How
to use fonetiks |
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First,
choose the language that you want to study. To study its pronunciation,
click on the pages to the right of a flag. We suggest you start with
"Single Vowel Sounds". Mouse over each symbol to hear the
first example of each sound. Practise it yourself and then try the other
examples to the right. You can use Microsoft Sound Recorder to record your own voice and compare it with the original. To open Sound Recorder, click on "Start" and go to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and click on Sound Recorder. You'll need a microphone. Understanding
the symbols: "back" means
the tongue is towards the back of the mouth. For example, the tongue
is towards the front of the mouth when you say "cat", but
towards the back when a British English speaker says "cart".
"long" means the sound is roughly
double length. "round" means
the lips are rounded when the sound is made. For example, you can change
"cot" to "caught" in British English by rounding
your lips as you say "cot". A symbol in italics
means the mouth is more closed than with non-italics. Please note: the
symbols are only a guide, not a bible. A good way of learning with fonetiks is to study with a friend. Try some of the exercises that are suggested on our Suggestions for Teachers page. Here's
a simplified vowel chart showing roughly where the various vowel sounds
are made in the mouth - front or back, open or closed - mouse over to
hear:
Trouble-shooting If you can't hear any sounds, check to see if your computer is equipped for sound; does it have loudspeakers or headphones? Does it have a sound card? If sound is working on your computer, you will hear the Microsoft start-up sound when you open Windows. If you have sound on your computer but you can't hear sounds on this site, you probably need to either update your browser or download the Flash player. The site is best viewed with IE4+; there are some minor formatting problems with Netscape and with Mozilla Firefox. If
you can hear the sounds but they are distorted, and/or there is a clicking
sound as though the sounds are "buffering out", then you probably
have a sound card that is not liked by Flash. The only way to fix that is
to change your sound card, or wait until a later edition of Flash fixes the
problem. If
you are using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, you will
probably experience problems in playing the sounds correctly - the only way
to fix this at the time of writing is to change back to Internet Explorer. If all else fails, e-mail us and we'll either fix it or commiserate with you!
Bye
for now! - Tim Bowyer |
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Timothy Bowyer - All rights reserved