Audio English

This is a fantastic website with loads of English on-line!  Take some time to explore it. Use the search button.
Audio English 

Do you know the Alphabet?

Vocabulary - Farm Animals

Take time to look at this link. If you draw the mouse over the animal, a North American man will pronounce the word for you.  Test yourself first!  Farm Animals 

Review of Numbers 1 - 20

Aussie Accents

We have a few different accents in Australia. I've included a few videos of some different voices.

Different English Accents

The Final Consonant

In Catalan you often drop the last consonant when pronouncing a word, such as 'molt'. However, in English we need to hear at least a hint of the last consonant and improved pronunciation of the accompanying  vowels. 


Take 'I didn't do it' for example. Catalan speakers can have a problem with the 'n' sound and then if I don't hear the final 't' as well, I'm really not sure if you did do it, or you didn't. 


Mary, from Canada, wrote the following about pronouncing the final consonant:

It is normal in spoken English for final consonants to be weakened in a stream of speech. Trying to pronounce each word as an isolated unit would lead to very strange and unnatural sounding speech.

For example: I walked to the store.

The /t/ in walked is not aspirated (the tongue moves to the /t/ position, but there is not puff of air to make the typical /t/ sound.) If you tried to say both /t/ sounds in that sentence, it would be very cumbersome.

It's important to note though, that because you don't hear a sound doesn't mean it isn't being pronounced.

Of course, when you are speaking a language, the goal is to be understood, and speaking clearly is important. Part of speaking clearly and understanding spoken English is being able to hear the changes that happen when words are used in combination. The changes are not random, and not simply the result of "lazy" speaking. They are phonological processes that have an impact on the success of communication.

There are some decent listening texts for intermediate + level learners that focus on these type of changes. I'm not familiar with the most recent, but Judy Gilbert is one author that springs to mind. If you check on Amazon, you'll find her books and tapes, which approach the matter fairly systematically...



Here is a link to a podcast to help with pronunciation from Improve English Pronunciation.

Follow this link for typical pronunciation errors for Spanish speakers.

The following is a link for teachers to help Spanish speakers with their English. Home Instruction PDF

For further reading, try Speech Assessment of Spanish-English Bilinguals