English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice By Paul Carley, Inger M. Mees, Beverley Collins

[aravinda]

Today, I glanced through my copy of English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice by Paul Carley, Inger M. Mees, Beverley Collins which I received in the morning and was truly impressed by the comprehensiveness of the contents and the amount of practice material.

It is far superior to any English Pronunciation Practice book I have ever seen. It would be very useful to non-native speakers who are keen on improving their pronunciation or just curious about those things (both apply to me). The book uses a fair amount of linguistic terms (plosive, affricate etc) and obviously IPA symbols. I am quite comfortable with that and honestly, I don't see how it could be otherwise but I understand that some people might not like those things.

The following is copied verbatim from the back cover blurb (bold mine):

"English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice provides a unique introduction to basic articulatory phonetics for students of English. Built around an extensive collection of practice materials, this book teaches the pronunciation of modern standard non-regional British English to intermediate and advanced learners worldwide.
This book:
provides an up-to-date description of the pronunciation of modern British English;
demonstrates the use of each English phoneme with a selection of high-frequency words, both alone and in context in sentences, idiomatic phrases and dialogues;
provides examples and practice material on commonly confused sounds, including illustrative pronunciation diagrams;
is supported by a companion website featuring phonetic transcriptions and over 30 hours of practice audio material to check your pronunciation against;
can be used not only for studying pronunciation in the classroom but also for independent student practice.
English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice is essential reading for any student studying this topic."

EDIT
1. Removed the part about the unavailability of the companion site and the related footnote.
2. Added a link to the companion site.

[aravinda]

One of the authors, Dr Paul Carley has a Blog and a YouTube channel, both named Humour in Phonetic Transcription.

[shandra]

Thanks aravinda for your kind recommendation.

I've started using English Pronunciation in Use - Intermediate (I borrowed it in my public library).
This one seems really easier if compared with the short sample of EPPP that I found on Google Books.

I'm considering buying a book about phonetic and pronunciation, so I wonder if EPPP could suit me more due to my linguistic background.

[aravinda]

Hello, shandra, I'm glad you found the post helpful.

I'm considering buying a book about phonetic and pronunciation, so I wonder if EPPP could suit me more due to my linguistic background.

If you're looking for a book for improving your English pronunciation, EPPP would suit your purpose well. The key features of this book are the amount of material and comprehensiveness. However, I would suggest finishing Pronunciation in Use (Intermediate) book (and the Advanced book too if you can get it from the library) first. I have used those book briefly - very good books. Actually, the whole series of English in Use is excellent. Also, only if you can get it from a library, try Work on Your Accent too. It's a shorter and easier book than any of the above and probably a better book to start with.
But if you're looking for a general book on phonetics and phonology, you may need to look elsewhere. I've seen a couple of books that cover both phonetics and phonology but most of the books are limited to one of the two or only concerned with English.
By the way, though I'm not a native speaker myself, your English seems well above B1 to me.
P.S.
This book, A Practical Introduction to Phonetics, that was mentioned by zatris in a recent post looks interesting. Of course, it doesn't deal with phonology.