English is the most popular language taught as a foreign language. More and more people dream of mastering it to perfection and actively using it in their lives.
At the moment learning English is very popular. A huge number of foreign language specialists annually graduate from universities. Universities train both professional translators and teachers.
But is English hard to learn? Is it easy to read?
How hard is it to learn English?
Great news for English learners. Because if we compare it with the Russian language, then it is much easier to digest. It is known that an English speaker needs to spend more effort to somehow communicate in Russian than a native speaker of Russian - to learn English to a roughly similar level. This means that English is quite easy to master, spending not so much time and effort on it, as it would require learning Russian.
It's a curious fact that English speakers envy Russian speakers. Because from birth they got the opportunity to speak their native language, while the rest have to work long and hardwork to learn it. But, in turn, Russian speakers also envy the British. After all, it is quite difficult for Russians to understand how words are read in English. Of course, this topic is explained at school, but, unfortunately, not everyone learns it.
In English, a large number of nouns also act as verbs, and, most importantly, this happens without changing the spelling. That is, you should remember just one word, and learn two at once.
English is quite easy to use. In most cases, it is very easy to compose a phrase in it - as in a simple and logical constructor.
What difficulties can you face in learning English?
The main difficulty in English is the pronunciation and rules for reading English words. To do this correctly, it is not enough just to learn the alphabet and the basic set of rules. Of course, there are system dependencies, but, unfortunately, exceptions are almost half of all words in the English vocabulary. Therefore, language learners have no choice, and they just need to memorize the pronunciation of the exception words.
It should also be noted that there is one difficulty in English pronunciation that is quite difficult to deal with. It lies in the fact that several sounds have no analogue in Russian. It takes some getting used to. However, perfect pronunciation is not required to begin with. This will be acquired with experience, in the process of communicating with native speakers. For a completely understandableEnglish speech will be enough at first and Russian transcription.
The English-speaking world is so vast that there are many different dialects. Therefore, to begin with, the most important thing is to be understood. And you could translate what foreigners say. There is no doubt that with practice the pronunciation will improve and get better and better.
Now you need to answer the question of how English words are read.
English letters and sounds
As for the rules of reading in the target language, it is important to note that they are extensive and quite complex, because there are some discrepancies between letters and sounds. What is it expressed in? The English alphabet has 26 letters and 44 sounds. It affects reading. Different letters can produce different sounds in different positions. This is usually conveyed using a convention called transcription. Therefore, it is very important to know how English words are read, otherwise many mistakes can be made. In dictionaries, along with the concept, transcription is indicated in square brackets, which facilitates the study of vocabulary.
General rules
Now we will talk about the general rules of reading. After all, every beginner to learn English should know how English words are read. So:
- First, you need to understand that the rules in English do not work all the time.
- Secondly, the language being studied is vocal, in connection with this, each syllable has a vowelsound.
- Third, you need to know that if two consonants are combined and create a new sound, this is usually called a consonant digraph. These include sh, ch, th, ph and wh.
- Fourth, when a syllable ends in a consonant, the vowel will always be short.
Types of reading vowels in English
There are 4 types of vowel reading:
- The first type is an open syllable. It ends with a vowel, which in this case is read alphabetically.
- The second type is a closed syllable that ends in a consonant. In this case, the vowel becomes short.
- The third type of reading is the combination of a vowel + the letter “r”, which affects the sound of the vowel in the root of the word, giving it a length.
- IV type of reading is a combination of vowel + letter “r” + vowel. "R" in this case will also not be read.
In general, English is not that difficult, but learners will still encounter some difficulties. To understand how English words are read, it is necessary to memorize not only the rules of reading, but also the exception words.
