Thursday, March 24, 2005

ESL: Pronunciation/Listening: Minimal Pairs

http://www.manythings.org/pp/ American English Pronunciation Practice, Charles I. Kelly

Minimal pairs are always an excellent way to practice listening and pronunciation. This is not a fancy site, but it certainly has some good content and is presented in a straightforward manner. There are also tongue twisters that Americans remember from their childhood:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?
Rubber baby buggy bumpers
She sells seashells by the seashore.
The site requires the free FlashPlayer plug-in, version 4 or higher. It is downloadable from the site if you don't already have it. As with many websites, you need to have an adequately configured computer to access the more sophisticated sound capabilities. Sound on this site is very clear.