Google Search has a lot of neat features outside of providing results for keyword searches. For instance, try searching for “Solitaire” or a flight number.
Google today announced a new feature which will help you learn to pronounce English words. If you search for “How to pronounce isthmus”, for example, a card will show up with the syllables spelled out, playable audio of the word being pronounced and an animation of mouth movements to produce the sound.
The updated card will let you speak into your microphone to receive feedback on adjusting your pronunciation of a word. At first this feature will only work with American English, but Spanish is apparently soon to follow, and hopefully other languages and dialects after that.
Google uses speech recognition technology to separate your speech into individual syllables, then cross reference your audio against the pronunciation it expects.
Searching for definitions of words will also bring up images of what the word can mean to better explain a definition or provide context to different uses of the word. Only nouns are supported right now, but an expanded list of words is in the works.
