剛好我在AUE上看到這串，引來給大家參考(應該還會有人回，有興趣看的可以用google找: google--> groups--> search "alt.usage.english", 然後主題找"Rules for English pronunciation")
簡單的說，即使是英語人士也會有遇到生字然後不知道怎麼唸的情況，這時候就要靠字典了。
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
"...." :
Q:
From: Chakaba
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:01:09 +0200
....
Melody
Melodic
Hear
heard
Break
Bread
What are the rules for being able to pronunce any word in English?
....
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:06:14 +0000
From: Derek Turner
...
Sorry, there are none. Try Welsh if you want consistency and rules.
A2:
From: the Omrud
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:10:50 GMT
....
I'm afraid there are no rules. There are patterns and there are conventions, but even native speakers have to guess at the pronunciation of a new word.
From: "Steve MacGregor"
Date: 10 Dec 2006 06:53:49 -0800
.....
Only one simple rule: get a good dictionary, and look up the words to see how they're pronounced. Be careful of words pronounced differently but spelled the same.
From: Donna Richoux
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 16:50:28 +0100
....
The rule is, be born to English-speaking parents and live with them for twelve to eighteen years. We don't expect even native children to try to learn this spelling system until they have listened to spoken English for seven years on average.
We pronounce words the way we hear them pronounced, not the way we see them written on paper. No one ever pretended that English spelling was designed to allow foreigners to pronounce the language correctly.
So, if there's any hope, it is to increase the amount of English you hear, preferably spoken by native speakers: movies, TV, music, voice recordings, and real people. *After* that, work on reading and spelling.
However, there are always a few patterns that the desperate adult student can find that the native speaker learned unconsciously. There are some other combinations like "melody - melodic" such as "history - historic" but exactly how many combinations there are like this, I couldn't say.
Check out some of the sites on
http://www.alt-usage-english.org/intro_b.shtml
Intro B: Useful Web Sites for AUE Participants
- Learning English as a Foreign Language
- Audio Archives & Phonetics
