Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language
by mumblemumble on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @09:01AM
(#21824848)
Forvo can help with this. Recorded pronunciations for words and phrases, crowdsourced from native speakers, with information about their gender and home region. (Useful for fine-tuning your pronunciation and intonation.) It has an app, and, if you're the flashcarding type, the website lets you download MP3s.
Beyond that, I think all I can offer in consolation is that English orthography does have an internal logic; there are guidelines you can use to tell when "ea" is pronounced /ɪ/ and when it's pronounced /ɛə/ or /e/. It's all subtle enough that it's useless to try to actually learn them - thinking about that stuff will just slow you down, which is worse than making the occasional pronunciation error. But, over time, you will develop an instinct for it, and it will all eventually start feeling natural. Same for stress accent.
Beyond that, I think all I can offer in consolation is that English orthography does have an internal logic; there are guidelines you can use to tell when "ea" is pronounced /ɪ/ and when it's pronounced /ɛə/ or /e/. It's all subtle enough that it's useless to try to actually learn them - thinking about that stuff will just slow you down, which is worse than making the occasional pronunciation error. But, over time, you will develop an instinct for it, and it will all eventually start feeling natural. Same for stress accent.