Dúvidas enviadas:

Olá, bom dia! Estava a "xeretar" o site e percebi mais esta maravilhosa ferramenta disponibilizada pela Diálogo...Soube um pouquinho mais sobre o currículo do Pr. Ms. Élcio que (aliás) ministra excelentes palestras aqui em Taboão da Serra e podem ter certeza que em breve enviarei minhas dúvidas. Parabéns Diálogo e obrigada Élcio!


The digraph /th/ represents in most cases one of two different phonemes: the voiced dental fricative /ð/ (as in this) and the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ (thing). Sometimes, it can stand for /t/ (Thailand) or the consonant cluster /th/ (lighthouse). Could you give me some tips, when I use dental fricative /ð/ or voiceless dental fricative /θ/? Thanks
Hello Érica!!! Thank you very much for your great question! Let´s see...There are certain patterns you can trust (though nothing is 100% in pronunciation ;-). Here are some tips that will certainly help you and your students. They are presented in hierarchical order: 1 - "THER" You can tell your students every time they see this spelling, they can trust it to be voiced (= vibration, I would tell them :-) as in: father, mother, there, other, either, etc. There are very few exceptions (ether and therapy, among them). 2 - CONTENT WORDS Content words are supposed to be voiceless (= no vibration, I would tell them). Actually, I use the term "important" words with my students. Of course we must remember these content words will not show "ther" in their spelling: Moth, month, theory, thunder, thoroughly, etc. The only exception I know of is "smooth". 3 - TH IN VERBS. 3a - If the TH INITIATES the verb, it is voiceless: think, thought, thaw, thrill, throw, etc. 3b - If the verb ENDS in THE, then it is voiced: breathe, sheethe, soothe, loathe, etc. 4 - Any other pattern will be voiced. :-) I hope I made myself clear. Please keep in touch. :-) Best regards, Élcio.

Hello dear Élcio I have a doubt about the word "love". I like watching movies, sometimes the actor says "lóve" (sorry about the accent, just to emphasize it), others "luv". Which one is correct, or both? Thanks Erica
Hello Érica! The word "love" has only one native standard pronunciation: love = glove = some = luck = sun. All with the same vowel, which can be described as an upside-down V (some people call it the "Chinese hat", because of its format). As you very well mention, some actors pronounce it in a "perfectly clear" way whereas others seem to say something different. I totally agree. We must understand there are different kinds of English (British, American, Australian, etc) and there are different dialects within these varieties. Some open their mouth a little more than others and some also round their lips a bit more than others, but the sound produced is still classified with the same phonetic symbol. I would also like to take this chance to add two thoughts. First, we must be very suspicious of who says what. For instance, several actors and actresses will mispronounce English words slightly because they are not native speakers of the language, even when they have lived a long time in an English-speaking country. The second phenomenon is that we usually hear what we produce. That means learners of a foreign language may think they hear native speakers say certain words exactly as they say it (even though their teacher tries to correct them). This happens exactly because they will hear what they want to hear. A very good example is the word "iron", which must be pronounced as "I earn" (stress on "I"), but students swear they hear "I don´t" (as in a quick "I don´t know", similar to our Portuguese "r"). Thus, teachers really have a serious task in having their students identify the right and appropriate sounds. As you hear the expected form from some actors and deviant forms from others, I must believe the case here fits the first argument, so make sure you check actors´ English background before you consider them good models. ;-) That´s it. I wish the best of the season to you and an even better 2009! Kindest regards, Élcio Souza.

Dear Élcio, Eu tenho uma dúvida e não acho a resposta em nenhum lugar. Você poderia me ajudar, por favor? Porque às vezes o "i" fica com som de "ai" e outras fica com som de "i"? (por exemplo: I live em São José.) Muito Obrigada, Aline
Hello! The letter "i" can be pronounced in five ways: / aI /, / I /, / i /, / 3 /, and schwa (= uh). / aI / => in stressed syllables (primary stress and, sometimes secondary stress) in the following formation: "i" + Consonant + vowel => like, bike, license, driver, lining, etc. "i" + vowel => lie, die, lion, sion, etc. "igh" => light, bright, flight, etc. / I / => in stressed syllables in the following formation: "i" + double consonant => beginning, hitter, etc. "i" + consonant (at the end of the syllable) => picnic, lipstick, etc. / 3 / => in stressed syllables before R => stir, bird, etc. / i / => only for some words (usually from French) => machine, Rita, liter, etc... Schwa => for non-stressed position :-) = responsible, etc. That´s it. :-) Regards, Élcio.

Olá Élcio, como vai? Fiquei super feliz em encontrar este site no qual você participa tirando nossas dúvidas. Eu passei por várias escolas de idiomas e confesso que não conclui meu curso de inglês em nenhuma delas. Tudo o que aprendi foi pesquisando e lendo muitos artigos e livros, até que descobri os símbolos fonéticos. Porque as escolas de idiomas não ensinam através de símbolos, principalmente para alunos que não tem contato com falantes da língua alvo? Minha pronúncia melhorou muito desde que os descobri. Hoje leciono para alunos de nível básico utilizando símbolos e eles estão adorando e compreendendo mais o que ouvem em inglês. Existe uma razão específica para a não utilização dos símbolos fonéticos? Bye, bye!!Hugs.
Hello Selma! There are several reasons some schools and some teachers do not use phonemic symbols in their classes (even though it is important to remember that there also are some institutions and many teachers that do use them :-). Let us see some of their reasons. Firstly, some institutions believe that phonemic symbols could confuse more than help their students because they would add up to the volume of information their students already have to focus on. Others believe their students would learn better with a "Portuguese way" of checking pronunciation on the board, such as writing "dór" to show the pronunciation of "door". Unfortunately, even when the institution advocates using phonemic symbols in class, some teachers have never been trained to master them and, therefore, resist using them in their classes. Whatever the reason, it is a situation students need to cope with. Nevertheless, I agree that phonemic symbols do help and the more we expose our students to them (even receptively), the more we will help them. In the long run, students whose teachers take advantage of phonemic symbols become more independent learners as far as pronunciation is concerned for they can look up words in their dictionaries and check the right way to pronounce them. Another very good argument in favor of using phonemic symbols in English classes is that most Brazilians are visual learners, that is, they learn better when they see what they are learning. By dealing with the symbols, learners will be able to "see" the sounds they need to produce and then will self-correct their pronunciation much more accurately. Kinesthetic learners, who learn best by moving and touching their object of study, will greatly benefit form these symbols as well, if their teachers bring them in cards so they can manipulate them as they focus on their pronunciation. Every single student of English can take advantage of these cards, even if they are in a very basic level. Phonemic symbols are a very reliable source of pronunciation instruction and every committed teacher of foreign languages should seek training and practice in order to help (themselves and) their students acquire good pronunciation. I guess that is it. Thank you again for your question. I am sure many teachers wondered about it, too. Best regards, Élcio Souza.