English is a tricky language. Tyrannical starts with a “tie” sound, but tyranny has a “tear”. Colony is like saying “call lenny” really fast, but colonial is “coal loan kneel”. These subtleties are landmines for a non-native speaker. People get confused whenever I say “call loan kneel” or “tie rany”. Mistakes create confusion.
I am tired of people asking “what?” or laughing. So I developed a process to improve my English. I built a list with links to sound files and use it throughout the day. I practice by repeating after the correct pronunciation. I study two or three words at a time and master them in a week.
The progress I made is so noticeable that I feel silly for not starting earlier. For example, I finally know that woman and women differ in the first syllable.
I also keep a randomly ordered list of the old words to practice and prevent regression.
- I use google.com for the sound files, but google doesn't support all words. Need to find a source that has more words.
- Spellchecker and a way to detect words without sound files. I think jQuery can check if the mp3 file is present.
- Right now I use two text files, but I want to move to Sheets in Google drive, Dropbox, or some kind of cloud storage. Not sure if this is easy using http APIs.
- A way to edit the word lists directly.
- Make it into an app? Add recording?