This book represents the culmination of a lifetime of research in the spoken Spanish dialects of the Americas by one of the foremost experts in this field. Based on more than sixty years of residence, travel, research, and teaching among Spanish-speaking people, Canfield's study of the phonological phenomena that have created dialects of Spanish in the Americas makes use of historical treatises, contemporary accounts, and the author's own observations. Bibliographies for each area and a main bibliography of some three hundred pertinent books and articles make this book valuable both as a text and as a reference work.
Key Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation: From Description to Pedagogy is a resource that encourages Spanish teachers and curriculum designers to increase their incorporation of pronunciation into the classroom. Combining theory and practical guidance, it will help language practitioners integrate the teaching of Spanish pronunciation with confidence and effectiveness. The international group of scholars across its 15 chapters is made up of individuals with well-established research records and training in best pedagogical practices. Key features: A range of topics including vowels, various classes of consonants, prosody, the use of technology, the role of orthography, the importance of both perception and production, individual learner differences, and teacher training; Overviews of descriptive, empirical, and acquisition-based research associated with each aspect of the Spanish sound system; Guidance on the difficulties that teachers face when incorporating the teaching of pronunciation into the classroom; Clear explanations of concepts, accompanied by an abundance of concrete examples and references; Multiple sample activities and lesson plans tailored to different levels and backgrounds of students; A bilingual glossary of terms to help the content reach the widest audience possible. Written in a clear and accessible manner, Key Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation is an essential resource for teachers of Spanish at all levels. It is also an excellent reference book for researchers and both undergraduate and graduate university students interested in Spanish phonetics and language acquisition.
This easy-to-read pronunciation guide helps language learners speak English more clearly and confidently, using everyday language examples and special exercises for both self-study and collaborative work. It shows how speakers of English as a foreign language can avoid being misunderstood in various contexts. The book examines how the Spanish language influences English pronunciation, concentrating on 11 fundamental pronunciation issues that have been observed in Spanish speakers of all ages around the world. The online audios feature native speakers communicating in real-life words and sounds. Learners can practice their listening skills and compare their own speaking to standard English accents and pronunciation.
Intermediate - Advanced Level. Designed to reduce foreign accents that interfere with effective communication, these two programs, one concentrating on vowels and the other on consonants, include a complete treatment on each as well as diphthongs, stress, rhythm, and intonation patterns of American English. Although planned especially for Spanish speakers, the material is applicable to all non-native speakers. (English Pronunciation for Spanish Speakers Consonants and English Pronunciation for Spanish Speakers Vowels.)
English Pronunciation for Speakers of Spanish fills a gaping hole in the market for books on English phonetics and pronunciation because it not only combines theoretical issues and applications to practice, but it also adopts a contrastive English-Spanish approach to better suit the needs of Spanish-speaking learners of English (SSLE), enabling them to build gradually on the knowledge gained in each chapter. The book covers the key concepts of English phonetics and phonology in seven chapters written in an accessible and engaging style: 1. Phonetics and Phonology 2. The Production and Classification of Speech Sounds 3. Vowels and Glides 4. Consonants 5. Segment Dynamics: Aspects of Connected Speech 6. Beyond the Segment: Stress and Intonation 7. Predicting Pronunciation from Spelling (and vice versa) Features: in-text audio illustrations, as well as over a hundred written and audio exercises with corresponding keys and different kinds of artwork (Tables, Figures, illustrations, spectrograms, etc.) classic readings in the discipline in the Further Reading section of each chapter highlights the phonetic contrasts and specific cues that are more important to aid comprehension in English and offers guidelines on "correct" pronunciation habits to help SSLE sound as close as possible to native English The book's companion website, EPSS Multimedia Lab, can be used on computers, smartphones and tablets, and is useful for the self-taught student and the busy lecturer alike. The website of the EPSS Multimedia lab can be accessed here: http://www.usc.gal/multimlab/ Features of the website: a complete sound bank defining and illustrating the sounds of English RP as compared with those of Peninsular Spanish written definitions and animated diagrams, videos and original recordings (by native speakers of English and Spanish) showing the articulation of each sound, alongside its most common spellings, as well as pronunciation practice for individual words and whole sentences a comprehensive selection of over a hundred written and audio exercises (with their keys) for practice both at home or in the language lab audio files corresponding to the audio illustrations given in the written book a repository of useful resources by topics and a list of online glossaries and pronunciation dictionaries
This brand new introductory textbook provides a thorough account of the Spanish language as it is actually pronounced, teaching students how to speak like native speakers. The book carefully describes the differing pronunciations of all of the major Spanish dialects, so students can see the differences in how Spanish is spoken around the world. This is also the first introductory text to carefully and systematically compare Spanish pronunciation to American English pronunciation, helping students connect what they are learning to what they already know. The Sounds of Spanish is readable and approachable for students at all levels. Hundreds of examples in the text show how pronunciation rules are applied. Recordings of examples on the free companion web site allow students to match what they see in the book to what they hear in the recordings. A standard audio CD is also available containing these same recordings.
Spanish Diction for Singers: A Guide to the Pronunciation of Peninsular and American Spanish is an introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and the sounds of Spanish that help singers to achieve accurate interpretations in little time.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • For anyone who wants to learn a foreign language, this is the method that will finally make the words stick. “A brilliant and thoroughly modern guide to learning new languages.”—Gary Marcus, cognitive psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller Guitar Zero At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school—who does? Rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources—and here he wants to show others what he’s discovered. Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.
