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Mastering the Pronunciation of ‘T’ and ‘D’ in Native English
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Did you know that the letters ‘T’ and ‘D’ don’t always sound like /t/ or /d/ in native English speech? The way we pronounce them depends on the sounds that come before or after them. If you learn and apply the five pronunciation rules below, your spoken English will sound much more fluent and…
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They hear how, not what you say
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Is that fair? Who cares? Life’s not fair in many ways, is it? You might have the most remarkable vocabulary and the most accurate grammar and still be wondering why you can’t get people to like hanging out with you or just have a conversation with you. No one likes robots. No one likes…
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Improving English: None for you without review
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The title of this article says it all. So why is review such an important part of the learning process and improving English? Well, just look at the first two letters of the word “review”, what have you got? That’s right. “Re”. “Re” also happens to be the first two letters of the word…
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The stubborn pronunciation problems of Japanese learners
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Japanese are stubborn, so are their pronunciation problems Japanese students of English struggle with their pronunciation problems. No matter how advanced the speakers are, no matter how long the learners have been learning or speaking English for, some (phonetic) mistakes are real stubborn aren’t they? They keep happening over and over and Japanese students…
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Why speaking English with a good accent matters!
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It’s a confidence game that’s why. You can’t afford to sound weak, timid, confused, incoherent, nervous, anxious or funny (as in weird). You sound funny when you speak fluent yet not fully intelligible English. Some Indians are a good example of that. They speak fluently and confidently but boy do they sound hilarious or…
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Phonological awareness and phonics: Phon what?
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I have been getting many kindergarten teachers asking me about the difference between phonological awareness and phonics or between phonemic awareness and phonics. You’ve got to see how frustrated they look when asking “what the hell is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?”. I know, I know. It’s confusing isn’t it? No…
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Why You Can’t Understand Native English!
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“Because I’m not a native speaker of English! Duhhh” many of you might think. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had advanced students coming up to me completely baffled. They have been learning English for years, yet they are still unable to understand native English speakers, especially on TV. Why especially on…