Hello, students.
This is Fanny.
Welcome to this English pronunciation video.
In this video we are going to focus on two English vowel sounds.
/ɛ/ and /eɪ/ These are two very important vowel sounds
in English.
And they sound different even though very similar.
Let's start with two example words.
The first word is ‘let’.
Can you hear the sound /ɛ/?
‘let’ The second word is ‘late’.
/eɪ/ ‘late’
So ‘let’ and ‘late’ I know to some of you they sound exactly the
same.
But with a little bit of practice you will hear the difference,
so keep watching.
By the end of this video, I promise you will improve your hearing and
pronunciation of these two vowel sounds.
Get ready guys.
I'm gonna help you make these sounds /ɛ/ and /eɪ/ in English.
I want you to hear the difference and to be able to pronounce them correctly.
Also, it's very important to know the IPA spelling,
watch how I move my mouth, and as usual repeat after me.
I know that you can master these sounds, so let's get to it.
First, let's learn how to make the sound /ɛ/.
So your tongue is in the middle part of your mouth.
Okay, and your mouth and doesn't move.
Can you repeat after me?
/ɛ/ /ɛ/
/ɛ/ Let's now practice with a word please.
Repeat after me.
let let
let For the sound /eɪ/.
It's a little bit trickier.
It's what we call a diphthong.
So it's actually two vowel sounds combined.
So as you can see, your mouth moves and your tongue goes up a
little as you produce the sound /eɪ/.
Can you repeat after me?
/eɪ/ /eɪ/
/eɪ/
With the word ‘late’.
Repeat after me.
late late
late Great job!
Let's now use minimal pairs.
Words that are extremely similar but the vowel sounds change.
They're a very good way to practice your vowel sounds.
First let's just practice the sounds.
So watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.
/ɛ/ /ɛ/
/ɛ/ /eɪ/
/eɪ/ /eɪ/
/ɛ/ /eɪ/
Let's now use our words ‘let’ and ‘late’.
Repeat after me.
let let
let late
late late
let late
Excellent job.
Guys, let's now find out about other minimal pairs.
I'm gonna read them to you.
I want you to repeat after me and pay attention to my mouth and how it moves.
Let's go.
chess chase
beck bake
bed bade
bell bail
best based
bet bait
bled blade
bread braid
breast braced
debt date
edge age
etch H
fed fade
fell fail
fleck flake
fret freight
gel jail
get gate
hell hail
Ken cane
L ale
led laid
lens lanes
less lace
M aim
men main
mess mace
met mate
pen pain
pent paint
pest paste
pled played
red raid
rest raced
S ace
sell sale
sent saint
set sate
shed shade
shell shale
special spatial
sped spade
tech take
tell tale
tent taint
test taste
tread trade
trend trained
wed wade
wedge wage
well whale
west waist
wet wait
when wane
wreck rake
wren rain
X aches
Excellent guys.
Let's move on.
Ok let's continue practicing.
Now I'm going to show you some words and I want you to read them with the proper
English vowel sound /ɛ/ and /eɪ/
Let's get started.
Let's start with the first word.
Is it ‘bed’ or ‘bade’?
It's ‘bed’ of course.
Next word.
‘fell’ or ‘fail’?
Which one is it?
It's ‘fail’.
Next word.
‘test’?
‘taste’?
It’s ‘taste’.
Guys, next word.
‘men’?
‘main’?
‘main’ Next word.
‘ren’?
‘rain’?
It's ‘rain’.
Next ‘sell’ or ‘sale’?
It's ‘sell’.
Next word.
‘test’?
‘taste’?
Which one is it?
In this case, it's ‘test’.
Next.
‘men’?
‘main’?
It's ‘men’.
Next word.
‘sell’ or ‘sale’?
‘sale’ of course.
And finally, ‘when’ or ‘wane’?
It's ‘when’.
Very good.
Great job guys.
Let's carry on.
Okay guys let's now practice with sentences.
I have sentences containing /ɛ/ and /eɪ/sounds.
So pay attention and repeat after me.
The first sentence is: ‘Ken made cakes well.’
The second sentence: ‘Tell him to send red paint.’
And finally: ‘Men fed a whale in the rain.’
Great guys.
Let's continue on.
Great job guys.
You now have a better understanding of the difference
between the English vowel sounds /ɛ/ and /eɪ/.
But keep practicing.
It takes time and practice of listening and speaking to master the vowel sounds.
But you can do it.
Also make sure you watch the rest of my pronunciation videos.
Very important if you want to master the English language.
See you next time.
Thank you so much guys for watching my video.
if you've liked it, show me your support.
Click ‘like’.
Subscribe to the channel.
Put your comments below and share the video.
See you.