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It’s fair to say that at this point in the semester you’re either a future phonetician or a wanna-be drop out.
All right, fair enough, I might be bit overdramatic but let’s be honest - Phonetics and Transcription are classes that you either love or hate and there is nothing in between. As we enter the final week of regular Transcription classes, the atmosphere is getting tense. With the sound change test behind us, we practice our bilabial clicks and uvular trills (am I the only one who can never get it right?), hand in the last assignments and brace for the upcoming exam week. Don’t worry though, because KAT Blad is coming through with some resources to help you avoid a resit and make those incoming study sessions productive! First things first - how to master the IPA for your Speaking Test?
1. wikiHow created a useful article about how to learn the IPA - 5 steps catered to your native language(s) that will help you get nicely organised when looking at the IPA gives you too much anxiety to even get started.
2. The YouTube channel that we have previously already shared on our Facebook page - Glossika Phonics. For those of us who still get confused by some of the trickier sounds, this can be a wonderful resource. In a series of separate videos (around a minute per sound), besides obviously a recording, you get useful infographics and all the info about place of articulation, obstruction of the air flow and such.
Transcription is hard and we all know it. And honestly guys, sometimes the only IPA you should spend your evening with is a beer. Treat yourself. Relax. There is a world after Transcription and you don’t want to get burned out before you
get to experience it.