Worcestershire. Onomatopoeia. Epitome. Stuck with how to pronounce such words the correct way? You can keep social embarrassment at bay by using the YouGlish app. It shows guidance videos for English speakers on how to ace the correct way to pronounce. This app is handy for non-native speakers of the language, or, especially if you are a student and have English as a second language.
As soon as you log in—with either Gmail or Facebook IDs—a screen pops up that asks you to key in the word you are having difficulty pronouncing. You can select the language from a drop-down menu—assuming it’s not just English words you are having trouble with. It could be a French ‘Au contraire’ or a Spanish ‘Hola’.
It also teaches pronunciation in some chosen languages such as Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, etc. One thing that makes this app even more unique and user-friendly is the fact that you can choose accents too—British, American, Irish or Scottish. Making it inclusive, is also an option for sign language.
Once you type the word that is troubling you, and press enter, the app throws up a dozen or more videos—it redirects to YouTube—of the way the word has been pronounced correctly. If you have chosen a British accent, it would present you with videos from the UK, or from the US if you have chosen an American accent. You can also choose the way you want to use the word—as a verb, noun, adjective or adverb. There is an additional filter of learning to use the particular word as a phrase. With YouTube as a repository, the app has access to millions of videos, but is smart enough to select the few that fit your requirements.
For example, if you type the word ‘coup’, you would get videos of maybe Army staff or TV anchorpersons using the word a number of times during a conversation. You can also activate the subtitles option, so that you can read what is being spoken, making it easier for non-native speakers to follow. This can aid with sentence structuring too.
Yet another helpful tool is that one can reduce the playback speed so that the words don’t just flash by, and one can follow it at their own pace. You can go faster too, if you so wish.
This app is especially helpful for teachers when they are taking a language class. It helps them come up with multiple examples of how to use certain words, and also teaches sentence construction using that particular word.