How to pronounce a word that ends with two letters or two letter + ed

[juffy]

Hi,

I am an English teacher from Thailand. I have trouble pronouncing a word that ends with two letters, two letters + ed, or one letter +ed.

Here are some of them: cast, etched, carved and so on.

1) I wonder whether a native speaker of English pronounces only "s" or both "s" and "t" at the end of the word "cast'?
2) I wonder whether a native speaker of English pronounces only "ch" or both "t" and "ch" at the end of the word "etch"?
3) In case of the past tense with "ed" at the end of the verb such as "etched", do you pronounce all "t," "ch" and "t" ("ed" sound) or only "ch" and "t" ("ed" sound)?


In Thai language, we do not have any ending sound at all, so we have no clue when and how to pronounce and which English ending letter should be silent.

If you can provide any rule for me to stick to, I will really appreciate that.

Thank you in advance.

Juffy, Thailand.

 

[emsr2d2]

Pronunciation and spelling rarely have anything to do with each other in English.

"Etch" sounds like "ech"
"Etched" sounds like "echd".

"tch" in English is just one sound. It sounds exactly like the "ch" at the beginning of "chapter".

We definitely pronounce both the "s" and the "t" at the end of "cast". If we didn't, and we only said "cas" it would sound like "cars" but with a sibilant "s" rather than the "z" sound we use. It would rhyme with "pass" if we didn't pronounce the "t".

 

[juffy]

This is very helpful. Thank you so much.

 

[BobK]

The trouble with transcribing 'as it sounds' Ems, is that your knowledge of the spelling affects your perceptions (and indeed beliefs) about what you hear. ;-) 'Etched' has the sound /eʧt/; there is no voicing (as there often is in words spelt with a 'd' - but not when the 'd' follows an unvoiced consonant).

I know not everyone can read IPA symbols (although learning the 44-odd used to transcribe English, including a dozen or so that you already know [p,t,k,b,d,g,m,n,r,l,i:,u:... and a few others that would cause pointless arguments{!}] wouldn't be a very onerous project); but I don't see how a student without lots of native-speaker back-up can manage without it. Also, as I keep telling my students, you pay for all the information in your dictionary - so you might as well use it all. ;-)

b

PS I forgot the fricatives: add f,v,s and z to the list of symbols you already know.