Transcribing Most Common Words
Now that we know how to segment while accounting for air pressure, we can now carry that over into the script through a new type of transcription.
For this new type, the IPA symbols will remain the same, there will just be slight changes in conventions. The biggest ones are:
- Continuant consonants show up both at the end of the first syllable and the beginning of the second. (e.g. as - si)
- Stop consonants show up as suctions stops (parentheses) at the end of the first syllable, and as releases (no parentheses) at the beginning of the first. (e.g. “es(t) - ta”
There are more nuanced exceptions to these rules which mostly show up when there is a transition between nasal and oral phonemes.
Don’t worry about memorizing any rules, just attempt to transcribe the words yourself, then check the answers after to see the difference. When checking, practice doing the segmenting with pressure technique to really get the words comfortable in your mouth.
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Transcribing Phrases from Courses
The real power in transcription comes when you transcribe real speech. We blend and blur are words together in everyday speech, and for learners this can make the language really difficult to get a grip on.
But when you transcribe it with this system, you can feel every movement with precision clarity, and you get clear instruction for how EXACTLY to articulate the same as the native speaker.
Listen to each audio, and make your attempt to transcribe, but understand that you will likely get MOST of the phonemes wrong at the beginning. You have to get a few hours of practice transcribing speech with feedback before you can get high accuracy.
So don’t get frustrated by your low percentages - it’s part and par for the course. Instead, focus more on trying to understand why the transcriptions are what they are. And do that by using the pressure segmenting technique to get each phrase smooth in your mouth, sounding as close to native as possible.
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🇪🇸 Spanish
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🇫🇷 French
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🇩🇪 German
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🇵🇹 Portuguese
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