pronunciation

Say Different City Names in English

Paris Map by Stefano Creative Commons: Attribution Some cities have slightly different names in English to the way their names in other languages. Some of these are different pronunciations of the same spelling, such as Paris; others are wildly different, such as Florence and Prague. This week’s podcast teaches you how to say different city … [Read more…]

Your New Speaking Coach: Your Phone

These days a lot of people have smartphones. I think maybe only my parents have slim phones that only make calls and receive text messages. Most people use their smartphones for games or internet surfing or email. Some people use them to time their runs and record how many miles they have run. However, there … [Read more…]

‘It’ Sounds Like ‘Id’

Today’s podcast is about the way native speakers pronounce words to allow them to flow together more quickly. I look at ‘flap D’, the way written ‘t’ turns to a ‘d’ sound in spoken English, then I look at inserting a ‘w’ sound between two vowels to allow words to run together quickly. I hope … [Read more…]

Thirteen or Thirty?

So many students ask me how to tell the difference between the teens (13-19) and multiples of ten (20, 30, 40, etc.) when they are listening or trying to pronounce or intone them correctly. This podcast will help you listen to and pronounce numbers more easily. The quick way to remember them is: thirTEEN and … [Read more…]