Importance of phonetic transcription

Michal Ryszard Wojcik   Saturday, November 24, 2001, 21:59 GMT
English phonetic transcription has played a very big role
in my process of learning English pronunciation.
As a teacher, I teach phonetic transcription to all my students.

It is my personal opinion that phonetic transcription is useful and important for learning good pronunciation.

I know some people with good English pronunciation
and they all know phonetic transcription.
I still don't know a person with good pronunciation
who does not know phonetic transcription.
This makes me believe that transcription is crucial.

I want to discuss the importance of phonetic transcription.
I want to meet a person who doesn't care about transcription
and who has good English pronunciation.
Krzysztof Milewski (Prysznic)   Sunday, November 25, 2001, 22:17 GMT
I'm probably not the one you are looking for, but still I share your opinion. What I noticed, though, is the pronunciation of one of my students. He doesn't know phonetic transcription at all but he has quite good pronunciation, taking into account that he is 16. How about that?
Michal Ryszard Wojcik   Monday, November 26, 2001, 16:40 GMT
to Krzysztof Milewski (Prysznic):

You say he has quite good pronunciation, taking into account that he is 16. I don't understand this statement. Does he have good pronunciation or not? If he was 17, would you hesitate to say that he has good pronunciation?

I am interested in your student.
Is there a way I can hear his pronunciation?
Mohammed Asad khan   Tuesday, November 27, 2001, 12:37 GMT
One of my friend who never learns phonetic trancription but he speaks English just like native speakers .He told me that he watches english movies habitually and follow a particular hero accent, for instance ( Tom cruise).He copies his accents and how he delivers words .He follows all things and suddenly he is able to use speaking good English alongwith good pronunciation.and no one believes he is pakistani - All his classmates think that he was born in the USA.

ESL student from Pakistan.
Michal Ryszard Wojcik   Tuesday, November 27, 2001, 12:50 GMT
to Mohammed Asad khan:

<<<<<<<<<<
One of my friend who never learns phonetic trancription but he speaks English just like native speakers .
>>>>>>>>>>>

Can you please ask your friend to record his pronunciation for me and send it to me?

If your friend really speaks English like a native speaker without knowing phonetic transcription, then I am very interested in his case.
Can I contact him by email?
Michal Ryszard Wojcik   Monday, December 03, 2001, 10:15 GMT
The computer version of Collins COBUILD English Dictionary for Advanced Learners does not have phonetic transcription.

I corresponded with a person who was working on this computer version.
The person wrote:
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
In my opinion, the only reason why there is a phonetic transcription of a word in a printed dictionary is that the dictionary cannot speak. The CD can actually produce the sound, and so the transcription is redundant.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Personally, I find transcription more useful than audio.
I am proficient in the use and interpretation of phonetic transcription.
I can imagine how the word should be pronounced.
I can extract all the needed information from phonetic transcription.

Every person has a different way of pronouncing vowels.
When you give transcription you cover all possible variations.
When you give the voice of one native speaker,
you give only one way of pronouncing a word.
My pronunciation is different from that of the native
who recorded the words.
In order to incorporate the pronunciation of a word into my system
I need to hear the native speaker and extract the phonetic symbols
from what I hear. Then I can pronounce the word my way,
once I have the phonetic symbols. I translate from what I hear into
phonetic symbols and then into my own pronunciation.
This is much simpler when I can see the phonetic transcription directly.

Phonetic transcription is by no means redundant.
It is essential.
I can live without the audio, I can't live without transcription.
I will have to use other dictionaries besides this one to see transcription.

The phonetic transcription in COLLINS COBUILD ENGLISH DICTIONARY in the book form is excellent. The best I've seen. It gives many possible variations. It also gives hints about American pronunciation. It contains much more information than audio.

Please reconsider the matter and include phonetic transcription in the next
release.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
As well as the sound being more useful for learners, many users do not
understand the IPA characters at all, but can hear and learn from the pronunciation.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I am a teacher of English.
From my experience I can say that those who don't understand phonetic
transcription will also fail to benefit from what they hear.
One tends to hear the sounds of one's native language even when one is
listening to a foreign one. After hearing a word pronounced
by a native speaker, students will try to render the word in their own
pronunciation system. It takes an intimate knowledge of the
phonetic symbols to be able to hear foreign sounds for what they are.
DETECTOR   Monday, December 17, 2001, 09:25 GMT
I know some people with good English pronunciation
and they all know phonetic transcription.

OVERLOADED PHRASE 'know' OR LACK OF PROOF ERROR

I still don't know a person with good pronunciation
who does not know phonetic transcription.

OVERLOADED PHRASE 'know' OR LACK OF PROOF ERROR

Every person has a different way of pronouncing vowels.

LACK OF PROOF ERROR
Michal Ryszard Wojcik   Monday, December 17, 2001, 19:53 GMT
to DETECTOR:

<<<<<<<<
> I know some people with good English pronunciation
> and they all know phonetic transcription.

OVERLOADED PHRASE 'know' OR LACK OF PROOF ERROR
>>>>>>>>>

I don't understand your remark.
kartic   Wednesday, December 19, 2001, 02:28 GMT
Mohammed - I am 22 m from India and i could eye upon an active participation of u on this forum . Good work !. Is it possible for some one like me or u to change our accent to something like a Native speaker ?. I once heard that only a child and that too under the age 10 , could learn the sounds of English like whats been taught and we being used to our accent for all these years , i feel its highly impossible for us to change the accent.
Am i rite ? . I have got the oxford talking dictionary and found it very useful to improve my pronounciation on Individual words. But the way English is spoken in connected speech seems to be totally different . Can u understand English movies perfectly ?. Gimme u'r suggestions.