Kolofon

Colorfon offers a simple, efficient system to those who want to tackle the problem of pronunciation. By converting written words into phonetic text, Colorfon enables the student to read and pronounce words correctly and simultaneously. Whether you are student, teacher, school kid or retired university professor; Colorfon will surprise you. Some people will be daunted by it's apparent "complexity", but I am convinced that as you become familiar with it, you will acknowledge it's simplicity and effectivness. Colorfon will grow on you; of that I am sure. The beauty with Phonology lies within it's attempt to breakdown speech into separate units of sounds(PHONEMES); each one, unique and repeatable. Because it deals with human sound output, and since no two people have the same speech characteristics, the application of phonetics is an inexact science. Nonetheless, in the name of clarity and classification, an international, authoritive and academic body, founded over a century ago in Paris, created the International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA), a complete table of PHONEMES that the human vocal chords are capable of producing, and represented these sounds as unequivocal graphical characters, numbering over 160. Any one language will only use a fraction of these. Conventional English Language Establishments require the use of about 44 PHONEMES. Colorfon operates with 42. My hope and intention with Colorfon has always been that everyone who is interested will discover that Colorfon is genuinely effective in improving pronunciation. As I mentioned earlier, everybody learns differently, and this intends also the RATE at which we learn. Children are obviously the best learners, and naturally pick-up Colorfon quicker than adults do. But Colorfon is intended for everyone. Children are driven by challenge: adults are driven by motivation. Even with the handicap of age, earnest and mature grown-ups can be incentivated with the fact of having learnt the advantage of being constant. If you possess some of these qualities and are prepared to listen carefully and follow the instructions designated to each exercise, there is no reason why Colorfon should be difficult. In the end, it is all a question of time, and energy. It's an old story : but the more of these you have at your disposition, the greater chance you will have of succeeding. Just as Phonology is an inexact science, so Colorfon, as one of it's many siblings, has it's imperfections. But within the boundaries of limitation, Colorfon might be an immportant solution to pronunuciation problems that many second language students encounter, especially those who are self-learners and have little or no access to native English speakers. I hope it will help some to regain lost enthusiasm and assure others who doubt their own ability, to understand that they CAN, with their own determination and vision, achieve and succeed in what may have seemed a lost battle. Colorfon doesn't claim to be a teaching method. It is simply a phono-graphical transcription of standard written English that has proved helpful to many students over the years in improving their pronunciation. More than help them, these classes gave me a unique possibility to test, develope and update Colorfon to it's present "state". I am indebted to them for being the guinea pigs of this experiment.