25 Letters and 45 Sounds

With some 25 letters, humans can produce some 45 sounds. Not all languages use all of these sounds. The ‘r’ sound, for example, is familiar to Italian and Spanish speakers but not to Chinese or Japanese speakers. After adolescence, the brain becomes deaf to unheard sounds and is unable to reproduce them. It takes patience and repetition “to hear” these sounds and “pronounce” them. The following sounds are difficult for Italian speakers: ‘th,’ ‘h,’ English ‘r,’ long vowels as found in ‘leave,’ ‘sheep,’ ‘sheet,’ ‘no,’ ‘please,’ ‘far,’ ‘low,’ ‘cheese,’ ‘you,’ ‘wow,’ ‘cold,’ etc. Become aware of how you stress these sounds. Think of sentences or songs or games using these sounds. Where English speakers find it difficult to pronounce double consonants (e.g. PavaroTTi), Italian speakers find it difficult to pronounce ‘sheep’ and thus typically say ‘ship’.-- Tra i migliori camp per imparare l'inglese in Italia per bambini dai 5 ai 12 anni al mare e in montagna. www.LondonVillage.it