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The Sounds of English

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Explore a comprehensive series of videos from BBC Learning English designed to enhance your English pronunciation skills. Dive into detailed lessons covering short vowels, long vowels, diphthongs, and consonants, including both voiced and voiceless sounds. Master the nuances of each phoneme, from the short vowel /ɪ/ in 'kit' to the consonant /g/ in 'ghost'. Practice with common words and phrases to improve your accent and fluency. Perfect for learners at all levels, this 1.5-hour collection offers systematic guidance through the intricacies of English sounds, helping you speak with greater clarity and confidence.

Syllabus

English Pronunciation – Short Vowel - /ɪ/ - ‘kit’, ‘bid’ & ‘him’.
Improve Your Pronunciation with BBC Learning English - Introduction.
English Pronunciation – Short Vowel - /ʊ/ - ‘foot’, ‘put’ & ‘good’.
English Pronunciation – Short Vowel - /ʌ/ - ‘strut’, ‘mud’ & ‘love’.
English Pronunciation – The Schwa - /ə/ - ‘the’, ‘of’ & ‘butter’.
English Pronunciation – Short Vowel - /æ/ - ‘trap’, ‘stamp’ & ‘back’.
English Pronunciation – Short Vowel - /ɒ/ - ‘lot’, ‘odd’ & ‘wash’.
English Pronunciation – Short Vowel - /e/ - ‘dress’, ‘head’ & ‘bed’.
English Pronunciation – Long Vowel /iː/ - 'fleece’, ‘sea’ & ‘machine’.
English Pronunciation – Consonant - /n/ - 'nice', 'funny' & 'son'.
English Pronunciation – Long Vowel - /ɑː/ - 'father’, ‘start’ & ‘hard’.
English Pronunciation – Consonant - /m/ - 'hammer', 'mime' and 'more'.
English Pronunciation – Long Vowel - /ɜː/ - 'nurse’, ‘stir’ & ‘learn’.
English Pronunciation – Voiceless Consonant - /θ/ - 'thin’, ‘throw’ & 'thumb’.
English Pronunciation – Long Vowel - /uː/ - 'blue’, ‘two’ & ‘goose’.
English Pronunciation – Long Vowel - /ɔː/ - 'law’, ‘north’ & ‘war’.
English Pronunciation – Voiced Consonant - /d/ - 'odd’, 'did' and 'ladder'.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /eɪ/ - 'face’, ‘day’ & ‘break’.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /ɪə/ - 'near’, ‘hear’ & ‘weary’.
English Pronunciation – Voiceless Consonant - /p/ - 'pack’, ‘pan’ & ‘pop'.
English Pronunciation – Voiceless Consonant - /ʃ/ - 'ship’, ‘sure’ & 'national'.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /aʊ/ - 'mouth’, ‘now’ & 'fowl'.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /əʊ/ - 'boat’, ‘show’ & 'know'.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /eə/ - 'square’, ‘fair’ & 'pair'.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /aɪ/ - 'price’, ‘high’ & 'try'.
English Pronunciation – Diphthong - /ʊə/ - 'tour’, ‘pure' and 'cure'.
English Pronunciation – Voiceless Consonant - /t/ -'tin', 'button' and 'get'.
English Pronunciation – Voiceless Consonant - /s/ - 'soon’, ‘mister' & 'hiss'.
English Pronunciation – Voiceless Consonant - /tʃ/ - ‘teacher', 'match' and 'church'.
English Pronunciation –Voiced Consonant - /b/ - 'back', 'baby' and 'job'.
English Pronunciation –Diphthong - /ɔɪ/ - 'choice', 'noise' and 'boy'.
English Pronunciation –Voiced Consonant - /ð/ - 'this', 'other' and 'smooth'.
English Pronunciation –Voiceless Consonant - /k/ - 'came', 'lucky' and 'sick'.
English Pronunciation –Voiceless Consonant - /f/ - 'fat', 'coffee' and 'fluff'.
English Pronunciation –Consonant - /ŋ/ - 'rung', 'anger' and 'thanks'.
English Pronunciation – Voiced Consonant - /dʒ/ - 'judge', 'age' and 'soldier'.
English Pronunciation –Voiced Consonant - /ʒ/ - 'pleasure', 'leisure' and 'vision'.
English Pronunciation –Consonant - /r/ - 'right', 'wrong' and 'sorry'.
English Pronunciation –Voiced Consonant - /v/ - 'view', 'heavy' and 'move'.
English Pronunciation –Consonant - /w/ - 'wet', 'one' and 'when'.
English Pronunciation –Voiced Consonant - /z/ - 'zero', 'music' and 'roses'.
English Pronunciation –Consonant - /j/ - 'yet', 'use' and 'beauty'.
English Pronunciation –Consonant - /l/ - 'light', 'valley' and 'feel'.
English Pronunciation –Voiceless Consonant - /h/ - 'hot', 'whole' and 'ahead'.
English Pronunciation –Voiced Consonant - /g/ - 'get', 'giggle' and 'ghost'.

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BBC Learning English

Reviews

4.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

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  • Babatunde Oyebanji Akintola
    This course is provided to students who study Phonetics, or those who just want to increase their knowledge about Phonetics. Also, it would be of an immense help to those students who are about to take an exam in Phonetics and Phonology because everything, concerning phonetics, is well- detailed in these lectures. I really enjoyed it. Thanks.
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