Anybody Know Their Phonetic Alphabet?

[vrsushi]

Just been asked by a student what the phonetic cpelling of these made up words would be. He says it is for some report.

Could anybody help as I am stumped as I never studied the phonetic alphabet.

deeb

terol

willer

convit

wittel

gickle

jeel

adpost

forline

lomic

couwell

Many thanks for anyone who does.

[mbkudu]

Just been asked by a student what the phonetic cpelling of these made up words would be. He says it is for some report.

Could anybody help as I am stumped as I never studied the phonetic alphabet.

deeb /dib/

terol /tEroul/

willer /wIler/ ('e' should be unsidedown)

convit /KanvIt/

wittel /wItl/

gickle /gIkl/

jeel /djil/

adpost /aedpoust/ (a and e are a sign combined, u is a horseshoe)

forline /fcrlaIn/ (c is backwards)

lomic /loumIk/

couwell /Kaul/

Many thanks for anyone who does.

It is difficult to type them accurately without an IPA chart. If you go on line or look in a good dictionary (Oxford) you'll see what an IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) looks like. This exercise isn't practical because the words are not genuine words.

[Wrong Turn]

Just been asked by a student what the phonetic cpelling of these made up words would be. He says it is for some report.

Could anybody help as I am stumped as I never studied the phonetic alphabet.

I use the phonemic alphabet with intermediate levels when students have difficulties with certain stresses, sounds, dipthongs, etc.

It can be very helpful with linkage also.

Edited January 24, 2008 by Wrong Turn

[NormanW]

Hello

Try this I found for you on the British Council's website.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/download...ron_chart.shtml

Hope it helps

Your only as good as your last lesson hehe

Regards

[DaiHard]

I always start a new (to me) group of students off with pronunciation based on the phonetic chart so I can wean them off the bad habits they learned with their Thai English teachers (like fooad instead of food) and then get them to translate their names into their corresponding phonetic symbols so I don't sound like an idiot every time I do the register and as an added bonus they always enjoy doing it.

And you can make it last for 6 hours

[PeaceBlondie]

Not to be too much of a grouch, but something that requires another formal alphabet and many hours of classroom and memorizing time, better pay off soon and well. Most of the fossilized pronunciations can be solved without the alphabet, in less time, I think. Maybe I just have alphabetaphobia.

[withnail]

Personally I find the IPA to be a bit of a waste of time in this country. If someone were to register on a 4 year degree course learning ESL/EFL in Thailand then maybe it would be worth spending the first month getting this memorised. However, I feel it is much more likely to be useful to students whose first language is not so different from English and uses the Roman alphabet.

Not to say that the issue doesn't have to be addressed, but I'm not convinced that memorising the chart is a worthwhile exercise considering many learners in Thailand tend to sign up for relatively short conversation classes. I am a big fan of Ann Baker's pronunciation courses: Tree or Three?/Ship or Sheep? These books deal with the sounds and provide exercises for students but it is not a requirement as such that the symbols be learned.

[Wrong Turn]

PB has a good point on fossilization.

Also, with the phonetic alphabet, I give the students a custom-made chart, and tell them to learn it at home. I put a large phonemic alphabet chart in front of of the class, off to the side of the whiteboard.

I only use the phonemic alphabet for difficult things, and ias a reinforcer.

With adult students, pronunciation problems seem to be fossilized (but I'm not sure). It seems like a motor issue. After you're finished drilling students individually, and tell how their pronunciation is wrong and tell them which way is proper, their bad pronunciation habits return, almost immediately.

Edited January 27, 2008 by Wrong Turn

[mbkudu]

Most good dictionaries use the IPA and if the chart is known, it is a very good tool for figuring out the pronunciation of words of any language. It doesn't take long to learn it either. Really the only symbols that take time to learn are the vowels and diphthongs. It's debatable whether students should bother learning it, but every language teacher should know it.

Edited January 27, 2008 by mbkudu

[mbkudu]

With adult students, pronunciation problems seem to be fossilized (but I'm not sure). It seems like a motor issue. After you're finished drilling students individually, and tell how their pronunciation is wrong and tell them which way is proper, their bad pronunciation habits return, almost immediately.

With Thai students this is because many sounds in English don't exist in their language. Many consonant clusters don't exist either. This is why we hear things like, 'Sa-treet for street. I was looking at a satellite dish yesterday and it read, 'SAMART' Communications on it. The only conclusion I can gather from this is that the person who started the company wanted to call his company 'SMART'.

[PeaceBlondie]

I used to train them to move their mouths more freely. Too many Thais seem to hold their mouth tightly, impeding articulation. I got M1 students correctly saying that 0.003 is 'three thousandths'! Othwerwise, ;they priouncounced like I spell if mnty caoprelt tuybnbnel sybromne uis actuibng up,

De-fossilization requires a clearly enunciating native speaker to clearly and repeatedly use the words in context.

[NALAK]

Just been asked by a student what the phonetic cpelling of these made up words would be. He says it is for some report.

Could anybody help as I am stumped as I never studied the phonetic alphabet.

deeb delta echo echo bravo

terol tango echo romeo oscar lima

willer whiskey india lima lima echo romeo

convit charlie oscar november victor india tango

wittel whisky india lima lima echo lima

gickle golf india charlie kilo lima echo

jeel juliet echo echo lima

adpost alpha delta papa oscar sierra tango

forline foxtrot oscar romeo lima india november echo

lomic lima oscar mike india charlie

couwell charlie oscar uniform whisky echo lima lima

Many thanks for anyone who does.

Edited January 27, 2008 by NALAK

[KKK]

A-Alpha, B-Bravo, C-Charlie, D-Delta, E-Echo, F-Foxtrot, G-Golf, H-Hotel, I-India, J-Juliet, K-Kilo, L-Lima, M-Mike, N-November, O-Oscar, P-Papa, Q-Quebec, R-Romeo, S-Sierra, T-Tango, U-Uniform, V-Victor, W-Whisky, X-X-ray, Y-Yankee, Z-Zulu

Don't think this is of much use in Thailand though as in my experience Thais don't know most of the above words and can't pronounce them properly. I've had much more luck in trying to spell something over the phone with A-Apple, B-Banana, C-China or Cup etc. words that Thais are more likely to be familiar with. I get into lots of difficulty in spelling my address. After 20 years perhaps its time for me to learn the Thai alphabet which of course has its own phonetic system that all Thais learn; Kor Kai, Khor Kwai etc.

[pattyboy]

To my way of thinking, wouldn't we have to hear the person saying these as they're "made up" words. Without hearing them, how would we know if a soft or hard vowel is intended, for example. After all, phonetics does refer to speech sounds/word sounds, doesn't it?

[PeaceBlondie]

The IPA is adapted to each language, and even some good dictionaries do it stupidly. If you pahk the cah neah the cah pahk, your /r/ sounds are nonrhotic. If you use a great dictionary from the wrong country (such as England, to pronounce American words) you are just wrong. Even the keys in a good British dictionary can be wrong. My best Brit dictionary says that x is pronounced like the ch in loch. What?