I decided to add this category to the list because some time ago I noticed that most of my students make similar mistakes when speaking English. I think it could be a great idea for a book. I might even write it one day 😉
Anyway, I’d like to set them straight on this matter. Even though I regard English as one of the easiest languages as far as grammar is concerned, I believe that pronunciation could be a hard nut to crack. Sometimes, even if you think you know how to pronounce some particular words, you might be surprised to find out that in reality, native speakers pronounce them differently. In an ideal world, you would check the pronunciation of each and every word in the dictionary but let’s face it – who has time for that? So the best solution would be to listen to native speakers a lot! I mean, films, songs, tv series, etc. Oh, and remember one more thing. It’s really crucial and I can’t stress it enough: if it’s on Polish tv – it’s probably wrong!
Today I’ll start with /ɔ:/ sound. All these words: law, claw, saw, paw and even the name of our capital city Warsaw, they end with this sound. It’s like a long /o/ sound.
law (lɔː)
claw (klɔː)
saw (sɔː)
paw (pɔː)
Warsaw (ˈwɔːsɔː)
Can you see the difference between these two sounds?
so (səʊ) and saw (sɔː)
or low (ləʊ) and law (lɔː)
I hope you can. If you still have problems, visit some online dictionaries and find out on your own.
Bye! 🙂
Time for English 