pronunciation

I'm trying to learn Thai, and having the same problem. I've bought a book and CD's by mail order. Googling "learning English". There's plenty available.

Decent looking site here English as a second language.. It seems to have some of the resources your looking for.

Just google "learning english" and "web". There's lot's of resources.

Thanks wilso.... looks like the website is very useful.

You should, when pronouncing a word, forget the written version of this word. Just pronounce it as natives do.

For instance, Edinburgh, most people simply refuse to pronounce the name of this city correctly; because it's written as: Edinburgh!

It is pronounced, however, as Edinburra. It really isn't that difficult. You simply have forget the written version of the word. The French capital, Paris, is pronounced as Pah-ree, in French, and written as Paris. Most people tend to worm the (written) 'S' into the pronouncuation, they shouldn't. If you want to speak English, forget the letters. This is my advice. Google, in my country, is pronounced differently then it is in English-speaking countries. I don't hold on to the letters, which, in my country, are pronounced differently. I forget the letters, and just imitate the sound ... like a parrot.

By the way, native Chinese-speakers and native English-speakers use different parts of their hearing to listen to language, this is a fact. Someone raised with the Chinese language actually hears a different sound then native English-speakers. And since pronunciation is mostly listening, it's almost impossible to learn the correct pronunciation of eachother's languages.

If it's anything like Thai, then another problem is that we simply don't create the same sounds. Your mouth and tongue often have to work completely differently to make the correct sound than what you're used to.

But I think by practicing more you will get to it somehow. Though I am a native Chinese-speaker, I can switch from quite decent American English, to Cockney, to Japanese English, and my favoirite, Arabic English :wink: . And my pronounciation in French and German also draw those who hear it into the conclusion that, "you are talented". The best advice my teacher can give is "Listen to the tape and follow the tape 30 times a day".

JB