Top 5 Android Apps to Learn English Pronunciation

English is one of the most popular languages in the world and spoken in over 100 countries. No matter which part of the world you are traveling, you will always find someone who can speak and understand English. If it is not your first language, then it is imperative that you put in some extra effort to learn to speak English correctly.

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I have met a lot of people who understand and speak English, but struggle with the pronunciation of the words. While sometimes they can get away with it, often the things are lost or misheard. 

People from non-English speaking countries who travel to different regions for work or vacation often find themselves in such situations. 

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Not only should you learn the correct words and their meaning, but also its correct pronunciation. It will help you move forward in your career and leave a lasting impression.

Let’s take a look at some of the best Android apps to learn English pronunciation.

1. ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

This neat little app will not only teach you how to pronounce words but also show you how and where to place your tongue to do it. When you download the app for the first time, it will ask you to choose your language. When you do, you will begin with how to pronounce vowels and consonants.

Clicking on a vowel or a consonant will reveal further options. A diagram shows the position of the tongue and lips when you speak with a detailed explanation. Also, there are some examples of words and phrases that you can listen to in the US and UK English accent. 

On the downside, there is no way to type a particular word and hear its pronunciation. The app is free to download and use but comes with ads and in-app purchases for more examples and tests. When you tap on Practice, you will see some words with missing letters. You have to type the correct word. There is a points and progress tracker to monitor your journey and keep you engaged.

Download English Pronunciation

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2. SPEAK ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

Practice is how you can learn to pronounce words in English correctly. But how do you know that you are pronouncing words correctly? Either you talk and listen to self-correct yourself, or you use Speak English Pronunciation app.

While most features are similar to the English Pronunciation app, there is one key difference. It lets you record your voice so you can listen to the original pronunciation and how you pronounced it. Works well and allows you to practice even without a tutor. Your pronunciation will receive a rating in stars (1-5).

Speak English Pronunciation is free to download with ads and works offline too. There is no test mode available but Speak English Pronunciation has diagrams with lip and tongue positions to guide you. Again, no way to type specific words to hear their pronunciation.

Download Speak English Pronunciation

3. ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: OFFLINE

The two apps mentioned above on English pronunciation do not let learners enter specific words for the app to pronounce. This is where English Pronunciation: Offline app comes into the picture. I wish the app developers were more creative with the app names. 

The app is lite version measuring at under 3MB and allows you to enter words, phrases, and even entire sentences in the box. Tap on the speaker button to hear how the words are pronounced. You can listen to words on repeat by tapping on the speaker button, and it barely takes a second to respond.

This ad-supported app is free to use and works offline which is impressive considering its small app size.There are only two other options available. Set Speech Rate will allow you to control the volume while Set Pitch will let you control the voice pitch making it sound deeper or lighter. Play around with it a few times to understand how they work.

Download English Pronunciation Offline

4. UTTER

You will have to sign up with Utter to start using it. The app's UI is more refined and looks professional. You will begin with Tenses course where an AI-powered bot will greet you. It will then guide you through an interactive chat where you have to choose answers from the given options.

There are different courses for distinct scenarios like when you are talking to friends about travels, office, work or giving a presentation. There are three levels — Beginner for everyday tasks like telling time, Intermediate for a casual discussion with friends, and Advanced for office and work space.

The first two lessons are free at each level. You will have to pay $2.49 via an in-app purchase. Utter is an engaging app that teaches not only how to speak, but also what to say in particular situations.After covering the basics, the real test begins with pronunciation where you have to record your voice to answer real life questions. The objective of Utter is to help you prepare for any situation.

Download Utter

5. ELSA

Elsa comes with a polished speech recognition software that will help you improve your pronunciation. I find the reminder feature useful where Elsa will schedule sessions for you.

The UI is beautiful and functional with topics ranging from customer service to taxi driver. Each topic comes with many lessons. When you launch a lesson, Elsa will guide you vocally and ask you to repeat certain contextual words and phrases. 

You will get instant feedback on your pronunciation and depending on your performance, will be asked to either repeat or continue with the lesson. Elsa will suggest tongue and lip movements if you are struggling to get a few words right. You can also listen to your pronunciation by tapping the ear button.

Elsa claims to have a vocabulary of around 2000 everyday words and phrases that should be enough for you to get by and begin learning on your own.

Download Elsa

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You get access to the first two modules of every lesson for free after which you can subscribe with a one-time in-app purchase of $79.99 or pay $29.99 for one year.

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Learning to speak English correctly has become a necessary life skill no matter which part of the world you live. Whether you travel to a new country, chat with someone online or speak to a customer care executive, learning English can save you from a lot of hassles. As long as you pronounce words correctly, you don't have to worry about your accent.

Next up: Want to learn new words and improve your vocabulary? Click on the link below to discover 6 Android apps that will help you do just that.

7 Samsung Camera Settings to Take Instagram-Worthy Pictures

Facebook is kind of dead for millennials and they have found its replacement — Instagram. Gone are the days when one would ask for Facebook details. Now it’s ‘Hey, are you on Insta?’ since it is all about pictures and videos. Sure, you can add text here and there but visuals are the main thing.



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How to Save Instagram Photos and Videos on Android Phones

While Instagram provides a bunch of features to enhance your images, your device camera is also pretty good. Especially if you own a Samsung phone. You can play with a number of settings to take Instagram-worthy pictures.

Without wasting time, let’s check the cool Samsung camera settings to click Instagram-ready photos.

1. ADD FILTER AND EFFECTS

Instagram is known for its filters. However, you can only add them after capturing an image. This is where the Samsung camera helps. You can apply live filters to see which one fits the best. You can then adjust your frame and other things accordingly.

Apply Filter

Open the Samsung Camera app and tap the effect icon. Then choose the filter that you want to apply.

Adjust Filter Strength

You can even adjust the filter strength. To do so, once you have selected the filter, tap anywhere on the screen. Then hit on the Edit filter button to adjust its strength.

Reorder Filters

If you like some filters more than others, you can change their position to make it easily accessible. To reorder filters, hold the filter and drag it to its new position.

2. BLUR THE BACKGROUND

Now, who doesn’t enjoy taking photos in the portrait mode? Samsung phones come with a feature known as Live Focus where you can adjust the background blur while taking pictures. Interesting, right?

To blur the background, choose the Live Focus mode in the Camera app. Then adjust the blur using the slider on the screen.

In fact, after capturing a photo, you can still adjust the background blur in the Gallery app

3. USE FOOD MODE

People post their food pictures all the time. You can use the Live Focus mode to blur the background. However, Samsung has a dedicated food mode that not only blurs the background but also enhances image colors.

Once you use it, you will find a huge difference in normal pictures and pictures taken using the Food mode. You can capture anything as it is not limited just to food.

To take a picture using Food mode, you need to enable it first. To do so, follow the steps:

Step 1: Open the Samsung Camera app and tap on the Settings icon at the bottom-left corner.

Step 2: Scroll down and tap on Edit camera modes. On the next screen, tap on Rear camera.

Step 3: Enable the Food mode.

PRO TIP: Use the arrow icons on the right to reorder the modes. You can also disable the modes that you don’t like in this setting.

Step 4: To use it, simply select the Food mode from the camera app's home screen.

Similarly, you can use other modes like Beauty, Pro, Slow motion, Hyperlapse, and others.   

4. ADD STICKERS AND STAMPS

While Instagram lets you add stickers to your Stories, you cannot do the same for the normal posts. But if own a Samsung phone, you can add live face filters and stickers. If you don’t like the native collection, you can download additional sticker packs.

To use stickers, tap on the Stickers mode on the home screen of the Camera app. Then choose the sticker from the bottom carousel.

5. CAPTURE SQUARE PICTURES

When you capture pictures from your phone camera, you will have to either zoom or crop the picture to frame it properly. But with this simple setting, you can take Instagram-ready pictures.

All you need to do is change the picture size to 1:1. To do so, follow the steps:

Step 1: Open Samsung Camera and go to Setting by tapping the gear-shaped icon at the bottom.

Step 2: Tap on Picture size. Then on the next screen, choose 1:1 with either of the megapixel options.

6. ADD GRID LINES

Interestingly, if you don’t want to switch to 1:1 picture size, you can still capture square pictures from Samsung Camera. Wondering how? Apart from the 3x3 grid lines, you also get a square grid. Basically, you will see a square frame while taking pictures of any size.

To enable this, go to Camera Settings and tap on Gridlines. Then select Square.

7. TIMING IS IMPORTANT

For a good picture, timing is really important. Sure, you can set the timer but there are other ways to capture a photo.

We mostly use the camera button and it isn’t handy at times. Thankfully, Samsung provides many other ways to capture pictures.

For selfies, you can either tap on the screen or show your palm to the screen to capture selfies. To enable these, go to Shooting methods under Camera Settings.

Similarly, you can use your voice instead of by saying commands such as Smile, Cheese, Capture, and so on. To use this feature, enable Voice control under Camera Settings.

Just below the Voice control setting, you will find two more settings to take pictures. One is the Floating Camera button and other is the Volume Key. In the Floating Camera button, you will get a capture button that you can move around. You can keep it in the most comfortable position on the screen. In the second option, you can capture photos using the physical volume button.

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GET CLICKING!

While Instagram's options are good enough, you can always use the native ones on your Samsung phone. That way, you can post and share images rather quickly. 

In fact, you can use the camera app's settings and editing options for distinct effects rather than relying on the ones on Instagram. 

How to Use the New Multitasking Gestures in Android 9.0 Pie

In the last few years, features in smartphones have improved a lot. Whether it is the external appearance (bezel-less and large screens) or the internals (RAM, software, etc.), it’s no surprise that the smartphones are now extremely powerful devices.

Even on 6-inch screens, one can multitask and use two apps efficiently at the same time. Available on Samsung devices for many years now, Google introduced the split-screen feature in Android Nougat. With this feature, you can open two apps simultaneously on the same screen.

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In Android Oreo, Google didn’t change much related to the multitasking feature except introducing the picture-in-picture mode (PIP). However, in Android Pie, Google has changed the way you multitask. While the basic functionality is the same i.e. you can switch between recent apps and open two apps on the same screen, the way you access it has changed completely.

So, in this post, we will tell you how to multitask in Android 9 or P.

HOW TO SWITCH BETWEEN APPS

Before Android Pie, one would press the Recent apps button to open the recently launched apps. These apps were arranged in a card layout and one had to scroll vertically to select a new app. Also, we could double tap the Recent apps button to quickly switch between the two recently launched apps.

However, that’s not the case now as one has to scroll horizontally to view the apps. The good thing about this format is that the entire screen of the app is visible now.

To access the recent apps screen, Android Pie has introduced gestures. These are disabled by default but when enabled, the Recent apps button is hidden and a Pill replaces the Home button. However, it’s not necessary to use gestures, you can continue using the traditional Recent apps button.

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But if you want to use them, here’s how to enable it.

Step 1: Open device Settings and go to System. Under System, tap on Gestures.

Step 2: In Gestures, you will find the option Swipe up on the Home button. Tap on it. Turn the toggle on for the setting on the next screen.

Once this gesture is enabled, you have to swipe up from the lower part of the screen to open recent apps. Then you need to drag the Pill left to right to swipe through the apps. In order to dismiss an app, you have to swipe up on it. Similarly, to quickly switch between the apps, swipe left to right once on the bottom area of the screen.

HOW TO ENABLE SPLIT-SCREEN

If you want to use two apps simultaneously on your Android Pie device, you have to use split-screen mode. Earlier, one would tap the split-screen icon in recent apps to minimize them on the screen. However, now the procedure is slightly different and not apparent for newbies.

Step 1: Swipe up on the area where the Pill is present. You will be taken to the recent apps screen.

Step 2: Use the Pill or simply swipe horizontally on the apps to find the app that you have to use in split-screen.

Step 3: Tap on the app icon that appears at the top of the app card. You will get two options — App info and Split screen. Tap on Split screen.

Step 4: Choose another app from the bottom list to view these two apps in the split-screen mode.

NOTE: If the split-screen feature is missing from the menu, it's okay, as not all apps support split-screen mode currently. Once you do that, the app will occupy the top part of the screen and the recent apps will move to the bottom.

These two apps will now work independently of each other. For instance, you can watch YouTube videos in one app and scroll through your Twitter feed in the other.

To close the split-screen mode, drag the border of the app that you want to view in full screen in order to expand it. The second app will close automatically.

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BONUS TIP: VIEW RAM OR MEMORY STATUS IN ANDROID PIE

With Android Oreo, Google removed the RAM status from the settings. While it is present under the Developer options, you can also view it using the memory widget.

To do so, follow the steps:

Step 1: Hold any empty space on the home screen and then select Widgets from the options at the bottom.

Step 2: Scroll down and drag Settings to the home screen. The Settings shortcut screen will open. Tap on Memory.

Step 3: A new Memory icon will be created on the home screen. Tap on it to view the memory status of your device.

HAVE FUN MULTITASKING

Google is continuously introducing features that make our lives and work easy. One such feature is multitasking. Now that you know how to do it on Android Pie, have fun.