It reads ah. English alphabet

Greetings, my dear readers.

Today we continue to talk about how to learn to read correctly, so the topic of today's article is transcription of English letters.

We have already introduced you to the concept and dealt with the pronunciation of sounds in English. Today we will figure out exactly how they are pronounced in various combinations.

I have a clear table for you. It contains the letters of the English alphabet with transcription, Russian analogue letters and my notes so that you can immediately get the correct pronunciation. I also added examples of words with the sounds being studied and their translation.

What else can you find on the blog:

with letters and transcription (you can study them online, download, print and work with them);
for children I have a full .

Well, shall we begin?

Features of English transcription:

it is always formatted with square brackets. I can’t say exactly where it came from, but I think it’s just worth taking it for granted;
to understand where the stress is, the transcription uses the sign [‘] before the stressed syllable;
It is important to remember that transcription is about the sound, not the spelling of words. Sometimes the spelling can be 90% different from what we pronounce;
to show that a sound is long we use a colon.

In general about English transcription I wrote - please!

Letters of the English alphabet and their transcription in Russian and English:

English letter	Transcription	Russian equivalent
Aa		Hey
Bb		Bi
Cc		Si
Dd		Di
Ee		AND
Ff	[ɛf]	Eph
Gg		Gee
Hh		H.
II		Ay
Jj		Jay
Kk		Kay
Ll	[ɛl]	Al
mm	[ɛm]	Em
Nn	[ɛn]	En
Oo	[əʊ]	Oh
Pp		Pi
Qq		Q
Rr	[ɑː] or [ɑɹ]	A or Ar
Ss	[ɛs]	Es
Tt		Tee
Uu		Yu
Vv		V
Ww	[ˈdʌb(ə)l juː]	Double
Xx	[ɛks]	Ex
Yy		Wye
Zz	,	Zed, zee

But do you know what is the most interesting thing about English?

If different letters are combined, they are pronounced differently!

That's why I prepared for you

Examples of English letter combinations in Russian and English:

Combination	Transcription	How to pronounce	Example
ee	/i:/	AND	bee - bee
ea	/ ı:/	AND	tea - tea
oo	/u/	U	cook - to cook
th	/ ð / / Ѳ /	Z, S (interdental)	thumb - finger
sh	/ ʃ /	Sh	shout - shout
ch	/tʃ/	H	chair - chair
ph	/f/	F	phone - phone
ck	/k/	TO	snack - snack
ng	/ Ƞ /	Ng	song - song
wh	/w/	Ua	why - why
wr	/r/	R	write - write
qu	/kw/	Kua	queen - queen
igh	/aı/	Ay	high - high
all	/Ɔ:l/	Ol	tall - tall
ai	/eı/	Hey	Spain - Spain
ay	/eı/	Hey	May - May
oi	/oı/	Oh	point - point
oh	/oı/	Oh	toy - toy
ow	/oƱ/	Oh	grow - grow
ou	/aƱ/	Ay	out - outside
ew	/ju:/	Yu	knew - knew
aw	/ Ɔ: /	Ooo	draw - draw
ee+r	/ ıə /	Eeyore	engineer - engineer
ou+r	/aƱə/	Aue	our - ours
oo+r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooo	door - door
wo+r	/ ɜ: /	Y/O	work - work
ai+r	/eə/	Ea	chair - chair
oa+r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooh	roar - scream
might	/Ʊd/	Oud	could - could
ound	/aƱnd/	Aund	round - round
eigh	/eı/	Hey	eight - eight
-y	/ ı /	AND	tiny - tiny
au	/ Ɔ: /	Oo	Paul - Paul
gh	/f/	F	laugh - laugh
aught	/Ɔ:t/	From	taught - taught

I know this table seems huge right now. Surely you think that remembering all this is unrealistic. I'll tell you this: at a certain point, when you have enough, you won't even pay attention to these combinations. Your brain will learn to quickly remember how exactly these letters sound. Moreover, even when you come across a word that is completely unfamiliar to you, you will be able to read it correctly. The only question is the amount of practice on your part.

How to remember combinations of letters?

Use cards. Visual perception is better developed in most people.
Read. Pay attention to combinations of letters when or just texts.
Don't get hung up. It is not necessary to immediately memorize these combinations and only then move directly to English. Learn as you go!
Buy paper or download a good one e-book in order to quickly learn to recognize combinations and pronounce them correctly. Even if you, an adult, need it, don’t hesitate to take books for children - everything there is explained in detail and is not without interest.

That's all, my dears. I hope you found it useful and understandable. I provide even more similar materials in the blog newsletter - subscribe and receive a dose of useful information regularly.

Starting to study English language, the first thing you encounter is the English alphabet (english alphabet [ˈalfəbɛt ]). Writing English letters is not something completely new, even in the most initial stage training, because anyone modern man encounters English letters on computer and telephone keyboards every day. Yes, and English words are found at every step: in advertising, on the labels of various products, in store windows.

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But even though the letters seem familiar, their correct pronunciation in English is sometimes difficult even for those who speak English quite well. Everyone is familiar with the situation when you need to spell an English word - for example, dictate an address email or the name of the site. This is where the wonderful names begin: i - “like a stick with a dot”, s - “like a dollar”, q - “where is the Russian th”.

English alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, transcription and voice acting

English alphabet with Russian pronunciation is intended only for beginners. In the future, when you become familiar with the rules of reading English and learn new words, you will need to study transcription. It is used in all dictionaries, and if you know it, it will solve the problem for you once and for all correct pronunciation new words. We advise you to compare the transcription icons in square brackets with the Russian equivalent at this stage. Perhaps, from these short examples, you will remember some of the relationships between English and Russian sounds.

Below is a table showing the English alphabet with transcription and Russian pronunciation. Notice how the uppercase and lowercase letters look.

← Move the table to the left to view in full

Letter

Listen

Transcription

Russian pronunciation

Below, you can listen to all the letters of the English alphabet at once:

Alphabet trainer

Choose the letter that matches its pronunciation.

English alphabet cards

Cards of the English alphabet are very effective in learning it. Bright and large letters will be easier to remember. See for yourself:

You can make such cards yourself, for example, according to the sample above. Next, print, cut out the letters and arrange them in the correct sequence.

For children, on the English alphabet cards you can depict animals in addition to the letters so that they can immediately memorize new words and the learning process is not boring.

Features of some letters of the English alphabet.

In the English alphabet 26 letters: 20 consonants and 6 vowels.

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, Y.

There are several letters in the English language that we want to pay attention to special attention, since they have certain features that need to be taken into account when learning the alphabet.

The letter Y in English can be read as a vowel or as a consonant. For example, in the word “yes” it is a consonant sound [j], and in the word “many” it is a vowel sound [i] (and).
Consonant letters in words, as a rule, convey only one sound. The letter X is an exception. It is transmitted by two sounds at once - [ks] (ks).
The letter Z in the alphabet is read differently in the British and American versions (as you probably already noticed in the table). The British version is (zed), the American version is (zi).
The pronunciation of the letter R is also different. The British version is (a), the American version is (ar).

To make sure you pronounce it correctly english letters, we recommend not only looking at them and reading them (using transcription or Russian version), but also listening. To do this, we advise you to find and listen to ABC-song. This song is usually used when teaching children the alphabet, but it can also be useful for adults. ABC song is very popular in teaching and comes in various variations. If you sing it with the announcer several times, you can not only check the correct pronunciation of the letters, but also easily remember the alphabet along with the melody.

Listen to a song about the English alphabet:

A few words about spelling

So, we have learned the English alphabet. We know how English letters are pronounced individually. But moving on to the reading rules, you will immediately see that many letters in different combinations are read completely differently. A reasonable question arises - as the cat Matroskin would say - what is the benefit of memorizing the alphabet? In fact, there are practical benefits.

The point here is not the ability to recite the alphabet from beginning to end, but the ability to easily spell any English word. This skill is necessary when you need to write down English names under dictation. If you need English for work, this skill can be very useful, because english names, even ones that sound the same, can be written in several ways. For example, Ashley or Ashlee, Mila and Milla, not to mention last names. Therefore, for the British and Americans themselves, it is considered absolutely natural to ask to spell a name if you need to write it down (spell it) - hence the word spelling (spelling), which you can see in various tutorials.

Online exercises to reinforce the alphabet

Choose the letter that goes

Complete the letter with which the word begins.

Complete the letter that ends the word.

Decipher the code and write down the secret message in letters. The number corresponds to the order of the letters in the alphabet.

You can apply the acquired knowledge in practice with the help. With the help of unique exercises, even at the most basic level, you can master not only reading, but also writing English words, as well as learn basic grammar rules and continue learning further.

Learn more about what the stroke, colon, parentheses and other symbols.

You can look at another version of the English transcription and, if necessary, print or copy it for editing in Microsoft Word
English Transcription

Pronunciation of English sounds.

Pronunciation of English vowels.

The pronunciation of English sounds is presented in Russian letters, you should understand what to convey the correct English pronunciation Using the Russian alphabet is not possible.

ɑː long, deep
ʌ short vowel a, as in the Russian word run.
ɒ = ɔ - short, open about
ɔː - long o
zː - long vowel e, as in the Russian word hedgehog.
æ - open e
e - like e in the word these
ə - unclear unstressed sound, similar to e
iː - long and
ɪ - short, open and
ʊ = u - short u, pronounced with a slight rounding of the lips.
uː - long u pronounced without strong rounding of the lips.

Two-vowel sounds

Pronunciation of English consonants.

p - p
b - b
m - m
f - f
v - in
s - s
z - z
t - resembles the Russian sound t, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
d - resembles the Russian sound d, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
n - resembles the Russian sound n, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
l - resembles the Russian sound l, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
r is a very hard sound pronounced without vibration of the tongue. Corresponds to the sound r in the word lot
ʃ - soft Russian sh
ʒ - soft Russian zh, as in the word yeast.
tʃ- h
ʤ - similar to the Russian sound j (voiced ch)
k - k
h - inhale, reminiscent of a faintly pronounced x sound
ju - long yu in the word southern
je - sound e in the word spruce
jɔ - sound е in the word fir-tree
jʌ - the sound I in the word pit
j - resembles the Russian sound й before vowels. Occurs in combination with vowels.

English consonant sounds that have no approximate correspondence in Russianː

w - formed with the help of rounded lips (as in whistling). It looks like a sound uttered with just lips. In translation it is denoted by the letters в or у ː W illiams - Williams, Williams.
ƞ - Open your mouth slightly and say n without closing your mouth.
ɵ - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian with
ð - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian z

The English alphabet does not contain so many letters, there are only 26 of them. However, there are many more sounds. There are 44 of them. For this reason, in the English language, most letters can convey different sounds, which ones directly depend on their location in the word. Those who are just starting to learn English are faced with the problem of correctly reading certain letters of the English alphabet. To begin with, to make it easier to understand how English letters are pronounced, learn the rules for reading them; it won’t take you much time.

Letters and sounds

Of course, we should start with the alphabet. As noted earlier, there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, of which only 5 are vowels: A, E, I, O, U. There are 21 consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L , M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z. By the way, in some cases the letter Y should sometimes be considered as a vowel. So, how to read English letters. First of all, it should be noted that words in English consist of two types of syllables: open and closed. As open syllable we can imagine a syllable in which the last letter is a vowel. For example, move, rose, fame. As for the closed syllable, it ends with a consonant. For example, cat, bob, hen. Thus, the sound of vowels will directly depend on which syllable, open or closed, they are part of. Now, in order to make it easier to understand how reading occurs, we should consider in detail how English letters are read in Russian.

Open syllables

Let's start with the first letter of the alphabet - this is the letter A. In an open syllable, it gives the sound [EY]. For example, take. As for the closed syllable, here it will be read as [E]. For example, cat.
The letter O makes the sound [ОУ] in an open syllable. For example, rose. And in closed - [O]. For example, dog.
The letter U makes the sound [Yu] in an open syllable. For example, use. In a closed syllable it is read as [A]. For example, bus.
The letter E is read like [I] in an open syllable. For example, Pete. And in a closed syllable it is pronounced like [E]. For example, pet.
The letter I is read like [AY] in an open syllable. For example, Mike. And, like [I] - in a closed syllable. For example, pig.
The letter Y is pronounced like [AY] in an open syllable. For example, fly. In a closed syllable it sounds like [I]. For example, system.

Closed syllables

Now we should consider how English letters sound in a closed syllable. It should be noted that in English quite often vowel letters are combined into letter combinations. So, two letters OO are pronounced like [y]. For example, book. In this case, the sound can be either long or short. The combination of letters EE is read as a long [I]. For example, see, bee. A combination of letters such as EA is also pronounced as a long [I]. For example, tea, speak. And combinations of the letters AY and EY are pronounced like [EY]. For example, away, grey. As for consonant letters, they are most often read in the same way as they are pronounced in the alphabet. However, there are exceptions - these are the letters C and G. They are read before the vowels i, e and y, like [C] and [J]. For example, city, page. As for other vowels, before them C is pronounced like [K], and G like [G]. For example, gate, cock.

Popular letter combinations

When considering how English letters are read, it is necessary to note the most common letter combinations that are most often used in oral speech.

First of all, this is a combination of CH. It is pronounced like [H]. For example, chat.
The combination SH is read as [Ш]. For example, shame.
The combination of the letters N and G gives the long nasal sound [N]. For example, sing, swing.
And the combination PH gives the sound [F]. For example, phone.
The letters KN are pronounced like [N]. For example, know.

This list can be continued for a very long time, since the English language is quite complex and multifaceted, but the beginning has been made, you have already learned the basics, so go ahead! Put in maximum effort, work and patience, and as a result you will succeed!

Letter II it's not called for nothing - “AY”, that’s how it’s read, but... not always.
And the English short sound [i]- “I” is written like a printed lowercase letter for a reason i. Letter II can be read [i].
Reading the letter II in open and closed syllables and letter combinations igh:

*** The reading of English vowels is influenced by the other letters that make up the word (see). How to read a letter or combination of letters in English word, exactly show the transcription signs - icons inside square brackets.

Here are examples open syllable, after the letter i there are no other letters, and it is readable :

One letter word I always written with a capital letter and read = "AY" - this is the pronoun "I"
hi- - "hai" - hello

Closed syllable, after a vowel i there is a consonant that “closes” the vowel, making the syllable closed. Letter i read [i]:

big- "BIG" - big
pin- "PIN" - pin

But if you add a vowel at the end of such a word, for example, a silent letter e, the syllable will be open:

pine- "PINE" - pine

Vowel e at the end of such words it is not readable, but forms a second syllable. The first stressed syllable is open:

Read:

The letter combination igh reads:

h igh- high
h igh t - height
l igh t - light
n igh t - night
br igh t - bright
...
*** Remember the letter combination gh( t) - "GHS (ti)". It also occurs with other vowels, for example:

dau ght er ["dɔ:tə] - daughter
lau gh- laugh
bou ght- bought
bou gh- bitches
plou gh- (British) plow (American, plow)
borou gh[ˈbʌrə] - (small) city, ...

and [i]!!!

Have you memorized the transcription signs? ("AY") and [i]("AND") ! ?