hi i'm vanessa from speak english with
vanessa calm are you ready to test your
pronunciation let's talk about it do you
have good pronunciation how do you know
the best way to test your pronunciation
is to speak with someone else and see if
they can understand you because
understanding is the purpose of
pronunciation and of speaking but
unfortunately here on youtube i can't
listen to you maybe YouTube will create
that technology someday in the future so
for now I'd like to give you a different
type of pronunciation test the next best
way to test your pronunciation is to
shadow or imitate exactly after a native
speaker so that you can see if your
pronunciation is similar to mine is it
different what are the specific areas
that are difficult for you I'm gonna be
testing your pronunciation on 16
challenging words but the best way to
test your pronunciation is not with
individual words but with the whole
sentence so this is what we're gonna do
I'm gonna show you a challenge sentence
that uses four difficult words and this
is what I want you to do I want you to
say that sentence out loud before I talk
about anything this is your original
pronunciation I want you to hear your
original pronunciation and then I'm
gonna read that sentence but I'm gonna
mispronounce one word I want you to
guess which word is mispronounced there
are sometimes multiple ways to pronounce
each word but I want you to be listening
for what is the most natural way to
pronounce each word in fast English and
finally I'm gonna be saying the sentence
correctly and I want you to be able to
say it with me so I want you to repeat
the correct sentence with me are you
ready to get started with sentence
number one let's do it
this is sentence number one I want you
to say the sentence all by yourself
test your original pronunciation go
ahead say it out loud okay now I'm gonna
say the sentence and I'm gonna
mispronounce one word can you guess
which word I mispronounced I by Clovis
through the internet I buy clothes
through the internet hmm which one did I
say incorrectly
did you hear clothes or clothes
you heard the second one but really
that's not correct
instead when we speak in fast English we
often pronounced clothes a lot like
close the door I buy clothes through the
internet all right let's go through each
of these challenging words and I want to
help you say them correctly that first
word bye bye it sounds exactly like bye
see you later bye and then we have
clothes which I just mentioned sounds a
lot like close the door close the door
when native speakers are speaking a
little bit slower
they might add a th sound clothes
clothes you see how my tongue comes out
a little bit for that th clothes but
really when we're speaking quickly it
just sounds like clothes clothes and
then we have the word through this word
it is lovely we have a th followed by an
R let's practice it slowly your tongue
is coming out between your teeth and
there's some air that's a wonderful th
sound it sounds like I threw the ball
this is the past tense of the row I
threw the ball so let's try to say this
through through and then we have our
final word Internet what's happening to
that middle T Internet you can say
internet with a clear T if you're
speaking a little bit slower but when
native speakers are speaking quickly
we're gonna cut out that T completely
and just say in a net inner net let's go
back and try to say this full sentence
clearly and naturally together are you
ready
I buy clothes through the internet I buy
clothes through the internet were you
repeating with me I hope so because
we've got three more challenge sentences
and I want you to test your
pronunciation let's go to number two
here's sentence number two I'm going to
pause and I want you to try to say the
sentence all by yourself test your
original pronunciation go ahead okay now
I'm gonna say it but I'm gonna
mispronounce one word can you guess
which word is incorrect a little girl
took the recept to the bus the little
girl took the recept to the bus which
word is wrong did you hear receipt or
recept you heard number two but that's
not correct
instead the P is silent so you're gonna
say receipt receipt just completely
forget about that P in there alright
let's go through each of these
challenging words because I want to make
sure that you can pronounce them
correctly
the first one is little little you see
there's two T's in the middle of this
word but really in American English
those T's are gonna become D sounds so
it's gonna sound like lid ol little like
a lid that you put on a container little
and then we have girl who a lot of these
words girl world early those words can
be a little bit tricky so let's break
this one down girl oh girl oh when you
want to talk about the sound that an
angry dog makes you could say Gege and
then we're gonna add old at the end girl
girl girl
notice that my mouth isn't really moving
here it's all inside my mouth and in my
throat
girl girl and with the L might
is coming beside my teeth girl it's
right there
girl girl alright and the next word is
receipt receipt receipt receipt this is
the piece of paper that you get after
you make a purchase the cashier will
give you a receipt and then our final
word is bus sometimes this short u sound
can be a little bit tricky so I want to
make sure you're not saying booths boss
the boss make sure you say uh bus bus
bus
alright let's go back and say this full
sentence together
the little girl took the receipt to the
bus the little girl took the receipt to
the bus did you say that with me let's
say it one more time the little girl
took the receipt to the bus
great work let's go on to the next
challenge sentence
alright here's that it's number three I
want you to say it all by yourself
are you ready test your original
pronunciation go ahead okay now it's my
turn I'm gonna mispronounce one word
listen carefully in the early winner I
didn't miss the warm weather in the
early winner I didn't miss the warm
weather in the early winner I didn't
miss the warm weather which one of these
challenge words did I mispronounce
mm-hmm did you hear warm or Wharram you
heard that second one but that's not
correct instead the word warm has just
one syllable not warm
instead warm warm notice how my lips are
in an O shape
warm warm with a clear are war
alright let's go through each of these
challenge words so that you can say them
correctly
the first one is early this is similar
to what we talked about with girl or Li
let's break it into two sections ah ah
and then Li Li early make sure that when
you say the L your tongue is touching
the back of your teeth Li early early
don't add another sound in there I often
hear English learners say early or ugly
but that uh in the middle isn't natural
so let's make sure you say a leaf and
put it together early next we say winner
hmm what is happening to the T in the
middle of this word you might hear
native speakers say winter with a clear
T if they're I'm non CE a ting clearly
and maybe speaking a little slowly it's
fine to do that but when native speakers
speak fast you're gonna hear winner
winner wins the Winter Olympics winner
this is the same as a winner and a loser
it's the same pronunciation so make sure
that the context helps you to know which
word it is does this sound familiar
Internet winner yeah we're cutting out
that T especially when there's an N T in
the middle of a word internet internet
winter winner you're gonna hear that a
lot in fast English next we have the
word didn't didn't but this is the clear
pronunciation when native speakers are
speaking quickly we do not say didn't
with each sound pronounced instead
you're gonna hear did did mmm it's a lot
going on here in your throat did I mean
D mmm so that final D is cut short and
the final T as well is cut so it's
really going to be just your throat
can you say that with me D but did and
didn't didn't didn't didn't if you have
trouble pronouncing or hearing or
understanding contractions it's probably
because we cut off a lot of those sounds
we've reduced them that's something
that's natural in English I made a video
about how to pronounce 81 different
contractions you can check it out up
here because this happens to a lot of
different contractions and I want to
make sure you can pronounce them but
also that you can understand them the
difference between a positive word did
and didn't it is very important when
you're having a conversation all right
let's go to the last word warm warm warm
make sure that this is one syllable
war-war do you think you can put all of
these words together you got it let's
say it together in the early winner I
didn't miss the warm weather in the
early winner I didn't miss the warm
weather in the early winner I didn't
miss the warm weather in the early
winner I didn't miss the warm weather
great work all right let's go to the
final challenge sentence here's our
final challenge sentence can you say
this all by yourself go ahead now it's
my turn I'm gonna mispronounce a one
word I want you to guess which one it is
I definitely saw the water at the beach
was salty I definitely saw the water at
the beach was salty which word is
incorrect
did you hear thought or salt you heard
the second one sought but does this word
start with an S nope instead it starts
with a th so you need to make sure that
your tongue is between your teeth and
there's that stream of air coming
through through
we already talked about that word
thought thoughts alright let's go
through each of these challenge words so
that you can pronounce them correctly
what's happening with this word
definitely definitely
I feel like words like definitely
certainly probably those words can be a
little bit tricky I talked about some of
those in this pronunciation lesson up
here but the word definitely we use a
lot and you probably would like to use a
lot but you need to pronounce it
correctly so let's break it down def in
it ly def in it ly definitely definitely
definitely definitely definitely it's
definitely a beautiful day this is
definitely a helpful lesson I hope so
the next word is that lovely word we
just talked about thought thoughts make
sure that your tongue is between your
teeth I often hear English learners
switching in S and a th sound salt
instead of thought and in some
situations this could be a little bit
difficult for other English speakers to
understand you so make sure that you say
this correctly thought thought and then
we have the word water water what's the
sound that you hear in the middle of
this word water water well it's not a
tea sound water instead it's a day here
we have again the tea is changing to a D
this is typical in American English
water water
I want you to say that with me water
water and finally we have the word beach
beach a lot of you are concerned that
you might say a rude word instead so
let's practice that vowel sound it needs
to be a long e beach beach beach and
really the context here is going to help
you a lot so when we're talking about
the water at the beach is salty
you're most likely talking about the
ocean the sea you're not talking about a
rude word so I think the context is
going to help you a lot but make sure
that when you pronounce it you say II
Beach all right let's go back into that
full sentence I definitely thought the
water at the beach was salty I
definitely thought the water at the
beach was salty I definitely thought the
water at the beach was salty great work
I hope that you had a chance to say that
sentence out loud with me and test your
pronunciation are you ready for a final
challenge we're gonna go back and say
all four of those sentences and I want
you to say them out loud with me I'm
gonna say them two times so that you can
listen and then you can also repeat are
you ready let's say them together I buy
clothes through the internet I buy
clothes through the internet the little
girl took the receipt to the bus the
little girl took the receipt to the bus
in the early winner I didn't miss the
warm weather in the early winter I
didn't miss the warm weather I
definitely thought the water at the
beach was salty I definitely thought the
water at the beach was salty great work
testing your pronunciation muscles and
now I have a question for you let me
know in the comments which one of these
words is the most difficult for you to
pronounce let me know I'm sure that
there will be people around the world
who have the same feelings as you it's
always good to feel like you're in this
together well thank you so much for
learning English with me I'll see you
again next Friday for a new lesson here
on my youtube channel bye the next step
is to download my free ebook 5 steps to
becoming a confident English speaker
you'll learn what you need to do to
speak confidently and fluently don't
forget to subscribe to my youtube
channel for more free lessons thanks so
much
bye