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Read this if you want to speak clearly
Powerful English Pronunciation Part 2 - Sounds
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. š¼
You may have noticed the rebranding, let me know if you like it š
Letās get startedā¦.
Welcome to part 2 of the Powerful English Pronunciation series and today weāre 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, itās always a good idea to check how itās pronounced because there are lots of words in English that canāt be read out phonetically, meaning the way theyāre spelt doesnāt 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, letās 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 whatās 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 āUUURRRā to push air out.
Go on, I know it feels strange and embarrassing, but if youāre on a train or in public right now, I promise itās 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 āsilentā th sound with this symbol Thš.
For the voiced th, you can use this symbol Thšµ.
So, if you wanted the remember the pronunciation of thanks or this, you can make a note of the pronunciation the following way:
Thanks - /Thšanks/
This - /Thšµis/
S or S
Thereāre also two different S sounds in English, and the difference is quite similar to the th sounds weāve just seen.
Weāve got the snake S and the mosquito S.
In words like so, sun, boss and office, thereās an unvoiced S sound. Air comes out of your mouth, but your throat doesnāt vibrate. To help you remember, itās 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 youāre trying to sleep. If you hold you hand to your throat, you can feel it vibrate.
Why not use the symbols Sš and Sš¦ to help you remember the pronunciation?
Can you pronounce the following sentence?
/Doesš¦ he want iceš with hisš¦ sšoda?/
The king of English sounds
Are you ready to learn the most common sound in the English language? Itās so important it has itās own name; the schwa sound, but donāt ask me why, because it doesnāt sound anything like that.
Instead, itās a very relaxed, short sound. āUh.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."
Itās important because it helps make speech smoother and quicker. Just look at how many examples of schwa there are in this short, simple sentence.
Iām a worker in an old company thatās been around for many years.
/Iām (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 itās a lot like the sound you might make if you had a nasty stomachache.
Early, birthday, turn, learn, concern, firm, Thursday
Isnāt English a beautiful language.
You could use the symbol š¤¢ to remember this sound.
/I have to get up š¤¢ly tomorrow to get to wš¤¢k by seven thš¤¢ty/
Silent L
I know. Itās hard to imagine why some words have letters that arenāt even pronounced, I can only apologise for my confusing language, but one common victim of this is the letter L.
Letās see some examples:
Talk
Walk
Would
Could
Should
Salmon
Calm
Half
Use the symbol Lš to make a note of this pronunciation e.g /talšk/ /shoulšd/ etc.
Stop accidentally swearing!
When you misprounce words in English, you might say something you didnāt 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 youāve ever felt a moment of panic before saying the words beach or sheet, youāll know exactly what Iām talking about, but either way, letās make sure you know how to avoid this tricky pronunciation when you speak English.
Weāre 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 youāre curious to know more, youāll 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 didnāt know already, these words are āswear wordsā which means theyāre offensive, so use them with caution. If you donāt know them, look them up, itās important to know what youāre saying.
Itās easy to avoid this mistake, though. If you donāt 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 š and e š
/On hot days, I love going to the bešch/
/You take the red pišll - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes/ (watch a film called The Matrix if youāve never heard that quote before!)
Iāll never forget the time I wanted to make some notes during a lesson and one of my students suddenly asked me, āDo you need a shit?ā when really they wanted to ask if I needed a piece of paper.
Imagine my surprise!
Thatās 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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