How to learn the alphabet in English. English alphabet with transcription

To start learning English, you first need to master the letters, their sounds and the correct pronunciation.

Without this, it is impossible to learn reading and writing, which are basic in learning a foreign language. The modern English alphabet consists of 26 letters, of which 6 are vowels and 20 are consonants.

How to quickly memorize the alphabet?

First of all, you need to learn the vowels. There are few of them, so they are easier to remember.

In English transcription, the colon sign denotes the length of the sound, i.e. you have to pronounce it long.

Particular attention should be paid to the letter Yy. This letter is often mistaken for a consonant. In fact, it is very easy to remember if you make an association with the letter Ii. In words, these two letters are read the same way.

Consonants are easier to remember if they are broken down into logical groups:

Consonants similar in appearance to Russian and pronounced the same with them:

CC		si
Kk		kay
mm		Em
Tt		ti

Consonants that look like Russian, but are pronounced or spelled differently:

Consonants that are not in Russian:

FF		ef
gg		ji
hh		h
jj		jay
Qq		cue
Rr	[ɑː]	a
vv		in and
www	[‘dʌblju:]	double
Zz		zed

It is better to learn the English alphabet in blocks, writing and naming each letter in several lines. This is how three types of memory work at once: auditory, visual and motor.

After you have done this, then perform a series of exercises to consolidate the results.

Exercises:

Write the letters on the piece of paper from memory, saying each letter aloud. If you do not remember the name or find it difficult which letter is next, then you can look at the hint. When you have written a “difficult” letter, underline or circle it and continue on. After writing the entire English alphabet, write out separately all the underlined letters in one row. Repeat them. Write a few more rows of these letters randomly, calling them out loud. When you are sure that you have remembered, start the exercise again.
Cut 26 small squares, write letters on them. Place face down on the table. Take each square in turn, calling the letter out loud. Check yourself against the table. Those letters that are called incorrectly or forgotten, put aside. After working with all the squares, take all the set aside letters and do the same exercise with them only. Repeat several times, each time postponing only those that are not remembered.

Remember that any work on memorizing something should be structured as follows:

Learn and set aside.
Repeat after 15 minutes
Repeat in an hour
Repeat next day
Repeat in a week.

In this case, the memorized material will be deposited in memory forever!

English alphabet games

If it is possible to attract 2-3 people, then you can diversify the study of the alphabet with games:

"Spell the word"

Any English text is taken. Players take turns saying the letters in order, starting with the first word in the text. The one who called incorrectly is out of the game. The last one left in the game wins.

"What is missing?"

The facilitator chooses from 26 cards with letters 5-10, depending on the age of the group. Players memorize letters. After everyone has turned away, the leader removes one or two letters. Players must guess which letters are missing.

"Who quickly?"

Each player is dealt cards in the same number, you need to arrange them in alphabetical order as quickly as possible.

"Find a couple"

The participants in the game are given cards with capital letters. Each card has a lowercase letter written on the back. 3 minutes are given. During this time, each player must remember and write down a lowercase letter. The one with the most letters wins.

"Continue"

One of the players begins to speak the alphabet from the beginning, the leader stops at any letter. Players must pick up where they left off as quickly as possible.

"Remember Five"

The facilitator gives each player a letter face down. On command, the players turn over the card. You need to write the next 5 letters of the alphabet as quickly as possible. The one who completed the task raises his hand.

Songs

Songs can be used to quickly memorize the alphabet. The melody for them can be found on the Internet.

Oh well you see

Now I know the ABC!

There is another version of this song, the last two lines of which sound like this:

Now I know the ABC

Next time won't you sing with me!

Currently, English textbooks give two pronunciations of the letter Rr: [ɑː] and [ɑːr] In the second version, the second sound is an overtone, that is, it is not pronounced in its pure form, but muffled. Both options are correct.

In English transcription, you can find several ways to write the same sound. This is due to the fact that the rules for writing certain sounds are gradually changing, more often towards simplification, for example:

Both the one and the other sound is pronounced [e] with an overtone [ё].

I learned the alphabet, what to learn next?

After learning the English alphabet, it is advisable to learn the sounds that each letter can convey.

In English, many letters have several sounds, depending on the type of syllable and combination with other letters:

aa	[æ]	her, a (long), e (with an overtone I)
bb	[b]	b
CC	[s][k]	from, to
Dd	[d]	d
ee	[e]	uh, and (long)
FF		f
gg	[g][s]	g, s
hh	[h]	X
II	[i] [ə:]	ai, i, yo (similar sound)
jj	[j]	y, j
Kk	[k]	to
Ll	[l]	l
mm	[m]	m
Nn	[n]	n
Oh	[əu][ɔ:][ɔ]	ey, oh (long), oh
pp	[p]	P
Qq		kue
Rr	[r]	a (long), p (similar)
Ss	[s]	with
Tt	[t]	t
Uu	[ə:][ʌ]	yu (long), yo (similar), and
vv	[v]	in
www	[w]	ue (there is no equivalent in Russian)
xx		ks
Yy	[i]	ah, and
Zz	[z]	h

Then you should move on to mastering the rules of reading. You need to start with the simplest, namely the first and second types of syllables. Having studied the basic rules, you can proceed to the development of basic language topics.

You should start with the simplest:

"Story about myself"
"Story about a friend"
"Appearance. Character"
"My family"
"My schedule"
"My hobbies"
"Weather"
"My house"
“My city (country)”

The sequence of such work is as follows:

Working with thematic text: reading, translating, memorizing words
Text memorization
Translation of written sentences from English into Russian and vice versa.
Answers on questions
Drawing up your story by analogy

At first, these topics can be the most elementary. After studying and practicing them, you can complicate them. Each text should be worked out “from and to”.

If there are grammatical tasks in the text, then be sure to work them out by studying the topic in detail.

Good results can be obtained only with systematic exercises. You should do at least 30 minutes every day. In order not to relax, you need to make yourself a class schedule and hang it in a conspicuous place.

And, of course, strictly adhere to the schedule, without referring to any circumstances. You can practice less often, 2-3 times a week. In this case, the lesson should last at least an hour.

With strict observance of these rules, the study of the alphabet will take a maximum of 3 lessons.

Starting to learn a new language, first of all, we get acquainted with the alphabet. Letters and sounds are the constituent parts of words, from which phrases and sentences are further built. The stages of learning English are different for adults and children, however, both face the stage of learning the alphabet as the basis for further progress. What methods are more efficient? How to quickly learn the English alphabet and do it easily and on the basis of exciting tasks? Consider the most popular ways for adults and children.

Songs, rhymes and tongue twisters

One of the most popular and effective ways is to study the alphabet, based on the perception of rhythmic music and rhyming verses. There is a large amount of video and audio content developed by educators and educators around the world for this purpose. It is based on funny entertaining songs with a minimum set of vocabulary and pronunciation/singing of the English alphabet. The melody, rhythm and bright pictures in the video just eat into the memory, and learning becomes simple and easy. This method is suitable for both adults and children. You can put on songs or turn on videos for several days in a row, even in the background, and the task will be completed. This approach gives a clear answer to the question of how easy it is to learn the English alphabet.

Pictures, cards, posters and puzzles

This method can be adapted for both adults and children from two years of age, when they begin to show first attention to letters and sounds as such. It is important to maintain this interest. Hang around the apartment (office, room, play / study area) cards, pictures, posters depicting letters or the full alphabet. In this situation, the method of associations will be the most effective. Each letter must be associated with a word that begins with it.

How to learn the English alphabet with a child based on puzzles? It is recommended to take ready-made or cut the letter / card into several parts, and then assemble it into a whole. If it is possible to bring several children into a company, it will be effective to arrange such a game for speed or for points scored based on results. In this way, it is easy to work out individual letters, and not the entire English alphabet at once. How to learn the latter for adults using these materials? The most effective method will be the method of cards with the image of a letter, a transcription sound and a word.

It is more effective to learn a word or phrase right away. Each word is worked out by "spelling", that is, pronunciation by letters of the alphabet. Works visual, auditory memory and figurative thinking. Further, there will be no problems with such a simple task as dictating your mail, an unfamiliar word or first / last name when communicating with foreigners.

Outdoor games, motor skills

The answer to the question of how to learn the English alphabet on your own at home can also be given by outdoor games. They are suitable mainly for children, as they learn mainly by playing. Soft toys in the form of letters, cubes, educational materials, magnets and even cookies of the appropriate shape will do the job. Show your child the alphabet in English. Call each letter several times, repeat daily, reinforce the next day and beyond if possible.

Put on dance songs with the alphabet, educational cartoons aimed at learning and memorizing this topic. Let the child try to draw with his body or fingers the shape of each letter with your help to memorize the English alphabet. How to learn it faster will be prompted by the child's hobbies and preferences. It is on them that you should rely to make outdoor games interesting.

The kids love the locomotive game, which uses a car with a trailer and letter cards. The parent “drives” the car and periodically makes stops with “letter” names. The child must load the appropriate card in order for the trip to continue. What is best remembered is what is saturated with images, emotions and fascinating details.

Plasticine

Indispensable helpers in learning the English alphabet with children of preschool and school age will be plasticine or elastic dough for modeling. It is recommended to prepare stencils or blanks in the form of letter shapes. Then they are decorated with colored patches. You can make beautiful letters from clay or dough and bake them into interesting toys for further study. Joint creativity in this direction will also tell you how to learn the English alphabet with a child. Use clay to draw on paper with your fingers and contour shapes. Learn 1-2 letters a day in such a way as to better work out their visual memorization.

Drawing and writing

Different versions of albums with images of English letters for coloring will also help in mastering the alphabet. This activity is suitable for children from three years old. For preschoolers and students of primary school age, prescriptions will be a good help. There are special notebooks that will allow you to quickly and more interestingly master the English alphabet. How to learn the names of letters in spelling? Take care of the child. Name the letter, disassemble its constituent forms. These can be lines, circles, semicircles, etc. Come up with associations together, what this or that letter looks like for a child.

Summarizing all of the above, we can single out a number of individual recommendations that will guide the development of the English alphabet in the direction of effective memorization.

Posters in play and work areas for systemic perception and visual memory activity.
Songs, poems that you can listen to, sing and dance to.
Educational videos, computer games and cartoons focused on the presentation and consolidation of the alphabet.
Coloring pages with letters and copybooks.
Plasticine, modeling dough, clay for creativity, which can be applied in a number of ways.
All tasks and games should be captivating, rich in images, contain some kind of story for more effective memorization and development.
Constant repetition and consolidation is important for both adults and children, due to the peculiarities of the work of short-term and long-term memory. All of the above methods and materials will greatly facilitate the solution of the question of how to quickly learn the English alphabet, and will give the opportunity for an interesting pastime with the child.

Learning any language begins with a letter and a sound. Knowledge of the English alphabet will be a reliable tool for the further development of words, grammar, reading, pronunciation. And if children learn by playing, then adults will have to make a little effort to master the English alphabet. How to learn the letters and sounds of a foreign language without boring cramming? Songs with cheerful motives, posters, association method, cards will help you achieve your goal.

Hello dear friends! The English language is based on the alphabet that words are made of, just as houses are made of bricks, and any living organism is made of cells. Know english alphabet it is necessary if you want to be able to read, look up the right word in the dictionary without any problems, write letters, etc. adult learn the english alphabet is not difficult, with children things are a little more complicated.

The difficulty is that English for children is a game, children need to serve everything in the form of a game, especially these incomprehensible scribbles that fill all books, inscriptions on labels, names of their favorite cartoons. How to make sure that children are happy to learn new letters for them?

At what age should you start learning the alphabet?

Many children already at the age of 2-3 show interest in letters. This interest must be maintained by telling the name of this or that letter, but not overloading the child with information. If he liked the letter A, you do not need to immediately read him the entire alphabet. It is enough to repeat with him the letter and the word that begins with it. Complexity learning the english alphabet consists in the fact that vowels and half of the consonants have 2 or more variants of sound. For example, the letter A has 6 different readings. So you need to select those words in which the letter sounds as in the alphabet or as close as possible to this sound.

Learn the English alphabet - flashcards

For example: A-apricot [‘epriket]

It is also important to choose those words that are familiar to the child, are interesting to him: toys, fruits, colors, etc.

So, already from the age of 2 or 3, you can unobtrusively begin to learn letters. More seriously and consciously children will learn english alphabet closer to 5 years.

How to learn the alphabet with kids

We have already talked about the fact that learning should be fun and understandable to the child. To do this, get the appropriate visibility. You must have cards with letters and accompanying pictures. For example, B - book, a book is drawn next to the letter. Buy a fun alphabet poster. It will be interesting to consider it, and therefore learn from it. There are even "talking posters", when you click on the corresponding letter, the announcer will voice the letter and the word in a pleasant voice. With such posters, children can study on their own. Buy magnets with letters. Let them hang in a conspicuous place so that the child can play with them. You can print coloring pages for children with the letters of the English alphabet.

Use video . Now it’s not a problem to find videos on the Internet (for example, on youtube) in which letters with words are read fun and to music. It is very interesting for children to watch and repeat after the announcer. There's a lot songs, starting with the simplest ones, where there are no other words besides the letters of the alphabet. Put them on your child, he will listen and watch the video sequence, having fun and learning at the same time. Sing songs with your child. Young children need adult support.

If we talk about children preparing for school, then we can start writing letters. A few prescriptions at this stage are enough, their hand has not yet grown stronger. draw letters. Use different colors, write the same letter in different ways. You can ask the child to find the letter in the text, on the poster, in a bright headline. You can learn to write the simplest words, such as CAT, DOG, etc., if they are already familiar to the child. Next to the written word, draw a picture illustrating it (even if you are not very good at drawing).

Ask your child questions about letters. Point to a letter, ask if he remembers its name. What word starts with this letter. Be sure to praise the correct answers. Small successes of children cannot be taken for granted. Otherwise, interest in learning will fade.

These tips are mostly for parents who want to learn the english alphabet together with children. Remember that you will teach your child what you know yourself. Therefore, if you yourself have not yet learned the alphabet, go ahead! After all, you will need it too! Use the same learning methods that you offer children. Just because you're an "adult" doesn't mean that learning has to be serious and boring. Enjoy learning with your child!

Watch video lessons about the letters of the English alphabet:

From the first days of school, children are taught the alphabet and explained from scratch that words consist of letters, and phrases, phrases and sentences are built from words. Without knowledge of letters - nothing to read, nothing to write. But the alphabet is needed not only for children, but it is also useful for adults to take up the alphabet and learn it. The English alphabet consists of 26 letters

Well, of course, to learn to read English words
Knowing the alphabetical order is easy to look up words in the dictionary
Pronounce abbreviations, try to pronounce correctly without knowing the letters (NUL and VOID, UNESCO, ASAP)
And for such a thing as spelling - spelling a word. Because English words are not always spelled the way they are pronounced.

Even these 4 arguments are enough to pick up the alphabet.

It is difficult to imagine a case or situation where words from the alphabet would not be used. Even on our cell phones, the phone book is alphabetized. And if you remember your school years, then the list of students in the magazine is compiled according to the same principle.

The ABC is an order, a system that saves a lot of time. And this is very important for our 21st century - the century of information technology. I am sure that the following tutorials for beginners will help you and bring benefits and pleasure. Why do we need the English alphabet?

English alphabet

The English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. In the Russian alphabet, as you already know, there are 33 letters, in the English alphabet there are seven letters less - that is, only 26.

20 consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z 6 vowels: A, E , I, O, U, Y It is worth noting that the letter W (and in the British pronunciation and R) is itself a consonant, but is mainly used as part of diagrams, that is, two-digit letters denoting vowel sounds. The letter Y can represent both a vowel and a consonant.

There are 5 digrams in English:

sh = [ʃ], "shine" [ʃaɪn]
ch = , "China" [ˈtʃaɪnə]
zh = [ʒ], "Zhukov" [ˈʒukov]
th = [ð] or [θ], "the" [ðiː, ðə], "think" [θɪŋk]
kh = [x], "Kharkov" [ˈxarkov]

The most commonly used word in English is the article the. The most commonly used letters are T and E, and the letters Q and Z are considered the rarest. By the way, the pronunciation of the letter Z is also different in the American and British versions. An American would say "zi" and a British would say "zed".

Introduction to letters and pronunciation

Next to each letter of the English alphabet, its correct pronunciation is indicated. There are certain differences in the phonetics of American English and British English. For example, in some words in the American way, the letter "u" in front of th, d, t or n is pronounced /u:/, while the British pronounce it as /ju:/.

Letter	English transcription	Russian transcription

And this is what the capital letters look like: There is uncertainty about how this or that name is spelled correctly, and therefore the alphabet must be learned by heart in order to clarify. For example, Maria (Maria) [ɑ:].

Names, exactly like the names of continents, countries, cities, villages and streets are capitalized.

A few English words with translation and transcription

If you want to learn English from scratch, then you should start with the simplest words, that is, with prepositions, pronouns, numerals and interrogative words. These words are often found in both written and spoken English.

And [ənd] and
at [æt] about
be is, be
do do
from

A few English words for beginners with translation and transcription One of the most important tips for beginners in learning is to try to learn individual words at first, and only then move on to phrases. This method is much more efficient and faster. You should also pay due attention to transcription - correct pronunciation.

If you are just starting to learn English, start learning with the main topics, among which, of course, there is the English alphabet [ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ˈalfəbɛt] or the English alphabet. In express training, this topic is often omitted, they say, it will come by itself with time. However, if you do not know the entire list of letters, their pronunciation and spelling, nothing will come of your learning process. Therefore, let's look at what they are and how the letters of the English alphabet are used.

But first, let's see how the English alphabet was formed. It is rather difficult to say exactly when it appeared, but the very first found fragments of the English alphabet date back to the 5th century. Then, for its writing, Latin letters were used in combination with runes, and therefore the letters did not at all resemble those used in modern English. Subsequently, however, this alphabet changed, all the runes were replaced by Latin letters, the number of which by the 11th century was 23 characters, which were ordered for numerological purposes. After that, the alphabet did not change significantly, however, 3 more letters were added to it, which were also used in the creation of the modern alphabet.

English alphabet: composition

How many letters are used in modern English, it was perhaps not difficult to count. There are 26 letters in English. In different situations, they can sound different, as their pronunciation changes depending on the combinations. There are 44 sounds in English. However, each letter has its own standard pronunciation, which is used when learning the alphabet. English letters are not written as they are pronounced, and therefore, when studying them, it is necessary to use transcription in order to avoid further errors. It is also worth noting that each letter of the English alphabet has a serial number. The numerology of English, as in Russian, was created solely for convenience and, as such, is not of such importance.

List English letters with numbering, transcription and pronunciation
№	Letter	Name	Transcription	Pronunciation
1.	A a	a		hey
2	Bb	bee		bi
3	c c	cee		si
4	D d	dee		di
5	e e	e		and
6	F f	ef		ef
7	G g	Gee		ji
8	H h	aitch		h
9	I i	i		ah
10	J j	Jay		jay
11	K k	kay		kay
12	l l	el		email
13	M m	em		Em
14	N n	en	[ɛn]	en
15	O o	o	[əʊ]	OU
16	Pp	pee		pi
17	Q q	cue		cue
18	R r	ar	[ɑː]	a
19	S s	ess		es
20	T t	tee		ti
21	U u	u		Yu
22	Vv	vee		in and
23	Ww	double-u	[‘dʌbljuː]	double
24	X x	ex		the ex
25	Y y	wy		wye
26	Zz	zed		zed

The letter Z is pronounced zee in American English.

Please note that the pronunciation written in Russian letters is approximate. It will not work to convey the exact English sound using Russian letters. It is indicated here to facilitate the study at the initial stage. However, the variant in transcription is more preferred. If you are not yet completely familiar with the sounds, try to listen and imitate the media.

English alphabet: frequency of use

All letters in the English alphabet have their own frequency of use. Thus, the figures for the year 2000 show that the vowel E is the most popular letter in the English language. The consonant T is the second most used letter. It is not so difficult to explain such results. Both of these letters occur in the definite article "the", which is the most used word in the English language. The most unpopular is the letter Z, which is known only for zebra (zebra), lightning (zip) and zigzag (zigzag).

Other letters are arranged as follows:

Letters of the English language in order of frequency of their use
№	Letter	Frequency (~ %)
1.	E	12,7
2.	T	9,1
3.	A	8,2
4.	O	7,5
5.	I	7,0
6.	N	6,8
7.	S	6,3
8.	H	6,1
9.	R	6,0
10.	D	4,3
11.	L	4,0
12.	C	2,8
13.	U	2,8
14.	M	2,4
15.	W	2,4
16.	F	2,2
17.	G	2,0
18.	Y	2,0
19.	P	1,9
20.	B	1,5
21.	V	1,0
22.	K	0,8
23.	J	0,2
24.	X	0,2
25.	Q	0,1
26.	Z	0,1

This numbered list determines the approximate frequency of occurrence of letters, which means that in any particular passage, the frequency of letters may vary depending on the words used in it.

English alphabet: vowels

As you may have noticed, there are only 5 in English. These are letters: A, E, I, O, U. Periodically, the letter Y is added to the list, which can convey both consonant and vowel sounds. By the way, with regard to sounds: English vowels can change their sound depending on two aspects:

Locations, that is, from adjacent letters
Striking or unstressed

Consider these changes using the example of the letter A:

Some sounds contain a colon. The fact is that English vowels are divided into short and long. Short ones are usually pronounced, while long ones last 2 or even 3 times longer. Knowing the pronunciation of a letter in a word according to this principle is necessary, otherwise you can distort your thought. Examples:

Regarding the features of vowels, one can also add that the letter E at the end is usually not pronounced. For example:

prejudice [ˈprɛdʒʊdɪs] (prejudice)	prejudice
demonstrate [ˈdɛmənstreɪt] (demonstrate)	demonstrate
paradise [ˈparədʌɪs] (paradise)	paradise

In addition, vowels can have diphthongs or a combination of two vowels, but in order to avoid too much information that has fallen down, we will consider this issue in a separate topic.

It can be added that vowels, as well as consonants, do not have diacritical marks. Such signs include all sorts of dashes, squiggles, wavy lines above and below the letters, which are characteristic, for example, of French or Spanish. However, in very rare cases, such signs can be used with loanwords. The most popular among them are:

café	Cafe
resume	summary

English alphabet: consonants

The number of consonant letters in the alphabet is 21. Despite the fact that these letters are different from Russian, some of them have a similar pronunciation. These include letters: B, F, G, M, P, S, V, Z. Speaking of similarities with the Russian language, it can also be noted that if English words have a double consonant, it is pronounced with one sound:

In addition to simple letters in English, there are digraphs or signs formed using two English letters. . These include:

It is worth noting that the letter ch in words borrowed from the Greek language is pronounced as [k].

Like the sound [k] the letter ch is also read in the name Michael, which is very common abroad:

Exception not related to options above:

[ʃ]
champagne [ʃamˈpeɪn] (champagne)	champagne

The combination th is pronounced like "s" and "z" in Russian, only for their pronunciation you need to correctly position the tongue. Bite, and then lower it, keeping the position between the teeth. Now try to pronounce both of these letters.

The digraphs kh and zh are used in English with foreign surnames. Foreign surnames can also often contain the digraph sh, which, however, is also used in ordinary English words.

English alphabet: how to learn

How many letters and how they are used, sorted out, but how to learn them? In the modern world, this issue is quite easy to solve, because there are a lot of materials on learning English in both printed and electronic versions. However, the choice in favor of electronic material in the case of learning the alphabet will, perhaps, be more correct.

Firstly, the English alphabet is something that learns very quickly. After you master it, you will not have to return to this topic again and again, which means that the purchased alphabets will lie idle on the very top shelves.

Secondly, on the Internet you can find the greatest variety of programs, videos, songs that will help you learn the alphabet in the shortest possible time. Use only one method or combine several at once: sing songs, write down each letter on a piece of paper, memorize the sequence of letters in English and the words in which they are used.

That's all. As you can see, there is nothing wrong with English. The only thing that may be needed when studying it is a little patience, seasoned with motivation. Don't take language for granted, but instead enjoy it.