I have a difficulty in pronouncing 'sion'

Hello everyone,

I feel it hard for me to pronounce [ʒən] correctly such as in concision [kən’siʒən], occasion [ə’keiʒən]. I will really appreciate your help if you can record these two words for me. Thanks in advance. :slight_smile: Have a nice weekend.

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Infinity, try using SHONE as in, the sun “shone”. Same phonetic.

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Thank you for leaving me this voice message, Bill. I’m glad to be able to hear from you. You sound pretty good. I’m not sure I get each word you said right, but I think they are: insition, decision, omission and transmission, right? I hope you enjoy the online recorder function here. I’m looking forward to hearing more from you. Bye.

P.S. I really failed to reduce the background noise. I recorded this message several times. I also recorded it by using another mike, but it doesn’t make things any better. So, please forgive me if the background noise annoys your listening.

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Hi friend, you are now sounding your " sion " very clearly. Your transmission was very good.

Also your speaking voice, with correct pausing and intonation, is very good.You are coming on rapidly, and I congratulate you. Very well done.

I must respectfully disagree with Kitosdad, and the difference of opinion may very well simply be a matter of local accent. (i.e., He is probably pronouncing these words correctly for his locale!)

American English makes a slight distinction between the voiced and voiceless versions of this sound. Interestingly, to my ear, Infin1ty did correctly make this distinction when he repeated the same list of four words: The “zh” sound in incision and decision is voiced, i.e., the vocal cords vibrate, and the “sh” sound in omission and transmission is voiceless, i.e., no vibration of the vocal cords. Place your fingertips on your throat to feel this vibration. Also note that your vocal cords will sometimes vibrate during other parts of the same word, but I am only concentrating on whether they vibrate during this one sound.

I will record some words with my own local accent:

The following words use the voiced “zh” sound:

concision
occasion
incision
decision
invasion
infusion
allusion
conclusion
confusion
profusion
vision
fusion

The following words use the voiceless “sh” sound:

shun
omission
transmission
nation
condition
ocean
motion
cushion
fission

[size=75]-- David Beroff
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David, I have made it perfectly clear that I am a " Geordie " with a NE accent, but I do speak British English which most members here are interested in hearing/learning.

I’m sure that most are not wishing to be taught American English, with the exception of those wishing to live in the USA sometime in their lives.

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No worries! I could not tell your location from your profile here, and I did say that our differences were likely a matter of locale. I never said one way was better than another.

I don’t know if that’s the case, but, either way, this gives people a choice. Certainly there are plenty of differences in the language around the world, and even within a few hours’ travel within the States.

[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]

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David, your response begs the question :- Would the Forum members prefer to use the American manner of spelling, Color, Sulfur, and so on. If so, then they should be on an American English Forum.

Is this the format that you use within your classes.?

I don’t think that either you or I can speak for everyone here, especially as both of us have just joined the site in the last two weeks, but my personal opinion is that the various flavors (and flavours) of English are mostly all the same language, with only minor differences in spelling, pronunciation, colloquialisms, and so on. Two English speakers from different parts of the planet may have to slow down a bit, but they will still understand each other when speaking or writing. Thus, I really don’t think that it makes sense to separate the dialects into multiple forums, nor to force people to choose to associate only with people who speak the same dialect. We can all grow and learn more when we share our experiences with a larger audience, and I think that all that’s necessary is to mention when a particular locale affects a given discussion, just as you and I have done here.

As for class format, I’m offering practice in conversational English, and my clients understand that I am from the United States when they join. Some people want that, some people don’t, and others simply don’t care. :smiley:

OK David, let’s put it to bed. As long as Infinity is showing a marked improvement is
surely the goal.

Perfection, in my opinion, is not the goal here.

Understanding the other person is.

Should a person achieve perfect pronunciation, he will ALWAYS be audibly recognised as a " foreigner " by a native-speaker.

Hello Bill,

I totally agree with you on this point:

It does matter which accent I should follow as long as my pronunciation is correct and you can understand what I am saying, right? I am what I am, even though I could try hard and at least sound a little English, as you said, I will always be audibly recognised as a foreigner by a native-speaker. The war between American accent and Britain accent has last for quite a long time: Example Sentences | english.best

Nah little friend. It is a source of amusement to most of we working-class folk, both American and Brits. Long may it survive.

Hello David,

Thanks for these helpful messages. :slight_smile: It’s nice to be able to hear you voice. Frankly, I always watch movies and TV series from both America and Engliand. So my pronunciation may be affected by both American accent and English accent. I don’t know which kind of accent I am following, American accent or English accent? Perhaps neither. I’m sorry for I coundn’t leave you a voice message for my mike issues are yet to be fixed. Hope to talk/write to you soon and I am looking forward to hearing more from you. Bye.

Hello Infin1ty,
I totally agree with David. Your voice must be good & understandable. As a matter of fact, You (We) speak an International English. As far as, there is no communication barrier then it’s OK.

Noren Lee

Hello Infin1ty,
I totally agree with David. Your voice must be good & understandable. As a matter of fact, You (We) speak an International English. As far as, there is no communication barrier, then it’s OK. Thanks.

Noren Lee

Hello Noren,

Thank you very much for leaving me this voice message, and also for your feedback as to my pronunciation. I’m nice to hear your voice and you sound good. To be honest, I am not at all satisfied with my speaking English because I don’t know how to pronounce most of the words I have learnt. There’s a lot of room for me to improve. Speaking is one of the hurdles I must overcome in my studying English before I can communicate with others. Talk to you soon, Bye.

Infinity, in spite of my Geordie accent, I am able to make myself understood by everyone I speak to.

If you were to send me a PM with the words that you find difficult, I feel I may be able to help you.

Your friend, Kitosdad.

Hello Bill,

Thanks again for offering me your kind help. As a matter of fact that I don’t know what exact a Geordie accent is. You sound British to me and your accent and the manner you pronounce words make you sound quite gentle. No surprise why many women like you accent. I mean it. I’m no kidding.

I’m sure I will, Bil. Thanks again. 8)

Nor did I, but Google is my friend: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie

You’re welcome! And I thank you, Infin1ty, for giving me the inspiration to turn that original post into a new video for my blog:

youtube.com/watch?v=Kne4kj3DwAc

[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]

Words still in common use by Geordie dialect speakers today include:

  • alreet (/'a:lri:t/ a variation on alright or Hello
  • mam a variation of Mother
  • aboot for about
  • cannit ‘can not’
  • canny for “pleasant” (the Scottish use of canny is often somewhat less flattering), or to mean ‘quite’. Someone could therefore be ‘canny canny’.
  • cuddy ‘small horse or a pony’
  • geet for “very”, also *muckle (used more in Northumberland)
  • hyem/hyam for “home”
  • deeks for “look at” very rarely used
  • kets for “sweets/treats”
  • knaa for “to know/know”
  • divint for “don’t”/
  • bairn/grandbairn for “child/grandchild”
  • hacky for “dirty”
  • hoose for house
  • ya for you/your
  • gan for “go”
  • gaan for going
  • hoy for “to throw”[24]
  • pet a term of address or endearment towards a woman or a child
  • toon for “Town”
  • nettie for “toilet”
  • naa|nar for “no”
  • aye for “yes”
  • neb for “nose” (nebby=nosey)
  • banter for “chat/gossip”
  • clart for “mud” as in “there’s clarts on yar boots”
  • hadaway for “get away”
  • hinny a term of endearment - “Honey”[24]
  • haad for “hold” example: ‘keep a hadd’ is ‘keep a hold’ and ‘had yer gob’ becomes ‘keep quiet’. That polite little notice in the parks aboot keepin’ yor dog on a lead is ‘ye cud hev keep a-hadden yor dog’[24]
  • divvie for “stupid person”
  • tab for “cigarette”
  • chor “to steal” very rarely used
  • chiv for “knife”
  • neva never
  • wor for “our”, used mainly in the context of wor kid, meaning ‘friend’, one’s sibling or literally ‘our kid’. Used primarily to denote a family member.
  • nowt for “nothing”[24]
  • nart also for “nothing”
  • is for “me”.
  • me for my, and also works in myself > meself or mesel.
  • man Not realy got a translation, often used eg. “Giv is it ere now man”. “ha way man”
  • wuh for “us”
  • a for I
  • ee used like oh, often in shock “ee neva”
  • doon down, own is often replaced with oon.
  • get awesh for “go away” very rarely used
  • wint for wont (also ‘wivvint’)
  • summat for something
  • met for mate/friend
  • craic pronounced “crack”, for good time/banter
  • doon for down
  • gadgie for man
  • mollycoddle overprotect, “wrap in cotton wool”
  • D/dee for do
  • chud/chutty chewing gum
  • N’ew Now, very hard to write. Prounounded like new, N 'ew
  • like used in many sentences; usually every other word, e.g. “like, is he like, on aboot me or like, summat, like?”
  • pipe for quiet, e.g. “pipe doon”
  • bi for pen: shortened version of a biro
  • Lend often used for borrow, “lend is a bi” meaning “Can I borrow a pen?”.
  • Us for I or me, e.g. “give us a turn” meaning “give me a turn” or “can us go to the netty” meaning “can I go to the toilet?”.
  • Sooop a term often used for the food ‘soup’ popularised by a famous geordie ‘ian Delf’ and his son ‘Scott’
  • Wo, Wa, Woh or wat or wot what
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