Albert Song
Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2019
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
I have been wondering if kids in US/UK/Australia etc have to learn some sort of phonetic alphabet system in school?
I know in UK you have a system called DJ(Daniel Jones) phonetic alphabet, which is now included in the <Cambridge pronuncing dictionary>. And DJ by the way is the most popular phonetic alphabet used in Chinese schools, every school kid has to learn it as they start to learn english. And in US you have the Webster's phonetic alphabet and all sorts of phonetic respelling systems.
But according to many here in China who are now living in UK/US or once did, school kids in US/UK don't learn any phonetic alphabet at all, they just copy a teacher's pronunciation of each word. is that true? BTW, another rumor in China is that native English speakers don't have to learn any grammar either, which however has been confirmed to be false by many already.
I think it's just not that practical that kids learn to pronounce all those words only with the help of teachers. So I think it's most probable that you use some sort of respelling system, but respelling seems to be a quite loose system and there doesn't seem to be one that's universally used, so if you do use respelling how do you manage to avoid the confusion caused by this lack of definite rules?
many thanks!
I know in UK you have a system called DJ(Daniel Jones) phonetic alphabet, which is now included in the <Cambridge pronuncing dictionary>. And DJ by the way is the most popular phonetic alphabet used in Chinese schools, every school kid has to learn it as they start to learn english. And in US you have the Webster's phonetic alphabet and all sorts of phonetic respelling systems.
But according to many here in China who are now living in UK/US or once did, school kids in US/UK don't learn any phonetic alphabet at all, they just copy a teacher's pronunciation of each word. is that true? BTW, another rumor in China is that native English speakers don't have to learn any grammar either, which however has been confirmed to be false by many already.
I think it's just not that practical that kids learn to pronounce all those words only with the help of teachers. So I think it's most probable that you use some sort of respelling system, but respelling seems to be a quite loose system and there doesn't seem to be one that's universally used, so if you do use respelling how do you manage to avoid the confusion caused by this lack of definite rules?
many thanks!