Basic English Phonetics 基本英语音标
English uses the Latin alphabet which has a total 26 letters or symbols. The basic ordering of the alphabet is:
英语使用具有26个字母的拉丁字母表，其基本顺序为：
(A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z)
The alphabet consists of 21 consonants (B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X,Y, & Z) and 5 vowels ( A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y).
字母表包括21个辅音字母（B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, & Z）和5个元音字母（A, E, I, O, U, 有时Y)。
English is not the only language that uses the Latin Alphabet. Many other languages such as French, Spanish, German, Portuguese also use the Latin alphabet as well.
使用拉丁字母的语言除了英语以外，还有很多其他语言如法语、西班牙语、德语、葡萄牙语等。
You might think that it is amazing that every word in the English language can be made using only 26 letters; however there are some problems that make it difficult to learn how to read and write English even though there are only 26 letters in the alphabet.
你可能会感叹仅仅26个字母竟然能组成千千万万个不同的英语单词；然而也就是这26个字母组成的英语使其如此难学。
Vocabulary 词汇
| alphabet | /ˈælfəˌbet/ | zìmǔbiǎo | 字母表 |
| consonant | /ˈkɑːnsənənt/ | fǔyīn zìmǔ | 辅音字母 |
| language | /ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ | yǔyán | 语言 |
| letter | /ˈletər/ | zìmǔ | 字母 |
| phonetics | /fəˈnetɪks/ | yǔyīnxué | 语音学 |
| pronunciation | /prəˌnʌnsiːˈeɪʃən/ | fāyīn | 发音 |
| symbol | /ˈsɪmbəl/ | yīnbiāo | 音标 |
| vowel | /ˈvaʊəl/ | yuányīn | 元音 |
The Latin Alphabet 拉丁字母
| Aa apple 苹果 píngguǒ | Bb banana 香蕉 xiāngjiāo | Cc cow 牛 niú | Dd dog 狗 gǒu |
| Ee Elephant 象 Xiàng | Ff fish 鱼 yú | Gg goat 山羊 shānyáng | Hh horse 马 mǎ |
| Ii insects 昆虫 kūnchóng | Jj jacket 夹克 jiākè | Kk kite 风筝 fēngzheng | Ll lake 湖 hú |
| Mm monkey 猴子 hóuzi | Nn nest 窝 wō | Oo octopus 章鱼 zhāngyú | Pp panada 熊猫 Xióngmāo |
| Qq quail 鹌鹑 ānchun | Rr rabbit 兔 tù | Ss snake 蛇 shé | Tt teeth 牙齿 yáchǐ |
| Uu umbrella 伞 sǎn | Vv van 送货车 sònghuòchē | Ww whale 鲸 jīng | Xx ox 公牛 gōngniú |
| Yy yo-yo 悠悠球 yōuyōuqiú | Zz zebra 斑马 bānmǎ |
Learning English is difficult for anyone, but for Asians (Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans in particular), learning English can be incredibly challenging. But why is English so hard to learn?
学习英语是很困难，然而对于亚洲人（尤其是中国人、日本人和韩国人），英语格外难学。为什么英语这么难学呢？
How would your pronounce the following word?
你知道下面这个单词怎么读吗？
GHOTI
Would you believe me if I told you that “GHOTI” is pronounced in the same way as the word “fish”. Let’s take a look at the pronunciation of this word. “GHOTI” using the following sounds found in other English words: The “GH” is pronounced like an /f/ as in enough or tough; the “O”, pronounced like an /i/ as in women; and the “TI”, pronounced like /sh/ as in nation or motion.
如果我告诉你，这个词跟“fish”的发音一模一样，你信吗？让我们一起来看看这个词的发音。”GH”的发音为 /f/ ，比如单词“enough”和“tough”；“O”的发音为 /ɪ/，比如单词“women”；“TI”的发音为 /sh/ ，比如单词“nation”和“motion”。
This brings us to our next essential question. How can we learn English if the pronunciation of the letters in English can change?
这也是下一个即将讨论的核心问题。如果字母发音有变化该怎样学习英语
And why is more difficult for Asian students to learn English? (Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans in particular)
那为什么对中国人、日本人和韩国人而言为什么英语尤其难学呢？
Activity 活动
Part 1: Make a list of 20 different words that you can sound out easily. You are not allowed to make a list like the following though (Bat, Cat, Fat, Pat, Sat). Each word in your list should be significantly different from every other word and should be more than 3 letters long.
第1部分：列出20个容易拼读的单词，但是不可以投机取巧如(Bat, Cat, Fat, Pat, Sat)，所列的每个单词必须是三个字母以上组合并且各不相同。
Hint: Look for kindergarten through grade 4 sight words if you are researching words that are pronounced the way that they are spelt.
提示：可以参考幼儿园至小学四年级的词汇表。
Part 2: make a list of 10 words that are not pronounced the way that they are spelt. These can be words that you have had difficulty with in the past or new words that you have looked up for this activity. After the word write a question about why the word is not produced the way that it is spelt.
第2部分：列出10个较难拼读的单词，拼写和发音不吻合的情况。可以是之前你遇到的不会读的单词或本节课你遇到的新单词，在每个单词的后面写下为什么该单词发音和拼写不吻合。
Examples 例子
“Knight”, Why don’t we produce the “K” in knight?
“Knight”中为什么“K”不发音呢？
“Nation” Why is the “ti” in nation produced like “sh”?
“Nation”中为什么“ti”发音是“sh”？