Want to sound like a native? Learn the sounds.

Hey my friends, 

 

"Congratulations" 💫💪

Being here reading this post, you prove to yourself that you can speak English like an American and that you have the potential to do so.

Let’s get started.

Learning the sounds of English makes it easy to sound like a native. Sounds are the key to pronounce words exactly like natives do.  

What are sounds?

Sounds are the essence of the language. They help you pronounce the word correctly. Sounds cannot be written.

In the picture below, you can see some symbols above each word that represent the sounds, but that doesn't mean we can write a sound. They're just symbols that remind you of how to pronounce a group of similar sound words.

The first sound symbol in the picture above shows the pronunciation of the (ee) letters in the word sheep.

How many sounds are there in English language? 

In English, there are approximately 44 sounds, with some variation dependent on accent. Accents are different not only outside the USA, but also between the states. North American accent is a little bit different from the South's. 

* The 44 English sounds can be divided into two major categories – (Consonants and Vowels). We'll           discuss them later. 

What is the importance of studying English sounds?

You may think that sounds aren't that important. The idea is not how to learn sounds, but you must know that they are extremely important to help you sound like a native. The problem is; most of your words or sentences with inaccurate or strange pronunciation wouldn't let others (Natives) understand you. So, imagine of all of your words aren't of the accurate pronunciation?  

It’s a big problem, isn't it? Of course, YES. It may drastically lead the conversation away of its topic. So, it’s very important to master the English sounds. 

Let me ask you a simple question: 

Do you know the difference between the words, (Sank & Thank)?

If yes, cool, but that's because they’re written. 

The big issue is when you pronounce them both the same while talking to a native. If you want to say Thank you but instead; you said Sank you, (difference is in the pronunciation not the words written.) What do you expect the native speaker would get?

Definitely, he/she will understand Nothing, YES nothing; OR for this specific situation; a native will get the message as it's familiar response or sentence. But the main point here is that he/ she will definitely know that you're a stranger or a foreigner whose accent is NOTHING.

 

Others will start correcting your mistakes that will make you embarrassed and frustrated enough to stop the conversation and quit the learning journey at all, RIGHT?

This is the simplest example; you can imagine lots of other situations that might run the speech away of the exact topic. I’m not saying that to offense anyone, Big NOT.

I just want to show you the importance of SOUNDS and why you should master them.

I think that's enough to let you know the importance of English sounds.

In the upcoming lessons Insha'Allah, we'll discuss The American English SOUNDS in detail. 

Till then, 

I Wish You All The Best. 

And, 

See you in the next lesson,