Speaking Teaching Books

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0 I am Đạo, I'm living in Vietnam. In seperate words, I can pronounce well. But in such whole sentence or paragraph, I find it difficult to speak fluently.02br02br00For examples, sometimes words connecting to words (the last sound of word will connect to the next one) must have a rule. Or which words in a sentence do the speaker must emphasize ? Therefore all these problems must be ralated to intonation.02br02br00Actually my expression is bad, I guess. But please understand me. And would you help me to find a book which will figure out my thoughts.02br02br00Best regard, 0-

Spinnaker · Accepted Answer

0 Hello.02br
00I suggest you to listen to podcast. I guess you know what podcasts are. So have a look at EnglishForward.com, you will find some threads about it.0-

Kooyeen · Answer

0 Hi, 02br
00yes, there are books that deal with stress, intonation, and pronunciation. 02br
02br
00I've read "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. There's really a lot of stuff in that book (and on the 5 CDs). I haven't tried any other books anyway, so I can only tell you about that one. It treats American English, not British English or any other variety. Generally speaking, it's a really good book and I would recommend it.02br
00Some points (just my opinion):01ul

00She (Ann Cook) makes you notice almost all the features of English that you've never noticed (stress, intonation, liaisons, word reductions, contractions, vowels, tapped t... ) 02br
02li
00Five CDs for audio lessons (she reads most of what's in the book, so you can listen while reading). Plus, she speaks very clearly.02li
00She said you will learn standard American English, but in my opinion her accent is not standard, I guess it could be Californian (not sure though, I could be totally wrong). Plus, the book doesn't consider the difference in pronunciation between "cot" and "caught", so the variety taught has the cot-caught merger.02li
00There's some confusing stuff in the book, learners should be careful. She sometimes tells you to do something he doesn't always do, and sometimes phonetic transcriptions don't match what she says.02li
00Exercises are sometimes boring, but that's normal, isn't it? Some parts and some exercises are really silly and not useful at all, in my opinion.02li
00The book is not for basic learners, IMO (but I see you can already write good English, so don't worry). 02br
02li

00Conclusion: even if it's not perfect (nothing is perfect in the world), I learned almost everything I wanted to know and I was amazed how many features I'd never noticed. My result: "comprehension +80%", more or less (which means that after the course I could understand almost double what I understood before, in speech).02br
02br
00Here's some stuff from Ann Cook's book, on a unofficial website (it's not Cook the one who speaks here)02br
01a05000 02a02br
02br
00This is the official website:02br
01a05100/ 02a02br
02br
00Best wishes 0520230hrefhttp://www.5minuteenglish.com/pronunciation.htm231hrefhttp://www.americanaccent.com12id1

Anonymous · Answer

0 ' American accent trainning' is quite pratical and I've been working on it on and off for almost 6 months. It help me some but not too much I think. U will never pick up the american accent unless u live there for 5 years at least. I am Chinese but I speak either British or American accent although I've been studying in Britain for about 2 years and a half. I just use some parts of the book to correct my pronunication and learn the intonation. Personally speaking, American accent is standard and much more easier than British accent, unlike British accent wihch has many varieries and Brits dont speak the gentle way like they used to. Anyway , good luck with learning English ;-002br
02br
00Alex 0-

Tanit · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Anonymous12cite10But in such whole sentence or paragraph, I find it difficult to speak fluently. For examples, sometimes words connecting to words (the last sound of word will connect to the next one) must have a rule.12br
12br
12blockquote

10Hi, 02br
02br
00You can hear how different sounds are linked (in British English) from the BBC website:02br
01a05000 02a02br
01a05100 02a02br
01a05200 02a0230hrefhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/****/progs/prog1.shtml231hrefhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/****/progs/prog2.shtml232hrefhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/****/progs/prog3.shtml

Feathers · Answer

KooyeenI've read "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. There's really a lot of stuff in that book (and on the 5 CDs). I haven't tried any other books anyway, so I can only tell you about that one. It treats American English, not British English or any other variety. Generally speaking, it's a really good book and I would recommend it.

Just a quick thanks to Kooyeen... I've found your posts really useful. While reading your discussions with other forum members, I came across this course by Ann Cook. I didn't know this book before.

This training is so amazing that I won't feel right until I say thanks to you

(...and... welcome back!)

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