ConceptCONCEPTMind Your Future
Part One · Foundations · Level A1 to A2

Unit 1
The map of English consonants

/θ/ /ð/ /r/ /l/ /h/
Worksheet W01 · Diagnosis, not practice
From your coach. Start here. Every consonant in English is on this one page, and you will keep coming back to it.
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These are the symbols you will see in a dictionary. Click any one to hear it. You do not need to memorize them.

Why this mattersYou already have most of them

English has about 24 consonants, and here is the good news: you already have most of them. If you spend equal time on all 24 you will waste most of your practice.

So this first unit is not practice. It is a map. By the end you will know which small handful of consonants actually need your attention, and you can stop worrying about the rest.

For almost everyone there are four groups that need real work: th, the American r, the l at the end of a word, and the h.

This first unit is not practice. It is a map.
Think of it like moving to a new city. Most of the streets are already familiar. You only need a map for a few.

What your language doesFind out which ones are yours

The th sounds are missing from most of the world's languages. Assume they are new for you unless you already know otherwise.

The American r is a specific tongue movement that very few languages use, even languages that have some kind of r. Two separate things can be wrong: the sound of your r, and whether it survives after a vowel in car and hard.

The l at the end of a word goes wrong in two opposite directions. Some languages turn it into a w, so milk becomes miwk. Others keep it light and clear, which sounds too thin for American English.

The h is silent in the spelling of several European languages and absent altogether in others. If your language writes h without saying it, you will probably drop it in house and then over-correct and add one in away.

How to make itSay each group and mark it

Nothing to build yet. This unit is diagnosis.

Say each group out loud, then decide: easy, or hard. Trust your own judgment, because it is usually right. A sound that feels the same as another sound is exactly the sound that will need the most listening work later.

Then read the four sentences and notice which one costs the most effort. That is where your course starts.

Try this now

Say the four groups out loud and mark each one easy or hard. Then read the four sentences and notice which one costs the most effort. That is where your course starts.

Say itWord banks

The four groups

In a sentencePut it under pressure

Record and compareSee the shape of your voice

Pick anything above, then record yourself saying it. Your recording appears in red over the model in gray. You are comparing shapes, not chasing a score.

Choose a word or sentence above
ModelYou
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Check yourself

You marked th as easy but h as hard. What does that suggest about your first language?

You probably already have a sound close to th, or dental sounds you can build from. And your language most likely writes h without pronouncing it. Next thing to check: what your language does with the r in car.