter combination) will be in a particular word with which you are dealing. Transcription of the word is usually enclosed in square brackets.

Please note: in the alphabet, most often there is also a transcription record of the sound of the letter. For example, b -, but this is not the sound that the letter gives in the word, but the name of the letter. It is not difficult to understand this by analogy with the Russian language, where when voicing the alphabet, they also say not “b”, but “be”, but when pronouncing words, you cannot say “be”, the letter sounds “b”.

Sounds and letters in English are divided into and consonants. With consonants in the phonetic sense, the situation is somewhat simpler than with vowels. Suffice it to say that sixteen of them can give only one sound in a sentence. One letter - one sound: b - [b], d - [d], f - [f], h - [h], j -, k - [k], l - [l], m - [m], n - [n], p - [p], q - [k], r - [r], t - [t], v - [v], w - [w], z - [z]. Only four consonants can present particular difficulties - they can mean two or three sounds in different situations. details about consonants in our special article.

In English, there are as many as five consonants for which there is no special letter, they can only be formed from a combination of letters. These sounds are: [ŋ] - ng, - ch, tch, [ʃ] - sh, [θ], [ð] - th. In the case of the second type of sounds, there are even more different nuances.

Despite the fact that English has only five vowels: A, E, I, O, U (one so-called "semi-vowel" - "Y", - ed.) - together they can convey twenty different sounds in different situations. For example, the letter A can hide as many as eight: , [æ], [ɑ:], [ɛə], [ɔ:], [ɔ], [ə] and even [ı]. The specific sound depends on the stress, type of syllable, pronunciation tradition (exceptions - ed.) and a number of other factors, which we will discuss in detail in a special article on consonants and letters in English.

If you want to memorize and retain in memory the numerous details of phonetic rules, transcription signs and pronunciation features, pay attention to the transcription of new words that you memorize.

Consists of 26 letters, of which 6 are vowels and 20 are consonants.

How to quickly memorize the alphabet?

First of all, you need to learn. There are few of them, so they are easier to remember.

IN English transcription sign - colon denotes the longitude of the sound, i.e. you have to pronounce it long.

Particular attention should be paid to the letter Yy. This letter is often mistaken for a consonant. In fact, it is very easy to remember if you make an association with the letter Ii. In words, these two letters are read the same way.

it's easier to remember if you break them down into logical groups:

1. Consonants similar in appearance to Russian and pronounced the same with them:

1. Consonants that look like Russian, but are pronounced or spelled differently:

1. Consonants that are not in Russian:

It is better to learn the English alphabet in blocks, writing and naming each letter in several lines. This is how three types of memory work at once: auditory, visual and motor.

After you have done this, then perform a series of exercises to consolidate the results.

Exercises:

• Write the letters on the piece of paper from memory, saying each letter aloud. If you do not remember the name or find it difficult which letter is next, then you can look at the hint. When you have written a “difficult” letter, underline or circle it and continue on. After writing everything English alphabet write separately all the underlined letters in one row. Repeat them. Write a few more rows of these letters randomly, calling them out loud. When you are sure that you have remembered, start the exercise again.
• Cut 26 small squares, write letters on them. Place face down on the table. Take each square in turn, calling the letter out loud. Check yourself against the table. Those letters that are called incorrectly or forgotten, put aside. After working with all the squares, take all the letters set aside and do the same exercise with them only. Repeat several times, each time postponing only those that are not remembered.

Remember that any work on memorizing something should be structured as follows:

• Learn and set aside.
• Repeat after 15 minutes
• Repeat in an hour
• Repeat next day
• Repeat in a week.

In this case, the memorized material will be deposited in memory forever!

English alphabet games

If it is possible to attract 2-3 people, then you can diversify the study of the alphabet with games:

• "Spell the word"

Any English text. Players take turns saying the letters in order, starting with the first word in the text. The one who called incorrectly is out of the game. The last one left in the game wins.

• "What is missing?"

The facilitator chooses from 26 cards with letters 5-10, depending on the age of the group. Players memorize letters. After everyone has turned away, the leader removes one or two letters. Players must guess which letters are missing.

• "Who is faster?"

Each player is dealt cards in the same number, you need to arrange them in alphabetical order as quickly as possible.

• "Find a couple"

The participants in the game are given cards with capital letters. WITH reverse side Each card has a lowercase letter. 3 minutes are given. During this time, each player must remember and write down a lowercase letter. The one with the most letters wins.

• "Continue"

One of the players begins to speak the alphabet from the beginning, the leader stops at any letter. Players must pick up where they left off as quickly as possible.

• "Remember Five"

The facilitator gives each player a letter face down. On command, the players turn over the card. You need to write the next 5 letters of the alphabet as quickly as possible. The one who completed the task raises his hand.

Songs

To quickly memorize the alphabet, you can use. The melody for them can be found on the Internet.

Oh well you see

Now I know the ABC!

There is another version of this song, the last two lines of which sound like this:

Now I know the ABC

Next time won't you sing with me!

Currently, English textbooks give two pronunciations for the letter Rr: [ɑː] and [ɑːr]. In the second version, the second sound is an overtone, that is, it is not pronounced in its pure form, but muffled. Both options are correct.

In English transcription, you can find several ways to write the same sound. This is due to the fact that the rules for writing certain sounds are gradually changing, more often towards simplification, for example:

Both the one and the other sound is pronounced [e] with an overtone [ё].

I learned the alphabet, what to learn next?

After learning the English alphabet, it is advisable to learn the sounds that each letter can convey.

In English, many letters have several sounds, depending on the type of syllable and combination with other letters:

Then you should move on to mastering the rules of reading. You need to start with the simplest, namely the first and second types of syllables. Having studied