Pronounce English Accurately

Video Text

Reading the IPA - longer words

Now some practice reading longer words, ten in total again, of increasing length and difficulty.

This time I will give you the stressed syllable, then the rest of the word to the end, and then the whole of the word starting at the beginning.

Say each bit ALOUD as it appears, building the word up, and making sure that each bit is correct.

1. /fɪʃ/ PAUSE /ˈfɪʃ.əl/ PAUSE /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/ PAUSE 'artificial'; the stressed syllable is the same as 'fish'.

2. /tɪf/ PAUSE /ˈtɪf.ɪk/ PAUSE /ˌsaɪ.ənˈtɪf.ɪk/ PAUSE 'scientific'.

3. /pɑːl/ PAUSE /ˈpɑː. lə.mənt/ PAUSE 'parliament'; the second syllable has just a schwa; it's not normally /ˈpɑː. l iə.mənt/.

4. /siːk/ PAUSE /ˈsiːk.rət/ PAUSE /ˈsiːk.rət.ɪv/ - secretive

5. /sɪm/ PAUSE /ˈsɪm.ə.li/ PAUSE /fækˈsɪm.ə.li/ - facsimile

6. /nekt/ PAUSE /kəˈnekt/ PAUSE connect - the first vowel should be a schwa, with not a hint of /ɒ/ rounding.

7. /mem/ PAUSE /ˈmem.ə.reɪt/ PAUSE /kə ˈmem.ə.reɪt/ - not a hint of rounding in the first syllable - make sure it's a schwa - commemorate.

8. /tjuː/ PAUSE /ˈtjuː.ɪt.ɪv/ PAUSE /ˌkaʊn.tə.ɪnˈtjuː.ɪt.ɪv/ - getting long and complicated now! Did you get that? Counter-intuitive.

9. /kʌm/ PAUSE /ˈkʌm.plɪʃ/ PAUSE /əˈkʌm.plɪʃ/; 'accomplish'. The stressed syllable has the 'hut' vowel in it and the first is schwa.

10. /əʊ/ - /ˈəʊ.sɪs/ - /ˌnjuː.məʊ. ˌkəʊ.nɪ.ˈəʊ.sɪs/ - pneumoconiosis has two secondary stresses as it's almost like two words. They don't get much worse than that, so if you can read that one you can read anything!

That's some practice and next I'm going to take things to a higher level by looking at crazy personal names and wacky place names in which the spelling and the pronunciation really don't match at all!