Rules of Pronunciation

There are many guides online, problem with most of them they all use different notations, some use custom notation, some use APA (American Phonetic), very few use IPA. As you can imagine, irregular "rules" for pronunciation is also major obstacle for American (and English) children to learn reading.

Basic rules

This page for kids compares APA and IPA and mentions rules.
Another good page with rules - more - 7 and 14 rules

Udemy is well-recognized resource for inexpensive online learning with lots of courses. It's pronunciation guide promotes inexpensive course  to improve pronunciation

Bilingual Comics

... or comics in two languages:

GoComics.com has comics in Spanish and same comics in English too. I checked:

• Calvin and Hobbes in English and Spanish are same images in both languages since Jan 1, 2011
• Tarzan in English and Spanish since Jan 7, 2007
• Dilbert on GoComics is out-of-sync, but Spanish version seems to be in sync with official Dilbert website (I started reading present and continued to previous strips). Wikipedia has info about main characters, you can check also version in your own language.
• Dilbert website also provides transcript of all text of the comics, which you can translate by Google to your own language (even if it is more work and less fun).
• If you get some comic in your own language, try to find it on Read Comics Online. For Spanish learners Eternaut is a famous Argentinian graphic novella. I was able to find free download with my limited Spanish (but I am not not sure how legal, so I do not post the link).

Comics

If you started from beginning, you know that comics are excellent reading material, because with just a few words (and a lots of pictures) you can advance story and have fun.

There are many online resources, my favorite is  Read Comics Online - it has thousands of comics of many types. Sometimes website asks you to solve a puzzle before loading the page: click on images of cars, street signs and similar. If you are not sure, click "reload" to request different puzzle.

Best way is to start reading some story you know in your own language.

Cartoons based on movies you likely know (or can watch before reading comics) for kids:  Monsters Inc (and 2), Incredibles, Toy story, Cars; for adults: Mission Impossible, Men in Black (and 2, 3 and prequel), 300 (Spartans), Jurassic Park (and 2), Terminator (and 2 and few more), Django Unchained, King Kong (and 2), Highlander, (and many more), Stargate,  Game of Thrones or sci-fi classics like Blade Runner (exact movie), 2001: Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Stargate, Indiana Jones

Cartoons based on books for young children: Classic stories for children, Fairy Tales,  Alice in Wonderland (and another, also as steampunk), Smurfs, Wonderful Wizard of Oz and for older children 1001 Arabian Nights and another, Sinbad, Alladin,

Educational comics like Cartoon History of the Universe (highly recommended), American Revolution (and more)

Comics about life of real persons like Fifth Beatle, Martin Luther, Death of Stalin, Rasputin, Battlefields: Night Witches (Russian night female pilots in WW2), Korean War, Napoleon's wars (drawn with incredible eye for detail), 47 Ronin ("story to know Japan"), or real places and times like life of immigrants in NY and Bronx in 1930, Jerusalem and Palestine, growing up in Tehran during Islamic Revolution, March to end segregation in USA, or North Korea (comic can show what documentary cannot).

Stories based on books: Three musketeers, Treasure Island, Last of the Mohicans, Dracula, Frankenstein (and retelling), Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Alan Poe stories, Moby Dick, Terry Pratchett's The Colour Of Magic

Children stories retold for adults, with sex and violence: Grimm Fairy Tales and Red Riding Hood as Japanese warrior and Founding Fathers of America as action heroes

Books for adults: Girl with Dragon Tattoo, who played with fire when kicked the hornet's nest;  Pride and Prejudice,

Alternative history (what if something in history happened differently) is popular: What if USA lost Operation Paperclip (arresting German rocket scientists) so UK developed space flight? What if Germans in WW2 developed enhanced humans (ubermen) and invaded USA (which is very well researched: did you know that it took full month to create enough plutonium for single "fat man" bomb, and year for uranium "little boy" bomb)?

Of course classic science-fiction are present: H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, Dune, Ender's Game: Battle School, Command School and prequel Mazer Rackham, and more brilliant sci-fi: Forever War, Rock and Stone, Mercury Heat


Whole cult series like Watchmen (with prequels for each superhero in Before Watchmen series).

Star Wars, Star Trek have huge following. There is whole alphabet of action heroes: Aliens, Batman, Conan the Barbarian  all the way to Zorro (Predator, Transformers, Superman, Spider-man, , Ninja Turtles, Tarzan (and Jungle girl), James Bond, Hulk, Iron-man,) all have dozens of comics each - use search. And combinations: Batman vs Predator, Terminator vs Robocop, and so on.

If you are interested in Vikings, there are whole series. I really liked Valhalla, which explains different gods (like unexpected side of Freyja, godess of love in #8). And other popular Nordic gods like Thor (and 2, 3), Loki (and 2, 3), Sif, fighting in Ragnarok or in present, or historic Viking invasion.

Greek Mythology like Trojan War (and another), Odyssey, Minotaur, Oracle.

History of Roman Empire like Eagles of Rome, Britannia, Druids, Caligula, Murena

Wild West heroes like Jonah Hex, Lucky Luke (and another)

Cartoons for popular table games like Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons and video games like Tomb Raider

Or just intelligent fun in short strips, like Calvin and Hobbes (boy with his stuffed tiger).

And surprise (or not): Bible and Bible Tales,  Life of Christ and of course action heros: Jesus Christ: Demon Slayer and Klaus (Before becoming Santa).

Rhymes: Lady from Niger; Pelican

As I explained in Songs and Rhymes, limericks are fun way to train your pronunciation.

Young lady from Niger

There was a young lady from Niger,	ðeə wɒz ə jʌŋ ˈleɪdi frɒm ˈnaɪʤə,
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.	huː smaɪld æz ʃiː rəʊd ɒn ə ˈtaɪgə.
They came back from the ride	ðeɪ keɪm bæk frɒm ðə raɪd
With the lady inside,	wɪð ðə ˈleɪdi ɪnˈsaɪd,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.	ænd ðə smaɪl ɒn ðə feɪs ɒv ðə ˈtaɪgə.

A wonderful bird is the pelican

A wonderful bird is the pelican,	ə ˈwʌndəfʊl bɜːd ɪz ðə ˈpɛlɪkən,
His bill will hold more than his belican,	hɪz bɪl wɪl həʊld mɔː ðæn hɪz belican,
He can take in his beak	hiː kæn teɪk ɪn hɪz biːk
Enough food for a week	ɪˈnʌf fuːd fɔːr ə wiːk
But I'm damned if I see how the helican!	bʌt aɪm dæmd ɪf aɪ siː haʊ ði helican!

"hellican" in "how the hellican" is a nonsense (invented) word, but it rhymes with "how the hell he can" which makes the limerick funny.

Songs: Beatles - "I Saw Her Standing There"

As I explained in Songs and Rhymes, most fun way to train your pronunciation is to sing along (using correct IPA) your favorite songs. Like Beatles - "I Saw Her Standing There" from AZlyrics.com

"I Saw Her Standing There"	"aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə"
one two three four	wʌn tuː θriː fɔː
Well, she was just seventeen	wɛl, ʃiː wɒz ʤʌst ˈsɛvnˈtiːn
You know what I mean	juː nəʊ wɒt aɪ miːn
And the way she looked was way beyond compare	ænd ðə weɪ ʃiː lʊkt wɒz weɪ bɪˈjɒnd kəmˈpeə
So how could I dance with another (Ooh)	səʊ haʊ kʊd aɪ dɑːns wɪð əˈnʌðə (uː)
When I saw her standing there	wɛn aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə
Well she looked at me, and I, I could see	wɛl ʃiː lʊkt æt miː, ænd aɪ, aɪ kʊd siː
That before too long I'd fall in love with her	ðæt bɪˈfɔː tuː lɒŋ aɪd fɔːl ɪn lʌv wɪð hɜː
She wouldn't dance with another (Whooh)	ʃiː ˈwʊdnt dɑːns wɪð əˈnʌðə (Whooh)
When I saw her standing there	wɛn aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə
Well, my heart went "boom"	wɛl, maɪ hɑːt wɛnt "buːm"
When I crossed that room	wɛn aɪ krɒst ðæt ruːm
And I held her hand in mine	ænd aɪ hɛld hɜː hænd ɪn maɪn
Whoah, we danced through the night	Whoah, wiː dɑːnst θruː ðə naɪt
And we held each other tight	ænd wiː hɛld iːʧ ˈʌðə taɪt
And before too long I fell in love with her	ænd bɪˈfɔː tuː lɒŋ aɪ fɛl ɪn lʌv wɪð hɜː
Now I'll never dance with another (Whooh)	naʊ aɪl ˈnɛvə dɑːns wɪð əˈnʌðə (Whooh)
When I saw her standing there	wɛn aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə
Well, my heart went "boom"	wɛl, maɪ hɑːt wɛnt "buːm"
When I crossed that room	wɛn aɪ krɒst ðæt ruːm
And I held her hand in mine	ænd aɪ hɛld hɜː hænd ɪn maɪn
Whoah, we danced through the night	Whoah, wiː dɑːnst θruː ðə naɪt
And we held each other tight	ænd wiː hɛld iːʧ ˈʌðə taɪt
And before too long I fell in love with her	ænd bɪˈfɔː tuː lɒŋ aɪ fɛl ɪn lʌv wɪð hɜː
Now I'll never dance with another (Whooh)	naʊ aɪl ˈnɛvə dɑːns wɪð əˈnʌðə (Whooh)
Since I saw her standing there	sɪns aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə
Oh since I saw her standing there	əʊ sɪns aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə
Oh since I saw her standing there	əʊ sɪns aɪ sɔː hɜː ˈstændɪŋ ðeə

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