Luke Nicholson's online British English pronunciation course

Luke Nicholson (picture left) is an experienced accent coach qualified by the

International Phonetic Association and a member of both the Voice and Speech
Trainers Association and the DialectCoaches Agency. Besides holding an IPA
certificate, he has a BA in German Studies and Italian Studies from the University
of Birmingham and an MA in Acting Distinction in Voice and in Articulation. He
has taught English pronunciation to people from over 65 different countries,
including Bahrain, Ethiopia, Holland, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Russia, Serbia,
Thailand, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

He recently launched an online British English pronunciation course which includes

in-depth information on the vowel and consonant sounds of English as well as the
main features of connected speech, stress, rhythm, intonation and voice quality.
You can take a look at the contents page here. The course is just excellent and a
wonderful resource for anyone with an intermediate/advanced level of English whos
interested in improving their pronunciation as well as their listening skills.

The course starts with six introductory lessons. After completing them, youre
immediately directed to the language guides section of the course, where you can
choose your native language and study the sounds that will make the biggest
differences to your accent.

What is so helpful about this course is that it also contains numerous relevant
links to native speakers to listen to, as well as suggestions of TV shows and films
to watch. Additionally, the learner has clear guidance about how to practise, how
to know if theyre making a sound accurately, and how to incorporate new sounds
into everyday speech. Heres one of the videos from the course about the schwa
vowel.

Luke is also the author of two carefully planned and extremely useful freely
available sound charts: the consonants chart and the vowels chart of Standard
Southern British English (= General British). These are clickable charts which
enable you to listen to recordings of the sounds of English as spoken by the author
himself. At the bottom of the charts one finds questions about phonetic symbols and
the realization of certain sounds to which detailed answers are provided which the
reader will find extremely useful. Another highly recommendable resource for
students (and teachers!) of British English pronunciation.

Congratulations, Luke!
Posted by Alex Rotatori at 9:30 am
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Monday, 21 November 2016

(Un)scientific English

The book you can see to the right is called Scientific English and was brought out
by Zanichelli in 2007. It is essentially a guide containing tips and resources for
those Italians who want to know more about how to write scientific papers in
English. It deals with abstracts, journals, keywords and phrases commonly used in
medical English, as well as with oral presentations.

The book also claims to provide some guidelines on the pronunciation of 'technical
terms', though the section devoted to this subject is reduced to a mere 10 lines.
Have a look at the bottom of page 153, under "Pronuncia" ('pronunciation'):

('The purpose of this manual is to provide the reader with information concerning
the correct use of Standard English in a scientific context. For this reason, we do
not give any indication as to how words are pronounced. Rather, we focus our
attention only on the written language since we believe that if you mispronounce a
word during a presentation, your native-speaker English audience will in all
probability forgive you for doing that [my highlighting]. There are, though, two
aspects of English pronunciation which you must bear in mind: 1) z is pronounced
[zi:] in AmE but [zed] in BrE; and 2) in telephone numbers, 0 is pronounced like
the letter o in BrE but zero or o in AmE.')

This is just absurd! How could the author have possibly written this?!

Ive been teaching English phonetics to health care professionals both at the
University of Tor Vergata and the Nursing Board of Rome (Collegio IPASVI) for
several years now and I know how vital it is for my students to be able to master
pronunciation in English. My experience with doctors and nurses has also led me to
write two books on the importance of English pronunciation in medical science.
Please see my Linglese medico-scientifico: pronuncia e comprensione allascolto
(EdiSES, 2014) and my Health Care Professionals Speaking (EdiSES, 2015). For
further info, also check this link.

An excellent example which illustrates the fallacy of the author's argument and
highlights the crucial role English pronunciation plays in the science sector, is
provided by Professor John Wells in his book Sounds Interesting (CUP, 2014; pp. 86-
87):

"Much would be accomplished if medical school staffs emphasized orthoepy more"

(Bradford N. Craver, Wayne University; Science, New Series, Vol. 96, No. 2490,
Sept. 18, 1942, p. 273).
Posted by Alex Rotatori at 11:41 am
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Monday, 27 June 2016

'breks?t ~ 'bregz?t

Some days before the UKs EU referendum, Cambridge Dictionaries Online published an
article on their blog About Words entitled European Union in or out? The language
of the UKs referendum. The article, written by lexicographer Liz Walter, is
essentially aimed at teachers and students of EFL who want to improve their
knowledge of the language or use classroom material that is original.

The passage Cambridge offer online is extremely useful for foreign learners of
English, and I thought it might be a good idea if readers could be provided with a
(mainly) phonemic transcription of it as well.

So what youll find below is the full text of the article linked to above
completely transcribed in IPA, representing the way I would pronounce it myself in
General British (GB) and using the symbols found in the new edition of Alan
Cruttendens Gimsons Pronunciation of English (2014, Routledge).

A note of caution: although all of the pronunciations represented below can be

regarded as belonging to GB, they are not always recommendable to the EFL teacher
as these may sometimes have distinct disadvantages for the student to copy.

j??r?pi??n ju?ni?n - ?n ??r a?t? ? la?gw?? ?v ? ju?ke?z ref?rend?m

?n ?u?n ? twenti???d, br?tn? wl? d?sa?d we?r ?? n?t t? r?me?n p??t ? ? j??r?pi??
n ju?nj?n (i?ju?). a?m m?? n? hapi t? b?? frenz w? ma? ??n vju?z ?n ? s?b?ekt,
b?? ? p??p?s ? ?s p??st ?s s?mpli t? ha?la?? ? la?gw?? ?v ? d?be?t.

? pr?sa?s kwes?n? w?l bi ??n?r?? ?z: '??d ? juna?t?d k??d?m r?me?n ? membr? i
j??r?pi??n ju?nj?n ?? li?v i j??r?pi??n ju?nj?n?', ?n ni ??n?? wl? bi disa?d?d ?
n ? refrend?m (? na?n?l ?lek?n? ?m w?? i?? p??sn? haz w?m v??t). ??l s?t?z?nz ?v
br??n?, ??l?nd ?n ? k?m?nwel? (k?ntriz ?p b?l?? t? ? br?t?? emp??r ?n ? p??st ?
n st?l hav ? kl??s r?le??n???p w? ? ju?ke?), k?r?nli l?v?? ?n ? ju?ke? k?m v??t.
?n ?d??n?, ju?ke? na?nl?z l?v?? ?br??d k?n v??t ?f e?v b?n ?n i ?lektrl? re??st?
(?f???l l?st ?v pi?p?l ?nta?tl? t? v??t) ?n n? l??s f?fti?n j??z.

s?? w?t ? i ??u?z k?nekt?d w? ?s d?s??n?? f??sli, i i?ju? ?p?re?? ?z ? s??gl?

m??k?t. sentrl? t? ?s a?d??r ?z ? fri? mu?vm?nt ?v g?? m? w??k?z b?twi?n i?ju? k?
ntriz. ?s mi?nz ?? w??k?z frm? k?ntriz w?? ha? re?? ?v ?n?mpl??m?nt k?n mu?v t?
k?ntriz w? m?? ??bz. k?n??kw?ntli, ? kwes??n ?v ?m?gre??n? ?z w?n ?t ?z ?ft?n d?
sk?st. ?n ? ju?ke?, ? haz b?n p?t?kj?l? dibe?t ??v? welf?? pe?m?n? (m?ni frm? ?
g?v?m?nt) tu ?m?gr?n?.

?n?? b?g ??u? ?s s?vr?nti (? ra?t ?v ? k?ntri t? disa?d ?? ??n l??z). meni pi?pl?
hu fe?v? breks?t (? k?m?n, ?mf??ml? w??d f? br??n?z egz?t frm? i i?ju?), se? e?
d??n w?nt ?? k?ntri k?ntr??l frm? br?sl?z. breks?t?z ??s?? fri?kw?n?li men??n ?
bj??r?kr?si (?f??l? ru?lz), m??r ?mf??mli k??ld red te?p, ?? e? b?li?v i i?ju?
br??z. e? ??ls?? se? wi ??d hav f?l k?ntr??l ?v ?? b??d?z (d?sa?d hu? k?? k?m ?nt?
? k?ntri).

??z ?m fe?vr?v ste?? ?n kle?m ?? i i?ju? ?z br??t ?s meni g?d l??z, ?spe?li k?
ns??n?? ?mpl??m?n? stand?? n? i ?mv??r?mm?nt. e? se? ?? j??r?ps ?? me?n tre?d??
p???n?, ?n ?t ?f wi left j??r?p, wi w?d lu?z ? l?t ?v ??r ?nflu?n?. wi w?d haft?
n?g???ie?t ? nju? tre?d?? r?le??n???p, ?m ma?t i?v?n end ?p ?n ? tre?d w?? w? j??
r?p. ?s k?d ?fek b??? ?mp??? ?n eksp??? ?m wi ma?t haft? pe? ? tar?f (taks) ?m
b???. e? ??s?? kle?m ?? i i?ju? h?z help t? me?nte?n pi?s ?n j??r?p. b???
sa?? ??gju? ??v? i ?mpakt ?n (k?n??kw?n??z f??) ??bz.

?r? meni ?? k?mpleks ??u?z k?nekt?d w? ? ju?ke?z memb???p ?v i i?ju?. ?n ?i??

ri, ? ju?ke? p??l?m?nt d?zn? haftu ?ksep i a??k?m (r?z?lt) ?v ? ref?rend?m, b??
??r ?nla?kli t? g?? ?gens ? w?l ? ? pi?pl?. p??lz ? k?r?nli ????? ? f??li i?vn?
spl?t (? se?m n?mb?r ?v pi?p?l ?n i?? sa?d), s?? w?l haft? we?t ?nt?l ?u?n ?
twentif??? t? n?? ?? fju???.