Hello, everyone. My name is Chris; I'm an English teacher. This is a free
pronunciation lesson. I make lessons for YouTube; the channel is Learn British
English Free. Facebook - the British English Page. My website which is
www.learnbritishenglish.co.uk/ You can watch this lesson and previous ones on all of those
sites. Please look in the description for the notes or read the captions or
subtitles on your screen. As I mentioned, I'm going to do some special
pronunciation practice today. My last videos have been helping Italian and
French speakers with certain words. I want to focus in this lesson on the two th
sounds in English. I think it's difficult for Italians, French, Spanish, also Chinese
speakers and many others. It seems to be a sound that isn't common in other
languages so let's try and get it better today. The two sounds are using the same
shape so that's one easy part. One is voiced (/ð/) the other is unvoiced /θ/. I'm going
to use the expression "the thing"; the thing. We have both sounds in this
expression. The first one is voiced: the; the. Have a look at my teeth and my
tongue to make this sound correct and I'm using the voice: the. The second one
is "thing"; thing; thing; the thing. Can you do it? I will show you from the side - it
might help you a bit more. The thing; the thing.
Can you see how to do it? The thing. The thing. It takes lots of practice and in
order to make it correct, you have to do it properly each time: the thing. Let's
try a longer sentence to make it a bit different:
the first thing that they think of is this - lots of words to practice. This is a
tongue twister. I'm going to keep saying it making it faster and faster try to
keep up with me: the first thing that they think of is this; the first thing
that they think of is this;
the first thing that they think of is this; the first thing that they think of
is this; the first thing that they think of is this. Okay. Now the last thing - this
is extremely difficult - please don't take it too seriously. It's a poem - one that I
wrote, like a very long tongue twister, also important that there is no meaning -
together the words are nonsense it's simply to practice this sound both
voiced and unvoiced so please try to read it with me - but don't worry if you
can't. It's a bit ridiculous. Though the thought thrashed through the thing,
thinking things were dithering. Thrift to thrive the thatcher thought, the thorough
Thames thwacked the throat. Thither the wither thaws the moth; the thistle,
the brother both froth. Thinly thought-out theories throw worth; thicker than thou
Thither the thistle thought the thaw, thwarting things
throughout therefore. Finished. Easy, right? I'm sure lots of it wasn't easy, however
I hope that we've helped you get that th sound or both of them a bit clearer.
Please review; please keep practising. You need to practise with your mouth in
order to get this correct. That's all it is - practice. Make sure
you're making the right shape: the thing; the thing. Good luck. Please write to me
with your ideas; your feedback. Remember the different channels that I showed you
in the beginning on YouTube, Facebook and the website. My name is Chris; I'm your
free English teacher onlin.e it's been a pleasure as always; thank you and I will
see you soon.