What is transcription, its signs and the correct pronunciation in English

English is one of the main languages ​​in the world, it is considered to be native to more than 500 million people, and still speak it to a greater or lesser extent. Starting to learn English, first of all we are faced with the development of the vocabulary of the language, its grammar and, of course, pronunciation. How to read a word correctly, especially if its spelling is clearly different from the sound designation? Transcription will help you with this. And what is transcription, its designation and ways of reading, you will learn from our article. After careful study, you can easily pronounce even the most complex words, as well as use the dictionary and training materials, where it is widely used.

So what is transcription

If we take a scientific definition, then this is a system for recording signs and the rules for their combination, which are designed to record the correct pronunciation of a word. That is, in fact, we write one thing, but in the sound we get something completely different. Having learned the signs of English transcription, as well as the basic letter combinations, you can easily master any text written in English. Indeed, in this language, as well as in Russian, often words are written in a completely different way than they are pronounced, and sometimes it is just necessary to memorize their correct reading in order to prevent mistakes in the future.

Basic signs and rules for reading English transcription

To convey the correct pronunciation of English words, a phonetic alphabet was invented, in it sounds are indicated by special phonetic signs. Keep in mind, despite the fact that there are 26 letters in the English language, there are as many as 44 sounds in it. Therefore, for the best language acquisition, you should pay close attention to them. In general, pronunciation transmission exists in any language, therefore, various characters are used not only for the English language, but, for example, for the transcription of Russian words. This is very convenient, given that the rules are pretty standard, and remembering them carefully, you can convey the sounds of absolutely any language unit. Knowing what transcription is in general, let's begin to study it. The following are rules for reading vowels, two-vowels, and consonants.

We read vowel sounds correctly

i ː is a long, stressed vowel sound "and", for example: tea, sea;
ɪ - short and unstressed (but can sometimes be shocked) sound between Russian "and" and "s", examples - bit, business;
æ - pronounced as a clear and percussive sound, similar to something in between “a” and “e”, for example: cat, rat;
ɑ ː - a long and deep sound "a", examples - car, heart;
ɔ ː - also a long and open sound "o", read the words sort, board;
ʊ - a very short sound "y", for example: put, could;
u ː - on the contrary, a long, slightly softened sound "y", for example - fool, shoes;
ʌ - in terms of sound closer to the percussion sound "a", for example: up, couple;
ɜ ː - a little long sound between "e" and "o", read - her, turn;
ə - a short, not quite intelligible sound "a", in the words until, alias;
e - slightly softened sound "e", for example: bed, head;
ɒ - a sound similar to something in between and in rock, body.

Rules for reading two-vowel sounds (diphthongs)

eɪ - a slightly softened hey, for example: tray, make;
aɪ - it is read as simply "ay", in the words sky, buy and so on;
ɔɪ - pronounced as "oops", for example: joy, boy;
ɪ ə - a cross between "é" and "ı", for example: fear, here;
eə - the sound "ea", where the last "a" is unstressed, in the words hair, there and so on;
ʊ ə - a long “y” sound, at the end of which a slurred “a” is heard, for example: tour, poor;
a ʊ - a slightly softened sound "ay", in the words trousers, hour;
əʊ - also a bit soft “oh” like joke, go.

Read consonant sounds

p - clear, energetic sound "p", examples - parking, open;
b - also a clear "b", in the board, abandon layers;
t - the sound "t", but when pronouncing it, we put the language a little higher than pronouncing a similar Russian sound, for example: trunk, receipt;
d - a clear "d" in the words add, advertising;
k - the sound "k" in words such as cord, school;
g - pronounced similarly to Russian "g", for example: grace, agree;
tʃ - again a slightly softened sound "h", in the words chance, catch;
dʒ - a strong, percussive sound between "h" and "g", usually in Russian it is transmitted as John, Jackson, for example: jungle, logic;
f - the same as the Russian "f", for example: fool, enough;
v - reads as simply "in", for example: vocal, voice;
θ - a sound that is quite difficult to pronounce, try to grip your tongue between your teeth and say “c” or “f”, for example: thanks, ethnic;
ð - the pronunciation rule is the same as the previous sound, try pronouncing “z” or “b” with a voice, for example: there, this;
s - sound, almost identical to the Russian "s", in the words sunday, east;
z - pronunciation close to Russian "z", for example: zebra, resign;
ʃ - also close to the Russian "sh", only a little softer, in the words shine, action;
ʒ - just a soft sound "g", for example: visual, usual;
h - the sound "x", barely audible pronounced on the exhale, for example: head, hill;
m - just the sound "m", for example: mother, mouse;
n - pronounced almost the same as the Russian "n", only we raise the language a little higher to the sky, in the words note, knowledge;
ŋ - sound "n" clearly pronounced "in the nose", for example, sing, reading
l - similar to Russian “l”, but not soft or hard, but rather, something in between, for example: laughter, legal;
r - the sound of meju "r" and "l", moreover, softened, in the words random, order;
j - a sound very close to the Russian "th", for example: yet, you;
w - a short sound pronounced between "y" and "in", in the words what, where, one.

These were the main signs of the transmission of English pronunciation. Having carefully studied them and already knowing what transcription is, you will now read any English word without much difficulty.