Esperanto at Stanford University

Pronunciation for "Americans"

Classes at Stanford > Reference Material > Lessons > Pronunciation > Pronunciation for "Americans"

Esperanto Pronunciation
Help for US English speakers

As an "American" myself ("American" is what people from the USA call themselves, despite the millions of other people who live in the Americas - North America and South America) and as someone teaching this for over two decades, i have seen some patterns that are common to US English speakers.

Here is a list of Esperanto words that are also perfectly good English words. What i have noticed is that, at least for English speakers, students of Esperanto do not have much trouble pronouncing words when they immediately seem "foreign" looking. But when they start off looking like a familiar word, their minds will switch into the familiar pronunciation of their native language. So, i've made this list for practicing pronunciation of what looks like English words. NOTE that not a single one of these words should sound anything like California English (maybe they sound like British or Australian or some other English i'm not familiar with). Try to get your mind into an Esperanto mode and read these words - by columns so you don't run into words that are very similar, as you would by row:

al	bane	bare	blue	brake	dance	divide	do
fame	glue	gusto	hare	have	idea	image	invite
jam	jen	june	lace	lame	lite	literature	male
mane	mare	minus	minute	mole	move	note	nun
nature	opinion	ore	pace	page	pane	para	penis
per	pike	plane	plume	plus	police	pro	pete
pure	radio	range	religion	ride	rule	sale	same
sane	sate	save	science	side	simile	simple	sole
solve	spice	stare	strange	sub	table	time	tire
trove	vera	vice	vine	vole		fido

How'd you do? If it sounded like English then you need to practice some more. If you are from the USA then you should read the list again. This time OPEN your mouth A LOT and use your lips A LOT! This should get you much closer to the sounds. Maybe flash cards would be good for practicing these? Again, come to class to hear AND SEE how they are pronounced.

There are also combinations of letters that are not usually put together in US English. Try reading these sentences normally. Then read them again very precisely, without slowing down.

The birds in the nests see us.

The black van stopped in front of the brick, vine-covered wall.

US English speakers should have no problem reading these sentences and sounding normal. In Esperanto we often have the letters "sc" and "kv" next to each other, which is unusual in English. As you saw when reading the above sentences, it's not that you can not pronounce those letters, one after the other, but that it is not usual. So, try to pronounce these Esperanto words again, knowing that you can indeed do it:

scias

kvar

kvin

Practice makes perfect.

By the way, here is the "Alphabet Song" as sung in class (same tune as for English):

A Bo Co Cxo Do E Fo
Go Gxo Ho Hxo I Jo Jxo
Ko Lo Mo No O Po Ro
So Sxo To U Uxo Vo Zo
Es-pe-rant-o al-fa-bet'
Nun ek-ler-nu gra-ma-tik - on!

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Esperanto at Stanford University

Pronunciation for "Americans"

Esperanto Pronunciation Help for US English speakers

Esperanto Pronunciation
Help for US English speakers