Hi there. My name is Emma, and today's lesson is a pronunciation lesson on "du" when it
sounds like "dʒ". Okay? So if you don't understand what I mean by that, you'll understand in
a minute. So this lesson focuses on North American pronunciation, first of all.
Okay, so first of all, I'd like you to listen to the two following words and listen to how
I pronounce them. Okay? "Dual", you hear that? "Dual", and "education". "Dual", "education".
So we're looking specifically at the "du" in both. You'll notice that they don't sound
the same. "Dual", this is how we would write it phonetically, for those of you who know
the International Phonetic Alphabet, it would be spelt like this. So it's a really strong
"du" sound. "Education" is different. "Education", the "du" sounds like a "j". Okay? "Education".
So if you're ever curious as to whether or not a word is pronounced like a "dʒ", sorry,
"dʒ" or like the "u", "dʒ", one thing you can do is you can check the dictionary, and
the phonetic spelling of "du" when it is pronounced like a "j" looks like this. Okay? So it looks
like a "d" and a "3". This means "j", "j" sound. Okay? So in this lesson, we are going
to look at many different words that have this "du" spelling, sorry, "du" spelling,
but "j" sound, and we'll also do some tongue twisters towards the end.
Okay, so let's get started. I have here a picture. I know it's a very scary image. It
was the best one I could draw. And so what we have here is we have a man, I think it's
a man, and here are his lips, here are his teeth, his eye, his nose, and this thing here,
I don't know if you can guess what it is, but it's his tongue. Okay? So when you pronounce
the "j" sound, your tongue actually touches what's called the -- it's a ridge that's behind
your teeth. So your tongue touches that ridge behind your teeth. I hope you can see it here.
And your mouth actually makes a very similar -- it looks very similar to how you would
pronounce a "ch" or "ch". "J" and "ch" are very, very similar. You pronounce them the
same way. The only difference is when you say "j", there's a vibration in your vocal
cords. So this picture shows vibration, meaning it moves down here. You feel a vibration.
Whereas with "ch", "ch", there's no vibration. It comes from your mouth. Okay? So again,
"j" is very similar to "ch" in pronunciation, in the way your mouth looks. The main difference
is with "j" or "j", sorry, it vibrates. Okay, so if you have trouble making the sound, I'm
going to give the link to a website that you can check out, and this website is really,
really good for pronunciation, and it can really help you with specific English sounds.
Okay, so now we are going to look at different words that have this "j" sound. So I have
here a list of words that have the "j" sound spelt like "du". Okay? So what we're going
to do is we're going to go through each word, and I want you to pronounce it after me. The
first word is "schedule". Okay? And again, this is North American pronunciation, so maybe
in Britain you'd hear something like "schedule". I could be saying that wrong, I'm not British,
but in North American, it's "schedule". Okay? You say that? "Schedule". And try to focus
on the "j" sound. "Gradual". "Education". "Individual". "Fraudulent". You're probably
going to see a lot of words here you don't know. That's okay, you can either look them
up after the class. These are very high-level words, like "fraudulent". So the main thing
is to get the pronunciation. "Graduation". "Procedure". "Assiduous". So again, you're
looking for the "j" sound. "Assiduous". "Arduous". "Deciduous". "Residual". "Incredulous". Okay?
So notice where the "du" is for most of these words. For the majority, it's not at the beginning.
It's usually in the middle or towards the end. So that's one way you can figure out
if it's a "j" pronunciation. If "du" is at the front, it usually is pronounced "du",
whereas if it's in the middle somewhere, it's usually pronounced "j". Now, this is an exception.
"During" and "duration". Okay? So some people... There are actually two ways to pronounce this.
You can actually say "during". Some people say "during". For me, that sounds kind of
strange, but it's possible. Or you can pronounce this like a "j" and say "during". Same with
"duration". Some people say "duration", the "duration". I like "duration". So this is
up to you. And finally, a final thing that has this pronunciation, "did you". Even though
you see it spelled "did", "n-y-o-u", it's not following the "du" like we've been saying.
It's still pronounced like a "j". So when people say "did you" very quickly, it sounds
like "didja". "Didja do your homework last night?" So again, there's that "j" sound.
"Did you eat dinner?" So it can either say... It can either sound like "didju" with a "j"
or "didja". Okay.
So next we are going to practice some tongue twisters. Okay, so here comes the fun part.
We're going to do some tongue twisters. So what is a tongue twister? It's where there's
a sentence and it has a bunch of sounds that are the same. So in this case, the sound we're
going to be working with is "dja". So I've highlighted anywhere there is a "dja" sound.
And so what happens is we're going to say the sentence first. So I'll say it, you can
repeat it, and then we're going to say it faster, and then as fast as we can say it.
So I want you who are watching this from home to do the same thing. Okay? And we'll see
if I'm going to be able to say these very fast. They're a little bit difficult tongue
twisters.
All right, so let's get started. So the first sentence is the "edju" -- so "dja" sound -- "educated
individual" -- so another "dja" sound -- "graduated on schedule." Okay? So say that to yourself.
Okay, so now we're going to do this a little bit faster. "The educated individual graduated
on schedule." Okay, can you do it that fast? Okay, and now we're going to do it as fast
as we can do it. "The educated individual graduated on schedule." Okay, can you do it
as fast as that? Okay, so that was the warm-up for this next one, which is actually a lot
harder. "The procedure" -- so again, "dja" -- "during the arduous module was followed by all assiduous
individuals." Okay, this is a really intellectual-sounding sentence. It's filled with a lot of larger
English words, so let's see if we can say this a little bit faster. Okay? So, "The procedure
during the arduous module was followed by all assiduous individuals." Okay, now let's
try this faster. "The procedure during the arduous module was followed by all assiduous
individuals." Okay, and now we're going to do it even faster if we can. So I'm hoping
that this goes well. I might get my tongue all twisted while trying to say this. We'll
see. "The procedure during the arduous module was followed by all assiduous individuals."
Maybe I could do it faster, I don't know, but try to do this as fast as you can. Okay,
good. So tongue twisters are useful to practice because they really are a workout for your
tongue. It's good exercise, and it's good to practice these types of sounds, "dja",
in actual sentences because sometimes for us, it's easy to say "dja" on its own, but
as soon as you have to say it in a sentence, it becomes like an exercise or a workout.
Okay, so there will be a quiz on "dja" and words with this type of sound in it, spelt
like "du". So to take our quiz, come visit us at www.engvid.com. Until next time.