Phonetics

Phonetics has begun!!! Of the 24 students in my class, 7 are in my class. We've been divided into three groups for more one-on-one teaching. The picture above is my group: (from right to left) Ruth, Ben, James, John, KayZue, Joy, me and my teacher, John Challinor. For the next 3 weeks these are the people I'll be seeing and spending most of my time with.

For those of you who have no idea what phonetics is, here is a definition: "Phonetics" is the study of speech sounds; each letter stands for ONE speech sound and each sound is represented by ONLY ONE letter.

For example: English has problems!

A.) Same sound, but different spelling:

boo too

bo to

bew new

B.) Same spelling, but different sound:

"Though he pulled through a cough and a hiccough, he still had a rough night on a bough!"

The Purpose of Phonetics is:

1.) To be able to write down an unwritten language.

2.) To be able to read material that others have written phonetically.

3.) To be familiar with sounds that I will find in the new language that I will be learning once I head overseas.

4.) To help me sound "more native" when I speak another language.

* Please keep me in your prayers during this time. Right now phonetics feels like one big hearing test everyday. Everyday after class I am exhausted mentally from concentrating so hard on hearing the sound correctly and then re-producing it back onto paper.