Thread: Time. An article and mp3-file

Hi!

There's an article about time and mp3-file (length: less than 1 min., size: 467 kb).
1. Can you understand me?
2. What you think about my pronouncing? What I have to change in the first
place?
3. Would you (native speakers) write your own mp3-file to the article?

Thanks.
============================================
Hour follows hour as time passes. Time always flows steadily in the same
direction. Behind us in time lies the past, which we know. Ahead lies the
future, which we cannot know. We cannot change time, but we can measure
it. People first measured time in days and nights, which they could easily
see and count. They also measured time in months, by watching the phases
of the Moon, and in years, by watching the cycle of the seasons. Today, we
have clocks and watches that can measure time in fractions of a second.

In 1905, German physicist Albert Einstein proposed the scientific theory
of relativity. This says that time is not constant, but that it would pass
more slowly if you could travel very fast (near the speed of light), or in
strong fields of gravity. Scientists believe that time may even come to a
stop in black holes deep in space.
============================================

Для уха русскоговорящего человека ты удивительно хорошо звучишь. Особенно t.
Мэжэр

Я хоть и не nativespeaker, но "phases", имхо, должно звучать не так, а [feizez]. И physicist - в книжках никакого [ш] там нет. И еще gr[э]vity.
А в direction в первом слоге лично мне слышится какой-то дифтонг, но не [ai] который там может быть, и не [i].

Hi Astronomer,

You're definitely on the right track. Try to slow down a bit when you practice your pronunciation, so as to give yourself a bit more time to form the words.

The main giveaway that you're Russian, I would say, is your L. (I don't like telling Russians this, as I positively love it when I hear that hard Russian L in English - I think it sounds beautiful, and I love listening to it But it's not really correct, and as you asked for correction...... )

For practice, try always to think Ль when you pronounce L in English, keep it soft.
I'm talking about (British) English here, US L's are usually much "deeper" (on the verge of sounding terribly sloppy), so in US English, it's easier to get away with Л .

Keep up the good work!

The word that caught my ear most was "meezhur" which should be mezhur (measure). As has been said, you are doing well.

It sounds more British than American

I'm Russian, and I hear your accent.

It seems that you [o] and [i] sounds are close to Russian articulation.

The most evident error is the overuse of aspiration. You are trying way hard. Aspiration must be only the quality of your sounds.

Also it feels like you've got something in your mouth that prevents some sounds to be produced well.

Keep trying, astronomer!

You will never be able to lose your Russian accent, Mr Astronomer! So why bother to try? We will always be able to pick you for a foreigner, so you may aswell forget about that job as a Russian spy!

Your accent is really heavy throughout, so it's difficult to highlight any problems that stand out more than anything else. I could understand most of it though.

The only word I completely failed to understand from the audio was "measured", which should be pronounced something like "мэжорд", but you pronounce as "мюжед". I had to check the text to see what you had said there.

Thanks for all your help