Water, please
IPA reading practice: a 173-word story in broad British transcription, a good read after lesson 8. Read it in IPA first, then check yourself.
The story in IPA
Read it in IPA first. Tap a word to check its spelling, or the eye on a line to see the whole line.
The Scot
Me
The Scot
The Australian
The Texan
Me
The Texan
Me
The Texan
Me
The Scot
The Australian
The Texan
Transcriptions are broad British (RP), word by word, as each word is said on its own (its word page's transcription where it has one), with the everyday weak forms of a, an, the, to, of and and. Fast connected speech runs words together more than this. Each character has a voice of their own; the voices are synthetic (Piper, British English), not recordings of people.
The whole story in six accents
The transcription is British, as on every word page. Listen to what each voice does with the r and the t of water.
- Southern British (RP)The accent most British dictionaries transcribe. No r after a vowel.
- General AmericanSays every r. Taps the t of water and better.
- AustralianNo r after a vowel. Day starts lower, time further back.
- South AfricanNo r after a vowel. The vowel of bit is often a schwa.
- ScottishSays every r, often as a tap. Few long vowels, and x in loch.
- IrishSays every r. Steady vowels in go and day.
Every reading here is a synthetic voice imitating that accent, not a recording of a native speaker.
Hear it in six accents
NEAR. Non-rhotic accents glide to a schwa where the r was; Australian often smooths that into one long vowel.
- Southern British (RP)/hɪə/
- General American/hɪɹ/
- Australian/hɪː/
- South African/hɪə/
- Scottish/hiɾ/
- Irish/hiːɹ/
Every clip here is a synthetic voice imitating that accent, not a recording of a native speaker. Transcriptions are broad: what a typical speaker of the accent does, highlighted where the accents differ.
Did you follow it?
Three questions on the story. The answers are in IPA too, so read them before you tap.
Part of Kilo Lingo Plus - the story above is free to read.