About the Net Languages pronunciation tool

The Net Languages pronunciation tool is a comprehensive introduction to the sounds of English. It is designed to help students learn and practise all 44 sounds of spoken English in a systematic way. Each sound is demonstrated

• in isolation
• in word contexts
• in sentence contexts

This way, learners can experience the sound in a variety of ways, and can become sensitised to the effect of context on pronunciation. All the words are illustrated, and have been chosen to represent a range of typical spellings of the targeted sound.

Learners can also practise the sound by repeating it

• in isolation
• in word contexts
• in sentence contexts

You can also record yourself and compare your pronunciation with the original. This allows for a high volume of autonomous practice.

A special feature of the course is the "sounds in contrast" facility, whereby learners can practise discriminating commonly confused sounds. This is important both for understanding spoken English as well as for speech production.

The model of spoken English used throughout is Received Pronunciation (RP), which is the educated standard accent adopted by, for example, British dictionaries.