N how to pronounce. Rules for reading letters G, H, J, K

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Dear reader, if before studying English you became familiar with the names of Latin letters in chemistry or physics ( H 2 O - "ASH-Two-O", mv 2 /2 - "EM-VE Square in Half") or at least when playing chess ( e2-e4 - "E Two - E Four"), then the transcription of English letters may have become an unpleasant surprise for you.

Out of habit, such names of English letters as A - "hey", E - "and", I - "ay" And R - "a"(in the latter case the sound " R"although it is implied, it is very often not pronounced or pronounced very quietly). And the Latin letter W, which in Russian is traditionally called " double-ve", called in English " double", that is " double U", although its bottom edge in the printed image has two sharp, rather than rounded protrusions. This happened because in the old days U And V did not differ. There are also differences between American, British and Scottish English, between formal and colloquial English.

And you also need to not get confused with G - "ji", J - "jay" And H - "H", and explain to particularly gifted telephone interlocutors that "pi"- This P, not a Greek letter π (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter ( ≈3,14 ), while herself π pronounced in English "share".

Impeccable automatic knowledge of the names of English letters is a very important skill that should not be neglected when learning English. Why is this necessary? Isn’t it better to practice your grammar or expand your vocabulary? But the pronunciation of letters is not theoretical phonetics divorced from life. The fact is that English abbreviations are almost always spelled out, and you may also be asked to spell out your name or some alphabetic code ( "Could you spell your name, please?" ).

And if you don’t know the names of the letters, you’ll have to blush and mumble something unintelligible. And some English abbreviations entered the Russian language with incorrect pronunciation, for example VIP should be pronounced like "wee-ay-pee", but has already taken root in the Russian language as "vip". When abbreviations contain several identical letters in a row, they are often pronounced using the words "double-" and triple- ("triple"), for example, when you need to name an Internet address, www pronounced "triple double".

What should you do if you need to pronounce some alphabetic code in a radio exchange in the air or at sea? You can't allow misunderstandings and hiccups in negotiations between pilots and air traffic controllers, or in negotiations between English-speaking military personnel and their non-English-speaking allies, so that the gunner does not mix up the code for the square "i" How "e".

To prevent ambiguity or misunderstanding, a code is used to represent letters in words, known as "NATO code"(phonetic alphabet of the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO). Surprisingly, even this code has shortcomings in certain situations, which is why in some cases the letter names in it had to be replaced.

And if you want the English alphabet with transcription to unobtrusively scroll through before your eyes every time you go to Yandex, then you can install a Yandex widget that will scroll through the letters of the alphabet forward, backward, or separately.

Although in classical phonetics the sound combinations [ j ] with other vowels are not considered diphthongs; the pronunciation of such combinations of sounds is similar to the pronunciation of diphthongs, only the main sound in them is in second place. The main sound can be either short or long, for example [ je ], [ju: ].

The sounds in such combinations, as in diphthongs, are unequal. The first sound sounds weak and short, and the second (main) sounds longer and stronger. Sound [ j ] pronounced very very short [ ɪ ] .

So, the combination [ je ] could be depicted as follows: [ j e] . Both sounds are pronounced together, without a pause. Yes, the sound [ je ] similar to Russian sound ( e) at the beginning of the words if, ate, and the sound [ ju: ] similar to the sound ( Yu ) at the beginning of the words spinning top, skirt.

In addition, the sound [ j ] can be combined with diphthongs [ ɪə ] , [ʊə ] And [ u:ə ], forming combinations [ jɪə] ], [jʊə ] And [ ju:ə ]. Oddly enough, but [ j ] refers to consonant sounds, therefore nouns starting with this sound attach the indefinite article a, not an. For example: a year, a yacht.

The English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of 26 letters. Of these, 6 are vowels: A, E, I, O, U, Y.
20 consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z

The letter "Y" can convey both a vowel and a consonant. In combination with a vowel, the pronunciation is very close to Russian [th] and denotes the sounds [j] or [y]

yellow, yes, you, yard, young, yoga, yogurt
day, they, boy, toy, buy, eye

Forming syllables and being paired with a consonant, the letter “Y” conveys the vowel sound [i]

baby, mystery, system, funny

and sound [ai] in words

my, cry, analyze, cycle, sky, reply

In the alphabet, each letter has its own sound name, i.e. alphabetical reading.

Transcription signs are used to convey sounds in writing. Each sign corresponds to only one sound inherent to it. Transcription signs are written in square brackets: for example, the letter A and its alphabetical name (sound) is [ei].

In the alphabet, the letters are read unambiguously, one letter - one sound.

The letters Z and R are read differently in the British and American versions.
The British version of Z is (zed), the American version of Z is (zi).
The British version of R is (a), the American version of R is (ar).

Knowledge of the English alphabet is also necessary due to the discrepancy between the pronunciation of words and their spelling. Therefore, you may often be asked to repeat a word by letter - Can you spell that, please?

English alphabet with pronunciation and transcription

Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation*		The sounds it conveys
A a			Hey	, [æ]
B b			bi	[b]
C c			si	[s] - before e, i, y [k] - in other cases
D d			di	[d]
E e			And	,[e]
F f			ef	[f]
G g			ji	, [g]
H h			HH	[h]
I i			ah	, [i]
Jj			Jay
K k			Kay	[k]
Ll			el	[l]
Mm			Em	[m]
Nn			en	[n]
O o			OU	, [ɔ]
P p			pi	[p]
Q q			Cue
R r			ar	[r]
Ss			es	[s], [z]
T t			you	[t]
U u			Yu	, [ʌ], [u]
Vv			in and	[v]
W w	["dʌbl ju:]		double u	[w]
X x			the ex	,
Y y			wy	[j]
Z z	()		zi (zed)	[z]

* In the column " Pronunciation"Given in Russian letters the approximate sound of the letter names. And in the column " Transcription" a more accurate pronunciation is given using phonetic transcription.

Anyone who begins to learn English must, at the first stage of their journey, encounter the alphabet and the pronunciation of its letters. It is very important not only to know what the letters are called, but also to know Russian pronunciation in general.

For correct pronunciation of the alphabet Below is a table of all letters with both English and Russian transcriptions. Of course, you need to know English transcription - it is used in any dictionary, it is as important as knowledge of the alphabet itself. But for beginners who have not yet fully mastered English transcription, we give the sounds of the English alphabet in Russian letters.

Letter	Name	Pronunciation	Russian recording letter names
a	a		Hey
b	bee		bi
c	cee		si
d	dee		di
e	e		And
f	ef		ef
g	gee		ji
h	aitch		HH
i	i		ah
j	Jay		Jay
k	kay		kay
l	el		el
m	em		Em
n	enn		en
o	o		OU
p	pee		pi
q	cue		Cue
r	ar		a, ar
s	ess		es
t	tee		you
u	u		Yu
v	vee		in and
w	double-u	[`dʌbl `ju:]	double
x	ex		the ex
y	wy		wy
z	zed, zee	,	zed, zi

As for the letter Z, the British version is “zed”, the American version is “zi”.

It may seem that the English alphabet is more complex than the Russian one. But actually it is not. It has only 26 letters (for comparison in Russian - 33), and only 6 of them (A, E, I, O, U, Y) are vowels. Unfortunately, these vowel letters do not always correspond to alphabetic pronunciation. For example, Aa - in the alphabet is read as [hey]: “cake” - cake, “later” - later, but not in the words “bag” - luggage, “flag” - flag and many others.

Here it must be said that in English there is a distinction between stressed and unstressed syllables. Let's look at the case of a stressed syllable. Here you can also observe division - the stressed syllable can be open and closed. Open syllables end with a vowel, and closed syllables end with a consonant. Here are examples of stressed open syllables: “la-bel” - inscription, “ta-ke” - to receive, and so on. Here are examples of stressed closed syllables: “rab-bit” - rabbit, “dog” - dog, “win-dow” - window, and so on. Please note that in the first case, the stressed vowels are read exactly the same as they sound in the alphabet.

Let's look at all the vowels:

Vowel A

Open syllable: “la-ter” [’leitə] – later

Closed syllable: “cat” - cat

Vowel E

Open syllable: “he” - he

Closed syllable: “bend” - bend

Vowel I

Open syllable: “li-lac” [’lailək] - lilac

Closed syllable: “lift” - lift

Vowel O [?u]

Open syllable: “pho-to” [’fəutəu] - photograph

Closed syllable: “got” - received

Vowel U

Open syllable: “cu-te” - cute

Closed syllable: “numb” - numb

Vowel Y

Open syllable: “type” - type on a typewriter

Closed syllable: “myth” - myth

Fine. Now, continuing to answer the question of how the English alphabet is read, we need to talk about unstressed vowels. The vowels a, o, u, when not under stress, turn into the sound [ə], and the vowels e, i, y in the same case become the sound [i]. In this case, as soon as the letters r appear after them, they all become [ə]. You can easily see this for yourself: “pre-fer” - to prefer, “pla-yer” [’pleiə:] - player, “doctor” [’dɔktə:] - doctor.

It is also worth paying attention to the consonant letters: B, D, F, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, T, V, W, X, Z - also read accordingly [b], [d], [ f], [h], , [k], [l], [m], [n], [p], [t], [v], [w], [x], [z]. Things are more complicated with the remaining consonants.

So, for example, the letter C will be before e, i, y, and in all other cases – [k]. See: “cinema” [’sinəmə] – cinema, “cure” – treatment.

The letter G - before e, i, y goes into , and in other cases as [g]: “ginger” [’dʒindʒə] - ginger, “goat” - goat, goat.

And S at the beginning of a word and after the voiceless consonants K, F, P and T is read as the sound [s], and, on the contrary, after voiced and other cases - [z]: “Simon” ['saimən] – Simon, “books” - books, “finds” - finds, “wise” - wise.

The letters R and Q are also tricky. So R is often simply dropped, lengthening the sound (“car” - car), but a word with R will be read with R (“Riko” - Rico). The letter Q can give two options - or - compare “quick” - quickly and “queue” - queue.

Date added: 2013-01-11;

This is the second lesson on the alphabet and rules for reading letters in English. In this lesson I will tell you about the next four consonant letters.

The lesson, like the previous one, will not be long, but I strongly recommend paying attention to the intricacies of reading letters "Hh" and rules for reading the letter " Gg".

Letter Gg

Gg[ʤi:]- the seventh letter of the English alphabet. Has two basic reading rules.

1. According to the basic rule of reading, it is no different from Russian "G".

This rule is valid if:

I. Letter Gg comes before vowels Aa, Oo, Uu ;

Gas- - gas; petrol

Gold- - gold

Gun- - weapon (any firearm)

II. Letter Gg comes before (any) consonant;

Green- - green

III. Letter Gg stands at the end of a word;

Big- - big

2. Before vowels Ee , II, Yy reads like "J" .

If we take it globally, the original of this sound is softer than the combination “J”. But there is no point in worrying too much about this. This option will do temporarily.

Page - - page

Giant- ["ʤaiənt]- giant

Gymnastics - [ʤim"næstiks]- gymnastics

BUT: In words of French origin, the letter Gg can be read as "AND"

Garage - ["gærɑ:ʓ]- garage

3. At the beginning and at the end of words in letter combinations gn letter Gg falls out.

Gnaw- - gnaw

Sign - - symbol; signature

4. Letter combination gh.

Be careful! This letter combination can produce a sound [g] or sound [f] , and may even be silent (unreadable). Therefore, to be sure of the correct pronunciation with such a letter combination, check the words using a dictionary.

Ghost- - ghost

High- - high

Laugh- - laughter

Letter Hh

Hh - the eighth letter of the English alphabet.

Firstly: I can confidently say that you will not see it before a consonant (excluding abbreviations)

Secondly: This letter is read only if it is followed by a vowel. In all other cases it is mute.

Third: Letter combinations sh, ch, ph, th, gh create extraneous sounds. We already know two of them (digraph ch and letter combination gh) . We'll look at the rest as we study the corresponding letters.

1. It always reads like [h]. This sound has no Russian analogue. Many, making a grave mistake, replace this sound with a Russian sound X.

The sound [h] is an exhalation. Free sound that comes from the chest without encountering any obstacles, unlike X.

House- - house

2. In combination wh + o letter Ww falls out.

Who - - Who

In other cases, the letter appears in such a letter combination Hh .

When - - When

Letter Jj

Jj[ʤei]- the tenth letter of the English alphabet.

1. Always read as [ ʤ ], which can be equated to Russian "J".

Jump- [ʤʌmp]- jump