Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 13, 2026

2
Friday The 13th

Today is a special day: Friday the 13th. Some people dread this date, but I am not superstitious. Coincidentally, the last Friday the 13th was a remarkably bad day, but that's a story for another post.
At 5 am, I woke up with a flu. Nothing serious, some minor temperature rise and sore throat. However, there was something unusual: lower back pain! I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before. Internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing light exercise, and stretching. So far, the relief was only temporary.
Every Friday, there is a meeting of a German speaking club in Moscow, which I really want to attend today. However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunity to such a risk.


https://voca.ro/1eJQ12IlNdSS - 53 seconds of me reading this text aloud. I aim for GA, and the only pronunciation problem I am aware of is my GOAT vowel.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Corrections

Friday The 13th

Today is a special day: Friday the 13th.

Some people dread this date, but I (do not as I) am not superstitious.

Adding a bit more context to your sentence so it flows better, because I think this is what you're implying here.

Coincidentally, the last Friday the 13th was a remarkably bad day, but that's a story for another post.

At 5 am, I woke up with athe flu.

Nothing serious, some minorjust a bit of a temperature rise and a sore throat.

However, there was something unusual: lower back pain!

I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome of the flu that has just never happened to me before.

IThe internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing (some) light exercise, and (by) stretching.

So far, the relief whas only been temporary.

If you are still suffering from it I think it should not be written in the past tense.

Every Friday, there is a meeting of up for a German -speaking club in Moscow, which I really want to attend today.

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunitye system to such a riskn environment.

Feedback

Very nicely written! Hope you feel better soon :)

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 14, 2026

2

Thank you!! I feel much better today.

At 5 am, I woke up with athe flu.

Nothing serious, some minora low grade temperature rise andand (a) sore throat.

I think either with or without "a" before sore throat works. It depends on the rhythm you want in the sentence, how you want it to sound.

I googled it, and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before.

So far, the relief whas only been temporary.

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunitye system to such a risk.

Feedback

So, the Vocaroo recording is a great tool! I listened a few times and will prepare some detailed feedback later today. Could you explain what you mean by GA and GOAT? I don't have much technical background in linguistics or speech, so I will mostly be able to give feedback on the sounds I hear and whether it seems like part of an accent (ok, everyone has an accent) or it sounds like a mispronounced sound or word. For example, from memory the word "dread" should rhyme with "red." The other thing to keep in mind is that a recording is not 100% accurate, so I'm not sure if I would hear you the same way, if we were talking in person.

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 13, 2026

2

GA = General American
GOAT vowel is the vowel you guys pronounce in the word "goat"; I've been told that the way I say it sounds British(?)

Liag's avatar
Liag

Feb. 13, 2026

1

Ok this is going to be very hard to do. I listened both ways: as audio, and while reading the text because I didn't know if you have a preference. What makes it hard is it's like trying to catch fish with your bare hands. The words are going by very quickly. When we do a reading analysis of children in school, there are carefully designed passages we ask them to read aloud, and we have a scoring sheet on which we mark the different types of errors with different symbols. If we record them, we can listen multiple times to score as accurately as possible. (We also time them, because on the assessments, we are interested in accuracy and fluency. The final score includes both.) So, to do this as you wish would require that kind of precision.

I can only give you my general impression. Maybe if I listen to several recordings, I will notice more. But most likely I won't. Someone who has taught English to Russian native speakers for many years would be the best person to do this because they will know and therefor anticipate the errors you are most likely to make.

That said, here are the main things I noticed. You only mispronounced two words: "dread" should rhyme with "red," and "alleviate" has a long E (ee) sound for the second vowel. That vowel is identical to the vowel sound in the verb "leave."

One issue that may be partly an effect of the audio, is that you slurred some words. That is what we call it when someone overdoes the natural connected way that we speak. But on a recording, it can make the words unintelligible, unless you are also reading the transcript. Examples of words I thin you slurred: "coincidentally, minor, sore, internet, relief." In those words, you not pronouncing certain consonants, and if you do that too much, you tend to lose the correct syllabication. And yes, I did hear some "o" and "or" sounds that were a little off, after I understood the reference to the vowel sound in "goat."

But you did a lot of things very well, and one of them is that you pushed yourself to have a continuous flow of words. This may have contributed to a slightly monotonous cadence (a predictable repeated rise and fall rather than intonation that changes more with the content). But that might not be a problem for you. There are many variations in how people read English aloud, even among professional narrators of audio books. Too much variation in intonation when someone reads aloud can be distracting.

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 14, 2026

2

I actually deliberately tried to subdue my intonation a bit, since a few natives have told me that I the way I usually speak or read aloud sounds unnatural/exggerated in terms of intonation. The best way to show it would be to have a convo, I guess. I really appreciate you pointing out those vowels I've mispronounced, I'll try to pay more attention to them next time.
Vocaroo is a great tool, indeed! I am not sure how long a recording like this should last so that it won't overwhelm you. Should I read more slowly next time? I don't think it's sensible to make these recordings too often, as it requires some time to get through the feedback while actually benefiting from it.

Liag's avatar
Liag

Feb. 14, 2026

1

It might be useful to experiment with what Vocaroo can do. You could record a shorter paragraph in several different ways--with more and with less intonation, at a normal speaking speed, and at a slightly slower speed. (I think "At 5:00 a.m. . . . only temporary," as an example from this post, is long enough for the necessary variation in sentence length.) Another idea is for you to write something specifically for feedback on pronunciation.

Liag's avatar
Liag

Feb. 14, 2026

1

But you may want to decide what is more important to you, going in this new direction or not. Right now you are getting more readers and quality feedback. If that is a long term goal, then I suggest you continue to focus on whatever you are doing to keep that going. As an add-on, you could read each post aloud to yourself and decide if a section of it is a good candidate for Vocaroo analysis.

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 15, 2026

2

I think reading every posy aloud to myself is a great idea! I only used words like "dread" oder "mischievous" (I hope I spelled it correctly xd) in writing before, not in speaking. Therefore, I might easily mispronounce them in an actual conversation, which is not desirable. My main focus remains on writing, and when I'll have some more time I might play around with the Vocaroo recordings a bit more. Big thanks for your effort and time!!

Liag's avatar
Liag

Feb. 20, 2026

1

I just stumbled across this resource today:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq-tUsnMgtc
I was looking for the definition and pronunciation of the word "internecine," in an article I was reading.
Happy Friday the 20th!

Friday The 13th

Today is a special day: Friday the 13th.

Some people dread this date, but I am not superstitious.

Coincidentally, the last Friday the 13th was a remarkably bad day, but that's a story for another post.

At 5 am, I woke up with a flu.

Nothing serious, some minor temperature risea (slight/mild) fever and a sore throat.

I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before.

IThe internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing light exercise, and stretching.

So far, the relief whas been only temporary.

if the condition is still on going, cant use past tense.

Every Friday, there is a meeting of a German -speaking club in Moscow, which I really want to attend today.

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunitye system to such a risk.

just to make it a bit natural..

Feedback

Nice try!

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 14, 2026

2

I appreciate your feedback!

Friday The 13th

Today is a special day: Friday the 13th.

Some people dread this date, but I am not superstitious.

Coincidentally, the last Friday the 13th was a remarkably bad day, but that's a story for another post.

At 5 am, I woke up with athe flu.

Nothing serious, some minorjust a small temperature rise and sore throat.

However, there was something unusual: lower back pain!

I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before.

The Internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing light exercise, and stretching.

So far, the relief was only temporary.

Every Friday, there is a meeting of a German speaking club in Moscow, which I really wanted to attend today.

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunity to such a risk.

Feedback

Take care!

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Feb. 13, 2026

2

Thank you for your help and kind words!

Friday The 13th


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Today is a special day: Friday the 13th.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Some people dread this date, but I am not superstitious.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Some people dread this date, but I (do not as I) am not superstitious.

Adding a bit more context to your sentence so it flows better, because I think this is what you're implying here.

Coincidentally, the last Friday the 13th was a remarkably bad day, but that's a story for another post.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

At 5 am, I woke up with a flu.


At 5 am, I woke up with athe flu.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

At 5 am, I woke up with athe flu.

At 5 am, I woke up with athe flu.

Nothing serious, some minor temperature rise and sore throat.


Nothing serious, some minorjust a small temperature rise and sore throat.

Nothing serious, some minor temperature risea (slight/mild) fever and a sore throat.

Nothing serious, some minora low grade temperature rise andand (a) sore throat.

I think either with or without "a" before sore throat works. It depends on the rhythm you want in the sentence, how you want it to sound.

Nothing serious, some minorjust a bit of a temperature rise and a sore throat.

However, there was something unusual: lower back pain!


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before.

I googled it, and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome that has just never happened to me before.

I googled it and it seems like it's a normal flu symptome of the flu that has just never happened to me before.

Internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing light exercise, and stretching.


The Internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing light exercise, and stretching.

IThe internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing light exercise, and stretching.

IThe internet says that you can alleviate this pain by taking a hot bath, doing (some) light exercise, and (by) stretching.

So far, the relief was only temporary.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

So far, the relief whas been only temporary.

if the condition is still on going, cant use past tense.

So far, the relief whas only been temporary.

So far, the relief whas only been temporary.

If you are still suffering from it I think it should not be written in the past tense.

Every Friday, there is a meeting of a German speaking club in Moscow, which I really want to attend today.


Every Friday, there is a meeting of a German speaking club in Moscow, which I really wanted to attend today.

Every Friday, there is a meeting of a German -speaking club in Moscow, which I really want to attend today.

Every Friday, there is a meeting of up for a German -speaking club in Moscow, which I really want to attend today.

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunity to such a risk.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunitye system to such a risk.

just to make it a bit natural..

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunitye system to such a risk.

However, I am not sure whether it's a good idea to expose my weakened immunitye system to such a riskn environment.

You need LangCorrect Premium to access this feature.

Go Premium