The Sounds of English: Free Pronunciation Course

About this course

Explore the BBC Learning English guide to all forty-four sounds in its English pronunciation model. This free course preserves the introductory recording and every sound lesson in the forty-five-video source playlist. The classroom begins with the introduction, then groups vowels, diphthongs and consonants into a clearer study progression.

Course at a glance

What you’ll learn

• Recognize the sound categories used in the BBC pronunciation guide.
• Listen for differences between short vowels, long vowels and diphthongs.
• Compare voiced and voiceless consonants using the recorded examples.
• Practise connecting a sound symbol with a spoken word and a repeatable pronunciation target.

Skills you’ll gain

• English pronunciation
• Phonetic symbols
• Vowel sounds
• Diphthongs
• Consonant sounds
• Listening discrimination

Course Overview

The course provides a finite reference set: one introduction and forty-four individual sound recordings. Short and long vowels establish the vowel section, while diphthongs introduce sounds that change within a syllable. Voiceless, voiced and other consonants complete the guide. The lessons are grouped by sound type so you can work through one category at a time and return to a difficult example. The guide uses the publisher’s British English pronunciation model. Other accents can realize sounds differently, so the aim is to understand and practise the model presented rather than judge every variation as an error. A short sound lesson becomes more useful when you return to its example words and compare them carefully.

How to study the course

• Watch the introduction, then work through the vowel groups in small sessions. Keep a short list of words that help you distinguish sounds you find similar.
• Continue with diphthongs and notice how the sound changes. Repeat a manageable example and listen for the whole syllable rather than separating it into unrelated pieces.
• Study the consonant groups and compare voiced and voiceless examples. Revisit difficult sounds in words and short phrases so practice supports understandable speech.

Use the searchable classroom lesson list to revisit a specific explanation. Pause after a useful demonstration, reproduce a small example and explain the result in your own words. Keep a short note of what worked, what changed and what you still need to understand before moving on.

Who is this for?

This course suits English learners building a pronunciation reference, students encountering phonetic symbols and teachers seeking individual sound demonstrations. Beginners can study a few sounds at a time, while more experienced learners can use the searchable list for targeted revision.

Before you start

Headphones and the ability to listen and repeat are enough to begin. A notebook helps connect sound symbols with example words. The course is a video pronunciation guide, with no live teacher correction, full accent assessment or certificate included.

Put the lessons into practice

Choose two vowel sounds and two consonant sounds that you want to distinguish more reliably. Collect example words from the relevant lessons and sort them into a small comparison table. Listen, repeat and then use each word in a short phrase of your own. If you record an attempt, compare the target feature rather than judging your entire voice. Return to the same words after a break and note which distinction has become easier. Build a personal reference list that points back to the source lesson for each sound.

This optional activity is provided by WikiFree for independent practice. It is not a graded assignment from the instructor. Keep your working notes, check the result against the task you defined and return to the relevant lesson when an assumption or technique is unclear.

Certificate / Assessment

Watching the public videos and using WikiFree progress tracking does not award a certificate, exam voucher, academic credit or instructor assessment.

Use your practice output to review what you can now explain and repeat independently. Completion tracking records your study progress; it does not replace an assessed qualification or professional experience.

Frequently asked questions

Provider: BBC Learning English. Videos play from the BBC Learning English channel on YouTube.