Technology Review: English Pronunciation by Yobimi Group

Abstract

Intelligibility is the basis of successful oral communication. Our speech is said to be intelligible if the listeners can understand the message. In contrast, an appeal to native pronunciation has little connection to intelligibility (Derwing &amp; Munro, 2015). The English Pronunciation by Yobimi group is a mobile application for beginner learners who have difficulties or questions on how to pronounce words properly and how to distinguish various English sounds.The application advertises that it will help its users “pronounce English like native speakers” (<i>English Pronunciation</i>, n.d.). It accommodates American and British English pronunciation training, and provides translation of the explanation of the sounds for Hindi, Vietnamese, and Portuguese L1 speakers. It also provides learners with exercises on phonetic symbols, which can improve the perception of L2 sounds (e.g., Fouz-González &amp; Mompean, 2020; Mompean &amp; Fouz-González, 2021). The app was released on Google Play store in July 2016 and last updated in October2020. It has more than 100,000 downloads and is also available on Apple store. There is no paid version of the app. Below, we describe the Android version followed by a general discussion of its strengths and weaknesses.