abu_dana

Like I mentioned before it's all about three sounds which soud to me almost identical

like = ح خ ه they all like "h"

very difficult especially if Russian and my own Kazak recognises only one "h".

like = ذ ظ ض

to me when people say them they sound like interdentals in English "th" in "those"

confusing pairs or couples of identicals like

س ص to me they all sound like "s"

ت ط to me they all sound like "t"

د ض sound like "d"

If dad is regarded to be not interdental "th" it is often heard as another form of "d", but there is already one "d"

Jonne

I think i should rather make a record of these or something..it's a bit difficult to explain

Like I mentioned before it's all about three sounds which soud to me almost identical

like = ح خ ه they all like "h"

very difficult especially if Russian and my own Kazak recognises only one "h".

ه is like english h in heat
ح is a hard h. try "closing" your throat and saying h
خ is like a kh sound.. it's like german ch or spanish j, but a bit harder i think.

like = ذ ظ ض

to me when people say them they sound like interdentals in English "th" in "those"

ذ is like english th in that or those
ض is hmm like a dental d i guess. a bit harder than ذ
ظ and this is very hard ذ

confusing pairs or couples of identicals like

س ص to me they all sound like "s"

I think that the 'thing' is mainly with pronunciation of the following vowels.
See
سَ = sa
صَ = sa
but
the a in سَ is like the english a in cat
and the a in صَ like russian a. get it? same thing happens with some other consonants too-

Quote:

Note that when 'a' is followed by an emphatic consonant (ض ص ق خ ح ط ظ), it is pronunced in the back of your mouth, and is similar to British a in father.

ت ط to me they all sound like "t"

t has a little puff of air, nearly like t-h while ط doesn't and is very hard. practise it by pressing your tongue against your upper teeth.

د ض sound like "d"

If dad is regarded to be not interdental "th" it is often heard as another form of "d", but there is already one "d"

د is like english d
ض is softer than د , like hmm dental? but not ذ.

__________________
-Jonne
Guess how to pronounce it

Nani

well done Jonne

well abu-dana .. you are right, these are not easy letters to differentiate. But if you listened to them , you will find out that they are different.

I will give you this link , might be good to take a look at it

http://pistolero.unilang.org/arabe/alphabet2.html

abu_dana

Thank you Jonne and Nani,

I will take your advice and try and practice a bit more...

abu_dana

Similar problem in distinguishing between hamza and ayin. I was told these are two guttural sounds. They seem very identical to me especially when spoken fast.

Jonne

http://www.languageguide.org/im/alpha/ar/

listen to 3ain there.

hamza is like the sound between uh and oh in uh-oh *like when you break something etc*

__________________
-Jonne
Guess how to pronounce it

abu_dana

I was told by some Arabic educating books that hamza sound is similar to British guttural stops, like in words butter (Brits say it like bu'er), or take this example:

not a lot of people know about that!

Brits would say:

no' a lo' ov people know abou' tha'!

Through English it is easy to understand but then further its says ayin is pronounced in similar way but with greater force, with a bigger explosion in you throat!!!???

I see Egyptians totally ignore sound represented by "qaf" I noticed that in the ah we nuss song.