Melaka, Malaysia – Independent developer, Kian Tong Thai is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of Word Sounds 3.1, an update to their English language app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app has been designed to make learning the correct pronunciation of hundreds of thousands of English words easy and quick, without having to memorise any of them.
Many native English speakers can pronounce and understand the spoken words but cannot read the written words correctly.On the other hand, many native Japanese and Chinese can read volumes of English books and literatures and understand the meaning of all the words they contain, but struggle when reading them out loud. Both groups would most likely resort to memorising the correct pronunciations of the words, eventually struggling to recall them when speaking.
Although there are hundreds of thousands of English words, there are only 26 consonant sounds and 21 vowel sounds, which are combined in a number of different ways to form all these words. These sounds are, in turn, coded into English letters. So, in order to pronounce any word correctly, all one has to do is remember all the English codes used in the combination to form that word. Once a person becomes familiar with the English codes of these sounds, they can then easily pronounce almost any word correctly.
Word Sounds simply helps users achieve just that, easily and quickly, in one simple mobile screen, anytime, anywhere. It is suitable for all age groups and for both native and non-native speakers of English. With the help of this app, users only need to learn the sounds of a fixed number of alphabetical sound codes that are combined to form almost all the English words. Pronouncing any word is as easy as just reading out these codes. As for the codes in general, users must also be aware that one code can have several sounds. On the other hand, one sound can also have several codes. Word Sounds provides the full lists.
What’s new in Version 3.1:
* Added an optional digital timer
* Replaced some pronunciations
The app shows all the basic 26 consonant and 21 vowel sounds that make up for all the English words as well as the IPA and English codes that represent all these sounds. It also shows how words are pronounced through segmentation and blending of the English codes. Graphical charts explaining how the consonant and vowel sounds are correctly produced according to the manners and locations in the mouth are also displayed by the app.
One of the main features of Word Sounds is the “Play with codes” screen, where one learns the sounds of the 26 consonants and 21 vowels and their English codes. There is also a “Test yourself” screen to check one’s mastery of all these consonant and vowel sounds and codes.
Using graphic animation, Word Sounds will demonstrate how all the codes in any word have to be pronounced and blended together, from the left to the right. One can start pronouncing a word correctly by knowing the difference between “voiced” and “unvoiced” consonants, and between long and short monophthong vowels. Further fine-tuning using the Consonant Chart and the Vowel Chart can come later.
Parents and teachers can use Word Sounds to help children who are finding it tough to remember the correct pronunciations of hundreds of thousands of English words. It can also be used as a reference for the correct pronunciation of a word.
“Both beginners and advanced learners will find this app useful,” said Kian Tong Thai. “We’ve also added an optional digital timer to Word Sounds 3.1 to make the self-test more challenging and fun.”
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
* Requires iOS 4.3 or later
* Optimized for iPhone 5
Pricing and Availability:
Word Sounds 3.1 is $2.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Reference category. Promo codes are available for qualified reviewers. Please specify the website or blog you represent when making your request.
Word Sounds 3.1
Purchase and Download
Download from iTunes
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Located in Melaka, Malaysia, independent software developer Kian Tong Thai is passionate about helping people master the pronunciation of the English language by designing intelligent and easy-to-use applications for the iOS platform. All Material and Software (C) 2013 Copyright Kian Tong Thai. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.
