Click on the grey audio player to hear the text (below) being read aloud by a native English speaker.

how to say numbers Apple share price

After Apple reported lower than expected iPhone sales last night, their share price tumbled more than 6%.

They sold 47.8 million in the last quarter of 2012, but that was not as many as the 50 million that analysts had predicted.

In the regular day’s trading Apple’s stock had risen, closing up 1.8 per cent at a share price of $514.01.

However, Apple aren’t doing too badly. For the first fiscal quarter they posted a net income of $13.07 billion, which works out at $13.81 per share. That compares to the previous year when for the same period, their profits were $13.06 billion, or $13.87 a share.

The predicted profits were 54.8 billion USD, but Apple just missed that target with sales totalling $54.5 billion. Unbelievably, this amount is the slowest growth for the company over a financial quarter since 2009.

Even with the 48m iPhones sold over Xmas being a little under target, it still means that the total number of iPhones sold in total since its creation in 2007 are a whopping 320m units.

Despite this latest blip, some financial experts have suggested that fears over Apple without Steve Jobs are misguided and that investors could see the stock slide as an opportunity to buy while the share price is low. One expert  said that if Apple continues to grow in the same fashion for the next five years, then company revenues will reach a staggering $1.2 trillion – equivalent to the size of the GDP of Australia!

If you pronounce a word incorrectly it can change the meaning into something which is incredibly funny or just the way you say it may be quite amusing.

 
 
There are many words in English which are commonly mispronounced. Take a look at these:

Wednesday
 

 

Hamburger
 

 

Here is a funny clip which features the word message pronounced as massage:
 

 
The scene is amusing because the guest asks for a message but he says massage. His pronunciation is very bad so he does not know what he has said. The receptionist understands that he wants a massage and offers to arrange one. It is very funny because both people understand the conversation is about different subjects.

 
It’s a good idea to work on pronouncing similar sounding words. Below is a list of commonly mispronounced minimal pairs. These are words that only have one sound which is different between them:
 

A meaning of a word changed by one sound

a meaning of a word

Bat – Bet

Cash – Catch

Cat – Cut

Den – Then

Fair – Four

Grammar – Glamour

Hat – Hate

Pill – Bill

Poured – Bored

Rice – Rise

Ring – Rink

Sank – Thank

She – Sea

Ship – Sheep

True – Through

Wet – Vet

Work – Walk

…and some common rude ones from the classroom

piece (of paper) – piss

sheet (of paper) – shit

 
Now, imagine you are in a restaurant and when you finish eating you say “Excuse me, can I have the pill please?”.
What would your friend say if you told them that “I am going to France on a sheep”
…or even that “The Titanic was a big sheep that thank in the she”

 
 
It’s not easy to improve your pronunciation, but it’s worth the effort , hard wok and concentration. Here’s a pronunciation class where a French man is trying to learn the English RP (Received Pronunciation) accent… not very successfully!
 

 

Well, it’s good that a candidate learns enough language to express themselves but what lets students down time and time again is their inability to sound good. For some they can’t be understood at all.

This isn’t really anybody’s fault as many textbooks focus more on reading and listening and squeeze speaking onto one page or even less. But, if the examiner can’t understand you then you’ll do badly, even if you have amazing vocabulary.

So, what stops candidates being understood?
 

English Pronunciation Problems & Help

 
Read our tips and then practise by recording yourself in our voicethread at the bottom of the page. Leave your name and we will reply to help you improve your pronunciation.
 
 

Mispronunciation

First and foremost it is mispronunciation of single phonemes or sounds. Have a look at some of our previous posts for some help on this. Every nationality has different problems due to their first language. Some can’t pronounce TH, some over pronounce S and others miss out any consonant on the end of a word.

Tip: Find out what problems you have and work on them.

Word stress

Secondly, word stress. This sounds basic but not everyone learns the right stress for every word in class. If you stress the wrong part you may change the word from a noun to a verb or even make it sound like a foreign word…. or just be completely misunderstood!

Tip: Ask a native or a good English speaker to listen to you and correct your word stress. Otherwise, check online or with a paper dictionary.

Practise with SGI – go to our blog where you can record yourself copying whole sentences of a native speaker and get help with your sentence stress from an SGI teacher for free!

Sentence-level Stress – listen to the audio at the bottom of the page

Next, you have sentence-level stress which is where you add stress to the important word(s) in a sentence. We normally stress verbs and nouns because they are the important words. For example, you would understand BOUGHT SHOES even without the other words. A good speaker will add major and minor stress so they will say something like this:

I bought some shoes.

minor            major stress

A very good student (band 6+) will know how to change stress to give different meaning, like this:

I bought some shoes.

=He didn’t borrow, steal or sell them

 
I bought some shoes.

=Emphasises the speaker and is common where lots of people are speaking.

Tip: Focus on transferring meaning by adding minor and major stress.

Intonation – listen to the audio at the bottom of the page

Intonation is another pronunciation skill that is often forgotten about. Although it differs across English, it is best to go down at the end of a sentence for a statement but up at the end for a question. For example:

____________________________________↘

I tend to do all my shopping in the supermarket.

__________________ ↗

What do you usually buy?

To signal that a sentence isn’t finished you can use them together like this:

_________________↘↗  __↘↗   ____ ↘↗   __________________↘

I normally purchase fruit, vegetables, raw meat and cleaning products.

Tip: Practise making longer and more complicated sentences using varied stress

Conclusion

Don’t let your pronunciation reduce your band score. It’s not enough just to be understood. You need to use stress and intonation to convey meaning/be properly understaood. That’s where the saying IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, BUT HOW YOU SAY IT comes from.
 
Listen to our huge collection of English native-speaker podcasts. Focus on how the teachers use sentence stress and intonation. Take some sentences that you like and practise copying them.

Practise your Pronunciation – record your voice

 
Don’t be shy – give it a try! You won’t improve if you don’t practise!
Record yourself, leave your name and we will reply with advice to help you improve your English pronunciation and be better understood
 

At the end of this blog RECORD YOURSELF saying the example sentences – I will get back to you to try to help you improve your English accent.

In the latest Real and Relevant conversation podcast (also available on itunes), you could hear teacher, Melissa’s clear English accent. She speaks with a received pronunciation accent and it may be difficult to completely sound like her, but there are certain elements of her speech that we can copy to sound a bit more like a native speaker… and less like someone who is learning English.

English has quite a different rhythm to other languages. It’s a bit kind of stop – start. We put vocal stress (and maybe slow down) on the words we think are important and hold the key information. Conversely, we speed up with things like grammar words that we don’t think are too important.

Accent Reduction Training

Listen to each sentence that Melissa says and then try to copy exactly HOW she says it. You should try to match your pronunciation with the same speed, tempo and stops and starts. Pay special attention to the stressed words in each sentence which carry the important meaning.

Sentence 1

Yeah and then you’re just sitting at your table you’re not interacting with anyone else in the pub or in the bar. You’re just sitting with your friends.

1_in the bar_Accent softening

Sentence 2

No you don’t want too much because it is quite strong the flavour is quite strong so just a little bit is enough

2_the flavour_accent training

Sentence 3

Although it’s different to ours because it’s all table service. Like when people come here they’re always really surprised that they have to go up and get their own drinks

3_drinks_accent reduction

Record your Voice

 
1. Press COMMENT in the box below
 
1 (b). Click RECORD. Then Register with Voicethread – it’s FREE and VERY QUICK
 
2. Record yourself saying the sentences like Melissa with your computer microphone.
- Click RECORD. Then ALLOW (to make your microphone work)
- If you don’t like what you say, click CANCEL.
- When you are happy with what your sentence, click SAVE.
- Then click the RIGHT ARROW to go to the next slide and record that sentence.
 
3. Remember to say your NAME at the end (so I know who is speaking)… please also leave a written comment, so that I know you’ve left a voice message
 

Then I will respond and tell you how to make your English accent better!
 
 

 
Two English teachers with two types of English accent.

Melissa is back in the pod and talks about the things that she has been missing while she has been teaching abroad. Melissa has a received pronunciation accent and speaks very clearly. Listen to her clear English pronunciation and then in tomorrow’s blog we will examine her speech patterns, so that you can try and improve your accent when you are speaking English so that you sound more natural.

By the way, we didn’t prepare anything before we made this podcast, which means that this is real English as it is spoken in 2012. This is not actors reading from a script.

SGI-022-Missing-England-English-Accent

 
Pod Subject: Missing England

Pod People: Melissa Humphreys & Bren Brennan
 
 
You may also like Melissa’s other podcasts…

1. Books
2. English stereotypes
3. Shakespeare, my hero
 
 
 
Go to a list of all our podcasts
 
 
 
 
NOW YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THESE PODCASTS FREE FROM iTunes.

Click on that link OR follow these instructions….

How to download from iTunes

1. Open up iTunes
2. Go to iTunes Store
3. In the SEARCH box (top right) write ‘Real & Relevant’
4. Click on the SGI Symbol
5. Click on SUBSCRIBE FREE

If you don’t have the chance to speak to native-speakers, this is the next best thing – a great way to improve your English vocabulary & listening skills.

Well, let me first say that in my opinion, having the accent of a non-native English speaker is NOT a problem. There are about 500 million native English speakers in the world and around 1 billion non-native speakers. So actually, there are far more people in the world who speak English with a ‘foreign’ accent, rather than a ‘proper’ accent.

However, if you want to soften your accent there are some basic exercises that you can do to help reduce you mother-tongue accent when you are speaking English.

Here’s a video of a comedian from Glasgow, Kevin Bridges having an accent reduction session. For English people, the regional accent from Glasgow is sometimes very difficult to understand.

As you will see, he has problems with the ‘th’ sound, which is also a big problem for lots of other nationalities.
 

 

‘Th’ sound pronunciation exercises

One of the most difficult sounds to pronounce in English is the /θ/ sound (as in thing, think, mathematics, truth, month)

How do you make the /θ/ sound?

This is a dental sound which means that you sound it by using your teeth (as well as your tongue).

Make the front of your tongue have light contact with the with the back of your top, front teeth… or your tongue tip can come out a little bit between your upper and lower teeth (click on the diagram). Blow out and let the air pass through your teeth and tongue. Don’t use your voice.

If you need more help, click on this link. Then click FRICATIVE and finally on the /θ/ symbol.

Practice Sentences for ‘th’ sound:

Listen to how I say the sentences slow and then fast and say the sentences out loud, trying to copy my pronunciation.
 

Accent training Th sound exercises

1. I was thirsty after thirty-three therapy sessions in Thirsk
 
2. On Thursday I threw myself through several therapeutic thoughts
 
3. She thinks she has finished her thirteen-month thesis about three-D movies in theatres.
 
 

But this time, it’s a bit special. HRH Prince Charles tried his hand at ‘doing the weather’ today on BBC Scotland television news, which must have been surprising for viewers tuning in to see what their daywould be like weather-wise. Weathermen, like news readers, typically have voices that are easy to understand, so it was unusual to hear the Prince with his received pronunciation accent talking about sunshine and rain.

Once Charles had got used to ‘the clicker’ (the gadget that makes the pictures move forward), he seemed to do the forecast like a professional. His famously exaggerated and expressive hand movements made him a natural for the job.

When he mentions Balmoral (the holiday home of the Royal family) thinks turn a bit humorous – well as funny as you can be when you get royalty on the BBC.

But whether you hear it from the weatherman/woman or royalty, the weather forecast is always filled with specific vocabulary that needs explaining if you are not a native speaker: the difficult vocabulary is highlighted in bold and then explained below the text.

 

 
Prince Charles’ weather forecast vocabulary:

Well it’s an unsettled picture as we head towards the end of the week. This afternoon it’ll be cold, wet and windy across most of Scotland. We are under the influence of low pressure and this weather front pushing northwards is bringing clouds and outbreaks of rain. The rain, of course, will be heaviest over the borders and around Edinburgh, where it could lead to difficult conditions on the roads. In the west, rain will be lighter and patchier with maybe a few drier interludes over Dumfries House in Ayrshire. There will be snow for the higher ground of the Highlands and Aberdeenshire. There will be the potential for a few flurries over Balmoral…who the hell wrote this script! The best of the drier and brighter weather will, of course, be over the far northern isles and far north of the mainland. So a little hazy sunshine for the Castle of Mey and Caithness. But a cold day everywhere with temperatures of just eight celsius and a brisk north easterly wind.
Thank God it isn’t a bank holiday!

Weather Forecast vocabulary

unsettled

changeable: the weather will be changing a lot – sometimes good, sometimes bad

under the influence

We are experiencing: We are having

weather front

a body of weather: can also say ‘cold front’ or ‘warm front’

outbreaks of rain

rain that starts suddenly, usually not for a long time

difficult conditions on the roads

not easy to drive because of the amount of water

patchier

small bursts of rain, only in some areas

drier interludes

small periods of time without rain

flurries

short periods of rain in windy conditions

hazy sunshine

sunshine that is not 100% (difficult to describe!!!)

brisk

fast and strong

A British couple have just finished a long boat journey. It was very long. They sailed around the world together for 36 years!!!

This is a dream for lots of people, but Bill Cooper and his wife really did it. Mr Cooper worked in London in finance and for the government. But in 1974, when he was on his way to work one day he decided to stop doing a job that he didn’t really like. When he was waiting for his train to work, he said to himself, “I’m not going in today. I’m fed up!” So he went back home and asked his wife to ring the office and tell them that he wasn’t coming to work ever again!

The couple started building their own boat. It took 2 years to make. Mr Cooper did the building and Mrs Cooper did the painting. Then they set off on their incredible journey. At first they cruised around the Meditteranean and the Caribbean islands. They also went along canals and rivers, including from New York to Florida. They crossed the seven seas and in total they sailed over 100,000 nautical miles and stopped off at over 45 countries.

Some of the places they visited were:

Gibraltar, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Crete, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Sicily, Sardinia, Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Canary Islands, the Caribbean islands, the USA, Portugal, Morocco, Greece, Monaco, the Azores, Corsica, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Tunisia.

Now, they have returned to England because of ill health. At 83, Mr Cooper is slowly losing his eyesight. But they won’t live on land in a house. They will still live on their boat on a river in Kent. It will probably be a bit quiet for the Coopers as they have survived 25m waves, 100mph winds and hurricanes. Now, Mr Cooper wants to write a book about their adventures. He said, “We have had an absolutely amazing life. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

What great story. I can’t wait to read it.
 

Here’s a large map of the world with all the country names. You can make the picture big by ‘zooming in’, so that you can read everything.

 
If you want more beginner’s English blogs, read this about Whitney Houston’s funeral or this about books and technology.

If you can read this poem aloud and say every word correctly, then you probably have better English pronunciation than the majority of native English speakers in the world: I had trouble readingsome of the words! You can compare how you say it to how I have read it on the video below the text. Good Luck!

English Pronunciation

(by G. Nolst Trenité)

Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse, Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you, With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK, When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour, And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Fe0ffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary. Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear, Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!), Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough, Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!!

English Pronunciation

There is often a question regarding the correct pronunciation of often. Some people say that it should be said with the ‘t’ /ɒftən/ (ofTen) …and some say that the ‘t’ should be silent /ɒfn/ (oFFen). The argument being that if you think about the word ‘listen’, then the ‘t’ is silent.
If you are learning English, then I don’t think that this is one of the most important issues to worry about. It’s undeniable that within the group of native speakers of English, some people say /ɒfn/ (oFFen) and some people say /ɒftən/ (ofTen).
Strangely, I get asked about this in class quite a lot, because sometimes I pronounce often both ways. My English is OK, so I’d have to say that choose whichever pronunciation you prefer and stick with that one. …and then sometimes say the other one just for fun!

Just to confuse matters and make things more difficult, the Queen pronounces the word in an old school received pronunciation way. The Queen has softened her received pronunciation accent dramatically over the years to sound less elitist – you can hear the results of this in my blog from last year where I look at her RP accent changes. Often holds a special place in her RP accent though. This is possibly the only word that she uses that still recalls the way she spoke when she was a young woman. She says often /ɒfn/ like orphan /ɔːfn/…and it’s one way that you definitely know that Queen is giving her Christmas Message to the Commonwealth of Nations. Here is her 2011 Xmas Speech and the full transcript is below the video. She says often /ɔːfn/ four times, but you may notice that the second time she says it, it is slightly softer and a little bit different. Maybe in 20 years’ time, she’ll often be saying often!

Queen’s Received Pronunciation Speech

(with special use of ‘often’)

“In this past year my family and I have been inspired by the courage and hope we have seen in so many ways in Britain, in the Commonwealth and around the world. We’ve seen that it’s in hardship that we often find strength from our families; it’s in adversity that new friendships are sometimes formed; and it’s in a crisis that communities break down barriers and bind together to help one another. Families, friends and communities often find a source of courage rising up from within. Indeed, sadly, it seems that it is tragedy that often draws out the most and the best from the human spirit. When Prince Philip and I visited Australia this year, we saw for ourselves the effects of natural disaster in some of the areas devastated by floods, where in January so many people lost their lives and their livelihoods. We were moved by the way families and local communities held together to support each other.
Prince William travelled to New Zealand and Australia in the aftermath of earthquakes, cyclones and floods and saw how communities rose up to rescue the injured, comfort the bereaved and rebuild the cities and towns devastated by nature. The Prince of Wales also saw first-hand the remarkable resilience of the human spirit after tragedy struck in a Welsh mining community, and how communities can work together to support their neighbours. This past year has also seen some memorable and historic visits – to Ireland and from America. The spirit of friendship so evident in both these nations can fill us all with hope. Relationships that years ago were once so strained have through sorrow and forgiveness blossomed into long-term friendship. It is through this lens of history that we should view the conflicts of today, and so give us hope for tomorrow. Of course, family does not necessarily mean blood relatives but often a description of a community, organisation or nation. The Commonwealth is a family of 53 nations, all with a common bond, shared beliefs, mutual values and goals. It is this which makes the Commonwealth a family of people in the truest sense, at ease with each other, enjoying its shared history and ready and willing to support its members in the direst of circumstances. They have always looked to the future, with a sense of camaraderie, warmth and mutual respect while still maintaining their individualism. The importance of family has, of course, come home to Prince Philip and me personally this year with the marriages of two of our grandchildren, each in their own way a celebration of the God-given love that binds a family together. For many, this Christmas will not be easy. With our armed forces deployed around the world, thousands of service families face Christmas without their loved ones at home. The bereaved and the lonely will find it especially hard. And, as we all know, the world is going through difficult times. All this will affect our celebration of this great Christian festival.
Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: ‘Fear not’, they urged, ‘we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ‘For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’ Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive. Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love. In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray.
Cast out our sin, And enter in.
Be born in us today.
It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord. I wish you all a very happy Christmas.”

There are 3 different ways to pronounce –ed endings:  /d/   /t/  &  /

Listen out for them as I read through the text. The rules about when you use the different –ed endings are below the article.

Pronounce -ed endings

David and Victoria Beckham welcomed their newborn baby daughter to the world on Monday morning and they have announced that they have called her, Harper Seven Beckham. David confirmed the news on his Facebook page and later, a spokesperson for the couple stated: David and Victoria are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter. Happy and healthy, she arrived at 7.55am in Los Angeles and weighed 7lb 10oz. Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz are excited to welcome their new baby sister to the family.

It has been reported that Victoria has always liked the old English name, Harper. However, there has been speculation that it was actually the Beckhams’ sons that decided on the name, Harper: it is the name of a character from the TV series Wizards of Waverly Place, which is the boys’ favourite show. Apparently, the boys also used to read the books and have even visited the set of the show.

Seven was David’s number when he played for Manchester United and England. It is considered to be his lucky number and he has always wanted to call one of his children, Seven.

As the news of the birth spread like wildfire around the globe via the internet, fans and bloggers pointed out that the Beckhams are not the first to think of the name, Seven. It appeared in an episode of the classic comedy, Seinfeld. The “idiot” George Costanza character claimed to have come up with the perfect name for a baby, which was Seven. He believed it to be ‘a beautiful name for a boy. Or a girl.’

The Beckhams have previously expressed their love for all things USA, but it’s not known if they are fans of Seinfeld. Brooklyn, their eldest boy, was named after the American state in which he was conceived.

Victoria has remained active throughout her pregnancy and worked on her latest range for her fashion label. Now she can look forward to putting her feet up and having a good rest, even though she was too posh to push and Harper was delivered by elective Caesarean.

-ed ending can be pronounced in 3 different ways

1. –ed is pronounced /d/ after voiced endings (sounds made using the voice box). There are more /d/ endings than other –ed endings (so maybe if you don’t know which ending to say, then it’s probably best to go for a /d/ ending sound. You’ve got more chance of getting it right!) e.g. arrived, changed
2. –ed is pronounced /t/ after verbs ending in these sounds: /k/ /p/ /f/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʧ/
   These are unvoiced sounds (sounds which are made without using the voice box) e.g. worked, dropped, laughed, watched, passed, washed, watched
3. After verbs ending in /t/ or /d/, we pronounce -ed as /ɪd/ e.g. excited, decided

If you want more practice at listening to -ed endings, check out my earlier blog here

43

There are hundreds of different accents of native speakers of English. We can instantly recognise if someone comes from Glasgow in Scotland, Sydney in Australia, New York in America, New Delhi in India: are any of these accents ‘wrong’? They all belong to native speakers! When students say that they want to speak RP, do they know that this accent is only spoken by a small minority in England and also has some negative connotations (as well as some positive ones)?

Also, what is the point of trying to learn a native-like accent, when for the majority of students the only people that they are likely to communicate with will also be non-native speakers? I think the goal for nearly all English language students might be better termed as not to ‘lose your accent’, but to be able to communicate effectively and to be understood.

OK, you might want to look at certain sounds that you are pronouncing and make them nearer to a native speaker to help being understood. For example, Japanese speakers might want to try to improve their pronunciation of /l/ and /r/, German speakers could try to differentiate between /ʒ/ and /ʤ/, Spanish speakers could concentrate on /i:/ and /ɪ/, Russian speakers could look at /θ/ and /ð/ and so on.

But if you are really motivated to lose your accent, then here are a few tips:

1. Become aware of the sound differences between the way you are pronouncing sounds now and the way that they are produced in the target accent that you are trying to copy. English has got 26 letters in the alphabet, but 44 phonemes (or sounds) that you need to learn to speak with a ‘correct accent’. You need to know the position of the parts in your mouth for each of these phonemes.
2. Listen to a native speaker. Easier said than done, I know. But by using the internet, there are lots of ways to find examples of spoken native speech. You can listen to BBC radio (not just the boring World Service, you can find and listen to any of the BBC radio stations here…), watch your favourite TV comedy series and soak up millions of YouTube videos.
3. Record yourself saying a short piece of spoken language that you can compare to native speech. So, maybe find a short YouTube video of speech that you like and then see how closely you can copy that accent. See where the differences are and slowly try to change the way that you say things to be closer to your target accent. You don’t need expensive equipment for this. Here’s some free recording software…
4. Speak with stress timing. Some languages are syllable-timed languages, where equal strength is given to each sound: English isn’t like that. Normally, we only stress the important words in a sentence and don’t give such importance to the ‘grammar words’, which we say very quickly.

Another option in trying to lose your accent is to come to SGI for summer school and actually be in London, where you can hear lots of ‘good’ English from the fantastic teachers!

Good luck!

Loads of students have said to me over the years that they want to ‘speak like the Queen’ or speak ‘Oxford English’. Well, the fact is that even the Queen has changed her accent over the years in an attempt to sound less aristocratic.

Look at this video of her Christmas Speech from 1957. Listen to the way the Queen says ‘often’ at 0:55. If you know phonemic symbols, then it is something like this /ɔ:fən/. It actually sounds like she might be saying another word -‘orphan’… which is a child who has no parents.

Nowadays, most people (and even the Queen) would pronounce the word ‘often’ like /ɒfən/ or /ɒftən/… both are accepted – with or without pronouncing the ‘t’
The Queen also says /lɔ:st/ at 1:55, instead of the current ‘lost’ /lɒst/ in another example of RP that sounds extremely old-fashioned these days.

You can hear how the Queen speaks now in the clip from her Christmas Speech in 2010. Her RP accent has definitely changed. Can you hear how she sounds a bit more approachable and less harsh now?

After the huge success of the film The King’s Speech at the Oscars, there is perhaps renewed interest and fascination in speaking ‘correctly’ like the King of England. This week you will be able to hear lots of ‘posh’ RP accents when Prince William takes his vows and gets married at Westminster Abbey. When you hear Kate Middleton speaking, you might even think that she speaks with a posher accent than William.

The Received Pronunciation accent is not an official way of speaking, but because school children ‘learn’ this accent at the most expensive schools in England, it used to be, and to some extent still remains, a sign of ‘a good education’ and a ‘certain social position’.
However, if you have a Received Pronunciation accent that is too posh nowadays, then people think it is ridiculous and possibly that you are a stupid aristocrat with outdated opinions.

If you don’t believe me, here’s a comedy sketch from a very popular show from a few years ago.

So, maybe it’s not the best idea to want to speak Received Pronunciation like the Queen.
However, if you want to know about phonemic script or speak understandable British English then you can learn both of these things at SGI in London this summer. See you there!

Do you ever feel embarrassed about your English pronunciation? Do you often feel that your reading, grammar and listening are much better than your speaking? Then this is the blog post for you.

7 Pronunciation Tips

You should never be ashamed of how you speak. It is perfectly natural to have an accent and it is part of your national and cultural identity. Remember the most important thing is to communicate with others, to understand and be understood. Also remember that English people often find accents sexy!

But here are seven tips on how to notice and improve your pronunciation if that is what you want or if your accent is causing you communication problems. These tips are about recognizing how native speakers speak and also actively helping yourself.

1. Language learners often accuse English people of ‘eating words’. It’s true that we eat parts of them. Stress (the emphasis we put on some syllables) means that some parts of words are said longer and louder than others. As a consequence, the other parts of those words become shorter and quieter. Stress is what makes the pronunciation of words like ‘sixteen’ and ‘sixty’ or ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’ different. Always make a note of the stress on new words and exaggerate the length of those stressed syllables!
2. English speaking people actually really do eat their words! Well, some words at least. Just like we stress some syllables in words, in sentences we also emphasise some words more than others. This means the words we don’t stress become shorter and quieter. Notice how English people use lots of contractions and ‘eat’ words like prepositions and articles. Try to copy them and, again, make a note of stress in new phrases or sentences that you learn.
3. One of the best ways to notice English pronunciation is to do lots of listening practice. If you find listening really hard, then try listening and reading at the same time, for example using graded readers or the CD and tapescripts at the back of your coursebook. Cross out the words which are ‘eaten’ and underline the stressed syllables.
4. Have a model in your head. Imagine your teacher or a famous native speaker saying the words or phrases and try to copy them.
5. Record yourself. Sometimes it can be difficult to recognize the mistakes we are making and one of the best ways to identify them is to listen to a recording of ourselves. At first it can be a bit embarrassing but you soon get used to it!
6. Learn the phonemic symbols which we use to show the pronunciation of words, or at least some of them. This will help you to note down how new words are said and distinguish between how you think it might be said and how it really is.
7. Practise a lot too. There are plenty of sites where you can match spelling, phonemic symbols and a voice recording, such as

• http://davidbrett.uniss.it/
• http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/
• www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
• www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
• www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/

The document shows how the British played a complicated game, which succeeded in convincing Hitler that the British and their Allies were going to make their D-Day landings in a different place to where they actually happened – on the Normandy coast. This deception proved to be crucial in helping with the success of the D-Day invasion and shortened the war, which saved countless lives.

One of the unsung heroes in the background to the story is Juan Pujol Garcia, a Spanish businessman, who was one of the war’s incredible double agents. The Nazis believed that he was giving them true information. However, Pujol (who the British codenamed Garbo) worked for British Intelligence, as well.

He wasn’t exactly a James Bond type figure. He was small, bald and boring. But he completely tricked the Germans.

Normally, he would send genuine information, but too late for any action to be taken. However, Pujol reported to the Nazis that the D-Day landings in Normandy were only a small part of the invasion and the main attacks would happen further down the coast in Pas de Calais. So, thousands of German troops stayed in the Calais area, away from Normandy.

The document shows that this information completely fooled the Germans.

The Allies knew that the plan had worked because they had already cracked the code, which the Germans used for sending messages. Therefore, they were extremely confident before the mission, which gave them a huge advantage and ultimately meant that the D-Day invasion was successful.

Listen to hear how the regular past simple verbs with an –ed ending are pronounced.

How the regular past simple verbs with an –ed ending are pronounced