This page accompanies the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Werkend zoals gewoonlijk
06/12/2023
How do you pronounce a word in English? The website Youglish makes it possible for you to hear the word pronounced by speakers in dozens of real-life YouTube videos, in various accents of English. Check it out! p.s. the website also covers languages other than English.
Improve Your English Pronunciation When words sound different in isolation vs. in a sentence, look up the pronunciation first in a dictionary, then use https://youglish.com
This is a nice poem about the mismatch that exists in English between spelling and pronunciation (Lord Cromer (841-1917). Try to recite the poem yourself. If you are not sure how to pronounce a word, look it up in an English dictionary and you may find yourself amazed!
25/07/2023
This is an interesting video about the world's rarest sounds ... It includes the th-sound -- no wonder th is so difficult to pronounce for many of us! Do you find the th-sound challenging? And does your native language contain any of the rare sounds in the video?
The Rarest Sounds Across All Human Languages: Learn What They Are, and How to Say Them When first we start learning a new foreign language, any number of its elements rise up to frustrate us, even to dissuade us from going any further: the mountain of vocabulary to be acquired, the grammar in which to orient ourselves, the details of pronunciation to get our mouths around.
14/07/2023
One of the external mentors in our online course MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation , Maskanah from Vietnam, made the following insightful comment: "I don't focus on my accent, I focus on my pronunciation" (being understandable etc). We learnt from her that it is important to make a distinction between 'accent' and 'pronunciation'. Would you like to become a mentor on the course and share your thoughts with us? Please fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PkD69gNBhuat7USzIPJBfnCXCHZq7tKSEDfx2OVNnUg/edit
Google Forms: Sign-in Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
05/07/2023
Participants in our online course MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation have asked us how they might immerse themselves in English more/develop their listening skills. For this purpose, we’d recommend listening to English podcasts, for example from the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/podcasts . You can listen to these podcasts at any time, whilst doing other things, and choose a topic of your interest.
BBC Sounds - Podcasts Award-winning podcasts that hook you in, make you think, or just make you laugh. Subscribe and listen now.
A number of British actors give an excellent example of the effect of English emphatic/contrastive stress, reciting the line 'to be or not to be' from Shakespeare's Hamlet. What is the different meaning of 'to be or NOT to be. That is the question', and 'to be or not to be. That is THE question'? p.s. There is a special guest appearance at the end!
17/04/2023
On Wednesday 19 April 2023 we will hold a live session in the facilitated run of the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World. During the live session you may ask us questions about (your) English pronunciation. Time: 16.00-17.00 CET (Amsterdam). Catch the live stream of the meeting on our Youtube channel then! https://www.youtube.com/c/GlobalEnglishVU/live We look forward to answering your questions!
Global English - YouTube This channel is linked to the Vrije Universiteit and FutureLearn MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World.Next run starting April 5, 2022: https://www.fu...
From 3-28 April 2023 we will run a facilitated edition of the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World again in which the MOOC-team will be around to answer all your questions about English pronunciation https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation Please join us! For example, how come that some speakers of English pronounce consonants differently?
This is the page of the Pronunciation Studio in London. https://www.facebook.com/pronunciationstudio/. The page contains a lot of useful material, for example, videos on how to pronounce particular English sounds. Enjoy!
29/12/2022
What goes on in this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKBtAujlqfM. We hope to see you in 2023 for these and other aspects of English pronunciation!
2 knights 2 knights Walk into a hotel!!
The Global English team would like to wish everyone season's greetings and a happy new year 2023!
10/12/2022
In English, homographs are words that are are written the same but when pronounced differently, have a different meaning, for example: CONduct is a noun, but to conDUCT is a verb. There are many such pairs in English. Here is a useful website that explains homographs and has many examples:
Homographs – PronunciationCoach Posts about Homographs written by PronunciationCoach
02/12/2022
In our online course 'MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World', we held a live session on 23 November at which participants could ask questions, share their thoughts, etc. You can watch the session on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GlobalEnglishVU/live Questions asked were e.g. How the English and American 'r' differ and What to do when you are so nervous speaking English that you start stuttering.
Global English - YouTube This channel is linked to the Vrije Universiteit and FutureLearn MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World.Next run starting April 5, 2022: https://www.fu...
23/11/2022
Sometimes we are asked in our online MOOC English Pronunciation in the Global World course https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation if we know of other practice material. We find the BBC Pronunciation tips useful.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/
BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips Learn about and improve your spoken English with free pronunciation downloads. There are videos, audio examples, quizzes and other activities to help you study.
16/11/2022
For the online course MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World we will hold a live session on Wednesday 23 November 2022 16.00-17.00 CET (Amsterdam). You can use this time zone converter to check the time in your region. https://dateful.com/time-zone-converter
Catch the Live Stream of the live session on Youtube then or later. https://www.youtube.com/c/GlobalEnglishVU/live
You are welcome to post here in FB any questions/thoughts/concerns etc. that you may have regarding English pronunciation and we will respond to them then!
Global English - YouTube This channel is linked to the Vrije Universiteit and FutureLearn MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World.Next run starting April 5, 2022: https://www.fu...
11/11/2022
In our online course MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World, participants upload recordings introducing themselves. It is a wonderful way of getting to meet each other online and it is just AMAZING to hear the great diversity of accents in the course. Please click on the page image below to have a listen and add yours, too!
Page from English Pronunciation in a Global World - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam In this course, you will improve your English pronunciation skills and learn about speaking English in today's globalised world.
02/11/2022
From 31 October-25 November 2022 we hold a facilitated run of the online course MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World.. You are welcome to join us! In the first week, learners watch this video: English as Foreign Language from the comedy series Smack the Pony. https://youtu.be/3iJ9gnt7wNo As one of the learners remarked, even native speakers of English may not be understood theses days. With so many people speaking English in the world, it is important to understand and to be understood. That is an important insight and true of native and non-native speakers alike!
BBC: Smack the Pony-English as a Foreign Langauge BBC Smack the Pony Sketch: EFL
Hello MOOC learners! In continuing with our community questions Laura will address another common inquiry: whether or not it is acceptable to mix features of different accents or regional English.
For the full question and answer you can find the replay of the live session held on April 28th 2022 on our YouTube channel. Don't forget our next four week course starts opens on the 31st of October and you can sign up through the link in our bio!
As always you are welcome to contact us on any of our social media pages if you would like us to address your question personally. Maybe your question will be our next community post!
&a
27/10/2022
From 31 October-25 November 2022, we will facilitate a run of the online course (MOOC) English Pronunciation in a Global World again, for the course duration of 4 weeks. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation This means that learners will be able to get in touch with the MOOC team directly for questions etc. Should you know anyone who would like to take a course in English pronunciation, please spread the word. The course is freely accessible and everyone is very welcome!
Improve Your English Pronunciation - Online Course Learn to improve your English pronunciation so you feel confident speaking in a variety of contexts, with this online course from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Awaiting the next facilitated run of the MOOC course English Pronunciation in a Global World (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation), starting on 31 October, here is a taster about the topic of rhoticity! Please share it with anyone whom you think might want to attend the course!📚
Hello Global English community! In anticipation of the start to our next facilitated run on november 1st, we are introducing our community question videos. These are clips from our live sessions where we answer some of your most asked questions! Today we have Laura addressing intelligibility and credibility, a topic central to our course.
07/10/2022
In the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, here's a video featuring the actress who played the Queen in the Netflix series The Crown. She explains how a dialect coach helped her pronouncing certain words in the Queen's accent. Now, we may not have a Queen's accent, but it is useful to think how we may help ourselves or other people pronounce certain English sounds. Have you got any tips?
Claire Foy Teaches Method Man The Queen's English After "The Crown" star Claire Foy teaches James and Method Man the phrase that helped her hone The Queen's accent, James asks her about going around in Londo...
Our online course English Pronunciation in a Global World welcomes its 100,000th learner today. We hope to help reduce inequality by offering an English course that can be accessed freely by anyone anywhere in the world. But also by highlighting the importance of diversity in English, understanding and appreciating one another's English accents, and cherishing our native language. We would like to thank the input of all our learners; the course wouldn't exist without you!
04/04/2022
We are pleased to announce that today marks the official start to the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World! With over 98,100 participants and a 4.8 rating, the MOOC has been at the forefront of inclusive education and diversity in spoken English development. Having been awarded the prestigious VUvereniging grant, the MOOC aims at making quality English language education accessible across geographical and social boundaries. The MOOC helps learners develop their English pronunciation but at the same time demonstrates the value of non-native accents, promoting equality, empathy, and understanding. Diversity in English accents is not a problem, but a gift! Join us, and let’s learn together!
We would like to let you know that we will run a faciliated run of the MOOC again from 4-29 April. This means, amongst other things, that mentors will be around to directly help you with your questions and that we will organise a live session. Please help us spread the word. Everyone is very welcome! The MOOC team.
When speaking English with speakers with native languages other than yours, it is always useful to understand why they pronounce English words the way they do. For example, a Japanese friend of ours told us that in Japanese, syllables always end in a vowel sound, never a consonant. Therefore, Japanese speakers may pronounce the English word 'speed' as 'su-pi-i-do' and the word 'strike' as 'su-to-ra-i-ku'. Ingenious, heh?
31/01/2022
This article explains why we may mispronounce words; native and non-native speakers alike!
https://theconversation.com/haemorrhaging-why-some-words-are-so-easy-to-mispronounce-and-why-that-could-be-a-good-thing-175746
Haemorrhaging: why some words are so easy to mispronounce (and why that could be a good thing) Everyone has words they struggle to pronounce – and that’s no bad thing.
14/01/2022
https://public.oed.com/varieties-of-english/
The Oxford English Dictionary has created a website in which you can compare how different varieties of English, native and non-native, differ in their English pronunciation, vocabulary, etc. They will be adding more materials to the site so keep watching this space!
Varieties of English | Oxford English Dictionary The OED has always included words from across the English-speaking world. What’s changed – drastically – since the first edition is the size and breadth of the English-speaking population. The...
20/12/2021
Recently, the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World’s creator and educator Dr. Laura Rupp and mentor Amrita Das presented at the SOKA University, Japan, South Asia Research Center’s Second International Conference. They delved deeper into rethinking education in English pronunciation with emphasis on legacy, memory, space, and time. During their presentation Laura and Amrita discussed the complicated history of English pronunciation, which encompassed social injustice and discrimination. These were analyzed through the prism of intersectionality and pedagogical innovation. The presentation ended with an inquiry into: how do English language educators acknowledge and rebuild the language? The way forward is to have accessible, caring, mindful, and sustainable education across several intersections of people irrespective of boundaries and borders.
The next mentor-facilitated run of the MOOC is scheduled for Spring 2022: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-pronunciation
We would like to let you know that we will hold a live session on Wednesday 24 November from 16.00-17.00 CET. In this live session we will answer questions about English pronunciation from our MOOC learners. Your are welcome to watch the live stream on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHozA_-yfRgyxnS1jpLlCwQ/live
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