Read this if you want to speak clearly

Powerful English Pronunciation Part 2 - Sounds

The English Breakfast ā˜•ļø 

Hi everyone!

Daniel Tanner here and welcome to my weekly newsletter that helps Italian professionals communicate more effectively with their English speaking colleagues and clients. šŸ’¼ 

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Letā€™s get startedā€¦.

Welcome to part 2 of the Powerful English Pronunciation series and today weā€™re going to learn the hardest sounds in English language! Click the link above to listen to this episode so you can hear my pronunciation.

Sounds 

As we mentioned in part 1, when you learn a new word, itā€™s always a good idea to check how itā€™s pronounced because there are lots of words in English that canā€™t be read out phonetically, meaning the way theyā€™re spelt doesnā€™t help you with the pronunciationā€¦at all. Think about words like though, cough and thorough, to name just a few.

There are also lots of sounds you need to know if you want to speak English clearly.

So, letā€™s have a look at some common sounds that English learners often find difficult.

What the th?

In English we have two different th sounds, and neither of them is easy. Sorry!

For the first one, you need put your tongue between your teeth and blow air out. This is whatā€™s called the unvoiced th sound. You need it to pronounce words like:

Thanks

Birthday

Think

Earth 

Everything

Ethiopia

etc. 

Now, for the second th sound, put your tongue between your teeth again, but this time try to make the vowel sound ā€œUUURRRā€ to push air out. 

Go on, I know it feels strange and embarrassing, but if youā€™re on a train or in public right now, I promise itā€™s a great way to make sure no-one wants to sit next to you. This is the voiced th sound you need for words like:

The

They

Those

This

Weather

Mother

Rather

Etc.

You can make a note of the unvoiced or ā€œsilentā€ th sound with this symbol ThšŸ”•.

For the voiced th, you can use this symbol ThšŸŽµ.

So, if you wanted the remember the pronunciation of thanks or this, you can make a note of the pronunciation the following way:

Thanks - /ThšŸ”•anks/

This -  /ThšŸŽµis/

S or S 

Thereā€™re also two different S sounds in English, and the difference is quite similar to the th sounds weā€™ve just seen. 

Weā€™ve got the snake S and the mosquito S.

In words like so, sun, boss and office, thereā€™s an unvoiced S sound. Air comes out of your mouth, but your throat doesnā€™t vibrate. To help you remember, itā€™s like the sound a snake makes.

In words like rose, his, clothes and was, the S sound is voiced, like the sound of an annoying mosquito buzzing around your room when youā€™re trying to sleep. If you hold you hand to your throat, you can feel it vibrate.

Why not use the symbols SšŸ  and SšŸ¦Ÿ to help you remember the pronunciation?

Can you pronounce the following sentence? 

/DoesšŸ¦Ÿ  he want icešŸ  with hisšŸ¦Ÿ sšŸoda?/

The king of English sounds

Are you ready to learn the most common sound in the English language? Itā€™s so important it has itā€™s own name; the schwa sound, but donā€™t ask me why, because it doesnā€™t sound anything like that. 

Instead, itā€™s a very relaxed, short sound. ā€œUh.ā€  We often hear it in unstressed syllables. For example, even in the word "banana," the first and last "a" are schwas. 

It sounds like this: "buh-NAH-nuh." 

Itā€™s important because it helps make speech smoother and quicker. Just look at how many examples of schwa there are in this short, simple sentence.

Iā€™m a worker in an old company thatā€™s been around for many years.

/Iā€™m (uh) work(uh) in (uh)n old comp(uh)ny th(uh)ts been (uh)round f(uh) many years/

Stomachache 

This next sound is the same as the schwa sound but followed by an r, and itā€™s a lot like the sound you might make if you had a nasty stomachache. 

Early, birthday, turn, learn, concern, firm, Thursday

Isnā€™t English a beautiful language. 

You could use the symbol šŸ¤¢ to remember this sound.

/I have to get up šŸ¤¢ly tomorrow to get to wšŸ¤¢k by seven thšŸ¤¢ty/

Silent L

I know. Itā€™s hard to imagine why some words have letters that arenā€™t even pronounced, I can only apologise for my confusing language, but one common victim of this is the letter L.

Letā€™s see some examples:

Talk

Walk

Would

Could

Should

Salmon

Calm

Half

Use the symbol LšŸ”• to make a note of this pronunciation e.g /talšŸ”•k/ /shoulšŸ”•d/ etc.

Stop accidentally swearing!

When you misprounce words in English, you might say something you didnā€™t expect. The difference between these next two sounds is a common cause of trouble for English learners who mix them up, and the result has the potential to be quite embarrassing! 

If youā€™ve ever felt a moment of panic before saying the words beach or sheet, youā€™ll know exactly what Iā€™m talking about, but either way, letā€™s make sure you know how to avoid this tricky pronunciation when you speak English.

Weā€™re talking about difference between the i and the ee (sometimes also written ea) sounds in the following words.

Sheep - Ship

Sleep - Slip

Least - List 

Peach - Pitch 

Heal - Hill

etc. 

There are loads of them. The fancy name for these kinds of words, that are pronounced almost identically apart from one sound, is minimal pairs, so if youā€™re curious to know more, youā€™ll find a long list of these online.

However, there are a small group of these words that often cause some really embarrassing mistakes. Here they are:

Sheet - Shit*

Beach - Bitch*

Peace/Piece - Piss*

* If you didnā€™t know already, these words are ā€œswear wordsā€ which means theyā€™re offensive, so use them with caution. If you donā€™t know them, look them up, itā€™s important to know what youā€™re saying.

Itā€™s easy to avoid this mistake, though. If you donā€™t want to say anything offensive, just smile.

Seriously, the difference between the i sound in bitch and the ee sound in beach is what I like to call the sad i and the smiley e, and I use these symbols with my students i šŸ™ and e šŸ˜ 

/On hot days, I love going to the bešŸ˜ch/

/You take the red pišŸ™ll - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes/ (watch a film called The Matrix if youā€™ve never heard that quote before!)

Iā€™ll never forget the time I wanted to make some notes during a lesson and one of my students suddenly asked me, ā€œDo you need a shit?ā€ when really they wanted to ask if I needed a piece of paper.

Imagine my surprise!

Thatā€™s it for this edition. If you have any questions or topics you'd like me to cover in future newsletters, feel free to reach out.

Grazie mille and see you next time!

Daniel Tanner

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