Hi,
Let’s jump to a serious topic that I’ve had the most difficulties with in my English learning: the system of the American English vowel sounds. I won't tell you that I haven’t had any problems with consonants, But for now I’d like to concentrate on vowel sounds. This entry will be rather long. Sorry guys, I have to go through it. Hopefully it won’t be as painful as a tooth extraction! First, I must explain how I will name the American English vowels.
I had some main problems relating to vowels when I learned them:
- Firstly, in school we weren’t taught at all how to correctly create the English vowel sounds. For example, we didn't learn the difference in pronunciation between 'one man' and 'two men'. We were taught the same sound for these two words. We were told to use the Hungarian ‘e’ sound for both. But the Hungarian ‘e’ sound doesn’t equal either the vowel sound in man nor the vowel sound in men.
- Later in my English learning career, if something was taught in school, it was in British English.
