Intonation and pronunciation 3

 

I would like to go to a desert island.

 

Central European students have a problem with the pronunciation of 'island', often sounding the 's'.

 

If you do sound the 's' you get Iceland /aɪslənd/, which is the name of a country that has lots of volcanoes and is home to Björk and the excellent Sigur Rós.

 

If, however, you do not sound the 's' but use a very slight 'r' sound in after 'i', you get Ireland /aɪələnd/,another country, this being home to U2 and The Cranberries.

 

The correct pronunciation is i (as in i-pad) - land /aɪlənd/.