When you look in an English dictionary, you probably only look at the word and its definition.

But did you know that dictionaries also give you a guide on how to pronounce the words?



Next to a word in the dictionary are some strange-looking symbols. These letter-like symbols are a pronunciation guide!

For example, here is how to pronounce the word dictionary:

\ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē\

Wait, what? That doesn’t look like the word dictionary at all! How does this work?

Learning how to use the dictionary’s pronunciation guide is not as difficult as it looks. Once you understand the rules, you will be able to check the dictionary for the definition of a word, and you will know how to read it correctly.

But first, you need to understand…

Why Dictionaries Use Symbols

360Trendic > Blog > How-to > How to Pronounce-5 Things You Must Know to Understand All English Pronunciation Guides
How-to
How to Pronounce-5 Things You Must Know to Understand All English Pronunciation Guides
April 23, 2022
April 24, 2022

When you look in an English dictionary, you probably only look at the word and its definition.

But did you know that dictionaries also give you a guide on how to pronounce the words?



Next to a word in the dictionary are some strange-looking symbols. These letter-like symbols are a pronunciation guide!

For example, here is how to pronounce the word dictionary:

\ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē\

Wait, what? That doesn’t look like the word dictionary at all! How does this work?

Learning how to use the dictionary’s pronunciation guide is not as difficult as it looks. Once you understand the rules, you will be able to check the dictionary for the definition of a word, and you will know how to read it correctly.

But first, you need to understand…

Why Dictionaries Use Symbols
Table of Contents
Why Dictionaries Use Symbols
The International Phonetic Association
Why Should I Learn to Use the Pronunciation Guide?
British or American?
5 Things You Must Know About All English Pronunciation Guides
Pronouncing Consonants
Pronouncing Vowels
The letter a
The letter e
The letter i
The letter o
The letter u
All the vowels
Diphthongs
R-controlled Vowels
Bonus: Dashes and Lines
Now you try!
Letters are symbols—they are small drawings that represent sounds. So what is the point of creating a whole different way of writing these same sounds?

Try reading these words out loud:

pit

pie

Both are three-letter words with the letter i as the second letter. The letter i is read very differently each time, though! In each word, the letter i makes a different sound. Now try these two words:

garage

vision

In these words, the second g in the garage makes the same sound as the letter s in vision. We bet you never noticed that before!

As you can see, letters have different sounds, depending on where they are in the word or the sentence, or even which country the speaker is from. Some letters have many sounds. Some sounds don’t have their letter.

Continue reading from source: https://360trendic.com.ng/how-to-pronounce-5-things-you-must-know-to-understand-all-english-pronunciation-guides/

Nice write up, let's hope this get to frontpage.
Mostly people care so much about entertainment than academics