Another way to work on your pronunciation
Choose a voice to imitate: Choose someone like you - so the same age and sex - and choose a voice you like. Then work hard trying to sound just like the person you have chosen.
In the columns first two below you can see a lot of sites where you can listen to voices from different parts of the world.
It may be useful to make a transcript what 'your of voice' is and then record yourself saying the same words in the same way.
You will need to have Real need Audio, Windows Media Player and/or Quicktime installed listen to the voices.
Contact: Chrisfry(at)pangea(dot)org |
Choose men or women from the pictures and listen to their voices - Mostly British |
Choose gender, age and listen to the voices - all Australian |
Voicebank
The Irish voice-over agency |
| Choose female, male or youth and then choose names/photos and listen to the voices - all Irish |
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Choose gender, type (- American, British and Australia) and age and listen to the voices |
Choose men or women, then location and then age range 25-34, 35-44, 45+ and listen to their voices - American & Canadian |
This page contains sound samples spoken by English speakers from around the world. The spoken texts have been chosen for their usefulness in accent determination. |
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Postscript:
A few years ago Scott Thornbury mentioned the idea of learners trying to imitate a specific person's voice instead of concentrating on individual sounds in English. I liked the idea and dreamt of building up a range of different people's voices for learners to choose from, but, of course, did nothing.
Then, years later I saw an article about a new Spanish voice bank called 'Loc-Media' and I remembered the idea. I searched the internet for English voice banks, particularly British English ones, and found that there are dozens, if not hundreds.
I have put a selection here and feel sure that it will be easy enough to find a voice you would like to sound like. I would be delighted to know who you chose and how you got on. |
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Cool Speech
An English Language Teaching iPad app for students who want to achieve the highest levels in listening to, and pronunciation of British English. For use by both teachers and students.
Students of English complain that speed of speech is their biggest problem in learning to listen. Cool Speech gives you direct access to fast speech, and teaches you to understand it.
Advanced students of English need pronunciation activities which bridge the gap between slow careful speech and natural fluent speech: Cool Speech provides pronunciation activities for all the vowels and consonants of British English at three different speeds, with a choice of male and female voices. |
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The
traditional way to work on your
pronunciation
Working on each individual
sound: |
British
English Pronunciation |
howjsay
. com
Free online Dictionary of English Pronunciation - How to Pronounce English words |
British English Pronunciation |
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Sounds of (American) English |
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helps you learn English free
- an online club for EFL/ESL Students.
Try the pronunciation
section |
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Phonemic chart
Learn the international phonetic alphabet and the sounds of English. |
This site contains FLASH animated libraries of the phonetic sounds of Spanish and English. Available for each consonant and vowel is an animated articulatory diagram, a step-by-step description, and video-audio of the sound spoken in context. It is intended for students of phonetics, linguistics, and foreign language.
Thanks Nik! |
 See the tongue positions and hear the sounds of American and British vowels |
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