How do English speaking children learn to read?

MJGR   Tuesday, September 23, 2003, 17:49 GMT
You native English speakers, how do you learn to read and to pronounce your language?
Clark   Tuesday, September 23, 2003, 17:58 GMT
We are brought up that way; and then when we start school, we are taught to read and write better.
Tremmert   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 11:54 GMT
1) We learn how to pronounce our words when we learn how to speak, not when we learn how to read.
2) When we read, all we have to know is 'which' word we're seeing, and we already know its meaning and pronunciation.
3) Doesn't it work that way with other non-phonetic languages?
Simon   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 12:25 GMT
This is kind of true but lots of our vocabulary is acquired through reading. I know everything now but before then, I used to look up words I didn't know how to pronounce in a dictionary with phonetic transcripts. Of course, I knew enough about my own language to understand the sounds the symbols they used were supposed to represent.

I would imagine this is something Spanish speakers can never claim to have done.
Pentatonic   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 15:46 GMT
Me, I have no clue. That was long ago. But my children learned to pronounce written words with phonetics. Simple rules like the vowel sound becomes long when the word ends with an e, i.e., the difference between kit and kite. Phonetics seem to work amazing well in most cases. At any rate, they are all excellent readers.
Pentatonic   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 18:09 GMT
Oops, I used the wrong word. You should substitude Phonics for Phonetics in the post above.
sima   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 19:08 GMT
MJGR
<You native English speakers, how do you learn to read and to pronounce your language? <
I think native English speakers learn to read and to pronounce like anyone who learns another language.
How did you learn your mother tongue ?
You heard your mother and father and other poeple speaking around you. You heard the pronunciation. You recorded the sounds and everything in your brain from the age you were a baby. When speech came to you, you reproduce those sounds and words and little by little you spoke your language. That was something you did without any effort. As for reading, it's something else. You had to be trained for reading. Without some skills and knowledge of written words, you wouldn't be able to read.
I think that's the same for english speakers. They don't need teachers in order to speak and to pronouce -Of course, they need loving and caring parents - but they need to be taught how to read and how to write.
Juan   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 22:25 GMT
True Simon, it is something that I and Spanish speakers have never done due to the fact we don't "phonetic transcripts" or at least I've never come across one in our dictionaries (I guess since there is no point). Anyway the only trouble that I have ever had in pronouncing words was early on as a child when my vocabulary was limited and had never heard the word and I would put the stress of the word in the wrong place, but that's about it.
mjd   Wednesday, September 24, 2003, 23:55 GMT
I'd agree with Simon. I think a lot of it was done through reading (it's hard to think back to those days). Eventually you just put the word with the sound and it sticks. Despite the unphonetic spelling of English, there are patterns to the way things are spelled.
Boy   Thursday, September 25, 2003, 00:17 GMT
I guess, the best and short answer can be "reading out loud". :-)
They read out words loudly just because they have to pronounce them properly out of their body system. Silent reading is not good for learning the pronunciation. This point that I learned by a teacher when I had to read the reading texts in my class. You might pronounce "predict" as "predicate" as you have never pronounced them loudly. That's why some good teachers recommend for louder reading. So when I read posts here, I read them loudly. I'm not a silent reader.
Sima   Thursday, September 25, 2003, 20:11 GMT
Good for you boy
I follow your method of reading aloud.