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Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

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Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#271
Related, but admittedly a bit only indirectly related, I can't recommend the YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@DrGeoffLindsey enough.

I never thought I could be so engrossed about minute details in the spoken word, yet I don't ever find myself bored watching these videos on the quirks of English pronunciation.

Here's a recent video about how to convey differences in the English pronunciations of words such as "fit" and "feet", especially as it relates to native French speakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNpbv7hJf6c

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#272

I’m not a native English speaker, but I can speak 4 languages. My previous manager always suggested me to take some English class when we had the 1:1. Once a day, I told him: I’m speaking English with you, is because I can speak English, but you can ONLY speak English.

I imagine he found it quite tedious that you told him that every day!

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then hypercorrection happens, and you start saying “th” when it _was_ an “s”!

Such as in?

> Such as in?

Any word really, for example "smooth" can get hypercorrected to "thmooth". French people with a decent english tend to fall prey to hypercorrection, see for example Macron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ03xCX6Tdg

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#274
post #72

What I've found interesting about learning pronunciation is how deliberate you can be about fixing it. A lot of people from Slavic countries tend to pronounce the "th" sound as "d" or "s", including me, but I've stopped doing that mistake literally right after an American pointed out that I do it.

It's quite common in Ireland for 'th' to sound like 'd'. It's normally people from the countryside.

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#275
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry; English pronunciation can be mastered simply through tough, thorough thought. (English "o" is tons of fun-- of the 22 vowel sounds listed on the English orthography page on Wikipedia, only two can't generally have the letter "o" involved.)

> through tough, thorough thought. Neat example. What's also interesting is that it's hard to parse visually too, so it slows down reading.

it's also missing a final ", though"

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not grammatical accuracy on their part, it’s the opposite, it’s a calque, a word by word translation from their native tongue. If it was actually perfect grammatical accuracy on their part they’d be saying “Who were you talking to” or “Who were you speaking to”. Correct is what the people say, not the opinion of literal singular English language teachers.

> If it was actually perfect grammatical accuracy on their part they’d be saying “Who were you talking to” or “Who were you speaking to”. There is a sizable contingent of English speakers out there that continue to insist that it’s incorrect to end a sentence in a preposition. (I am not part of this group and it is fortunately shrinking over time.)

> There is a sizable contingent of English speakers out there that continue to insist that it’s incorrect to end a sentence in a preposition

That is the sort of nonsense up with which one should not put.

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#277
post #63

Please dont... "YouTube voice," the narration style(s) that so many creators have picked up, is very annoying. It's worse than "newscaster voice." Edit: This is a cool tool though

> "YouTube voice," the narration style(s) that so many creators have picked up

I can't say I've ever noticed that -- do you have particular creators/videos in mind?

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.viki.com/categories/country/mainland-china/genre...

Haha there's one about a "genius programmer", maybe not a terrible idea for listening practice.

Dude, I am not sure you will still read this. Viki has changed: https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/17924295071251-Su...

What a clusterfuck. This may be a better option now: https://www.iq.com/

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#279
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry; English pronunciation can be mastered simply through tough, thorough thought. (English "o" is tons of fun-- of the 22 vowel sounds listed on the English orthography page on Wikipedia, only two can't generally have the letter "o" involved.)

The Chaos (1922) - http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html More than half of my life lived in English-speaking countries does not help quite enough to avoid a migraine with this one.

That's fantastic!

Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm based in the US, where it's spelled without the "u". Quite a few examples of this spelling difference - humo(u)r, behavio(u)r etc. Oh and "spelt" is "spelled". Isn't English fun! :)

Even weirder, as a Native American English speaker, I would have spelt that word this way in only this context, but in other contexts it’s spelled this way. Maybe this is my own idiosyncrasy though and not what others would do. I’ve never even thought about it until just now.

> as a Native American English speaker

Based on context, I assume you mean a native "American English" speaker, rather than a "Native American" English speaker :)

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