English Pronunciation for Farsi Speakers

By -
Areas of Difficulty for Farsi Speakers      

Consonants:
I.   /w/ vs. /v/
Distinguish between /w/ and /v/ in the following minimal pairs:

Wane         wail                 west                 wend               wine
Vein          veil                  vest                  vend                vine

II. /th/ and / / 
Pronounce these words carefully:

Breath/breathe       bath/bathe        cloth/clothe      
Now try this tongue twister:
Those three thieves threw thirteen things in the thicket of thorn trees.   

III. /r/ 
Practice English /r/ in different word positions, and avoid pronouncing it as a trill.

Rumble      wrangle           restitution        result       rack         rash
Scaring      leering             luring               purring     peering    sneering
Scar           star                  fire                   banter      gander     smuggler 

IV. Initial Consonant Clusters
Pronounce the following initial consonant clusters without inserting a vowel before or between them:

Plight         slice     fright   pleasant           spill     stale     plaintiff
Splash       straw   scrod   sprinkle           spade   growl   gloat   
Snail          snow   sniper  scathing           sneak   smelt    smile    flight

Vowels:             
I.   /I/ vs. /i:/
Make the distinction between the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

Hit             fit         sit        fill        live      sill       pill       skit
Heal           feet      seat      feel      leave    seal      peel      skeet 

II.   /e/ vs. /ei/

Distinguish between the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

Met            red       led       fed       wed     set        fret       bet
Mate          raid      laid      fade     wade    sate      freight  bait 

III.   /U/ vs. /u:/

Practice pronouncing the short and long vowels in the following word pairs:

Full            pull                  foot                  should             book
                              Fool           pool                 food                 shoot               boot

IV.  /e/ vs. /@/ 

Practice distinguishing between the short vowel and the diphthong in the following pairs:

Met            set        fed       led       wed     fret       med     net
Mat            sat        fad       lad       wad     frat       mad     gnat                

V.  /^/ vs. /a:/

Make the distinction between the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

                              curd           heard   curt      burn     hurt      bird      nerd     clerk   

                              card           hard     cart      barn     heart    bard     nard     Clark  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

English Pronunciation for Turkish Speakers

By -
Image
Areas of Difficulty for Turkish Speakers Consonants: I.    /t/ & /d/: When Turkish speakers of English pronounce these alveolar consonants, they touch the back of their upper teeth with the tip of their tongue. Instead, try to form a constriction by touching your alveolar ridge (the area behind your upper teeth) with the tip of your tongue. Pronounce these sounds in different phonological environments such as word-initial, medial, and final position and in consonant clusters. tiresome      little      brat       staple    burst     crest                  totalitarianism automatic    trickster            cattle     dental    tirade    tardy     training technique    tangle    terminal            trinket terse                  temptation tutelage      tile        battle     crate     biting    fighting             might daredevil     ladle      broad    build     dollar    crude    building            greed                               dangle         divide
Keep reading

Schumann’s Acculturation Model

By -
Image
Schumann's Acculturation Model Consider how these social and psychological factors affect the extent of the learner’s capacity to learn his or her second language (L2).   Schumann asserts that the more distance created between the L2 learner and his or her target language (TL) culture by such factors, the less contact s/he will have with the TL culture and thus the lower will his or her expected L2 proficiency be. Furthermore, he considers the social factors to be the prime influences; the psychological factors come into play and become the deciding factors only in situations where the combined social factors create neither positive nor negative circumstances for the learner.   Which outcomes of each of these factors make for a bad learning situation and which ones for a good learning situation? Consider as many as apply to your group’s learner testimonial. Social Distance Factors Social dominance : Is the learner’s native group dominant to, equal to, or subordinat
Keep reading

Knowing a Word

By -
Image
Knowing a Word   Fluent native speakers intuitively know how to use a lexical item in the appropriate context. They can even determine meaning of an unfamiliar word when it is written or spoken. However, second language learners may not understand what constitutes knowledge of vocabulary. This post delineates the various strands of vocabulary non-native speakers need to acquire to become highly proficient in writing and speaking in their second language.  1. Word meaning:  Knowing a word entails understanding it when it is written and/or spoken by      others in formal contexts. Native speakers do this readily without asking for clarification, but      second language learners need to acquire this tacit knowledge of vocabulary.  2. Recall: A fluent speaker of a language can recall a word when it is needed in writing or in speech.     S/he can incorporate the needed word while speaking without looking it up in a dictionary. In other     words, proficient speakers
Keep reading