Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Sun on the beach!
Wait, was that a bad word?
Let's talk about it.
Right now, I'm sitting on the beach.
Oh, look, there's a little crab.
I've heard English learners say "I'm shitting on the bitch.
Oh, look, there's a little crap".
Oh no.
Of course, with the right context, other people will be able to understand you, but most people,
most English learners, want to avoid using a rude or bad word by accident.
Today we're going to practice several troublesome or difficult words that often sound like rude
or bad words.
If you are a child, or if you don't like swearing, you can turn off this lesson.
For me, I don't like swearing and I especially don't like swearing on the internet, but today
I'm going to get out of my shell and help you with these words.
Thanks so much to the awesome pronunciation app, Elsa Speak, for sponsoring today's lesson
in helping you so that you don't accidentally say these rude or bad words.
And thanks to Elsa Speak for giving you a huge, special discount, which I'll tell you
about at the end of this lesson.
To help you remember all of these bad words and words that sound similar, I've created
a free PDF download for you.
You can click on the link in the description to download the free PDF for today's lesson
and never forget how to say these words correctly.
Let's start.
First, we'll start with some words that you probably know are difficult for you and that
you might be mispronouncing.
And then we'll go on to some words that you might not know you're saying incorrectly.
The first pair of tricky words are beach and bitch.
We have a long E, beach.
And with the bad word, we have short I, bitch.
But I would like to help you practice the good word.
So here, let's say this sentence together.
I love to see the sun on the beach.
Beach.
Notice when I say "E" my lips are wide "E" and my teeth are almost together.
Beach.
Can you say it with me?
I love to see the sun on the beach.
All right, let's go to the next pair.
The next two tricky words have a similar, difficult sound sheet, sheet and shit.
So here we have a long E and a short I.
Can you say the sentence with me?
I brought to a sheet to sit on the beach.
I brought a sheet.
My lips are wide and my teeth are almost together.
Say it with me.
I brought a sheet to sit on the beach.
The next two words also have a similar sound, piece and piss.
Now, piss isn't exactly an extremely rude word, but it's not really a word you want
to say out of context.
So let's practice saying piece with a long E together.
I can't find that piece.
A more commonly used and a little bit less of a rude phrase that we use in American English
with the word is this, to be pissed off.
So we might say, ugh, I'm so pissed off when I see trash on the beach.
This means I'm angry and annoyed.
I'm pissed off when I see trash on the beach.
Or we could say he pissed me off when he throws trash on the beach.
Who does that?
There's a trash can, throw it away.
The next three pairs of tricky words have a short U vowel.
The first pair is can't.
And this word is in American English, one of the worst swear words.
And I don't feel comfortable saying this.
And I definitely don't feel comfortable saying this on the internet.
So we are going to practice a similar word that has a similar vowel sound.
And that is the word front.
Front.
Look in front of you.
And here, the short U is up and down.
Front.
And the regular word is can't.
Can't.
And our stand-in word front, front.
Let's practice that good word together.
I can't believe what he just said.
And just to let you know this word, this bad word is less bad in other English speaking
countries, but in the U.S., not a good idea to say it.
The next two pairs of similar words are fork, and one of the most famous bad words in English,
fuck.
And here, this is going to be that short U sound.
Up and down.
But if you want to say a fork instead, like a piece of silverware, you can say fork, fork.
Make sure that the R sound is very clear as well.
Fork, fork.
Let's practice a sentence together.
Do you have a fork?
Great work.
The next pair is sock, sock and suck.
Suck.
Notice how, when I say that short U, it's up and down suck.
But if you want to talk about something that's on your feet, you might say, there's something
in my sock.
There's something in my sock.
And the O is sock, sock.
We sometimes use the word suck in a less rude way, especially if you're talking about it,
literally, you might say, ah, these mosquitoes won't stop sucking my blood.
These mosquitoes won't stop sucking my blood.
Or sometimes we use the word suck in a not great for professional situations, but any
more casual way, that's less rude to talk about something that's not good.
We might say that sucks.
That sucks.
You might use this in a situation where you forgot something when you went on vacation.
So here I am at the beach and if you forgot your swimsuit, not a good idea, but if you
forget your swimsuit, your family member might say to you, ah, that sucks.
You're going to have to buy a new one.
That sucks.
It's a bummer.
Next, we have some pairs of words that are tricky consonants.
Tricky, consonants.
I already said one of these today.
They are crab and crap.
Crab and crap.
So let's practice saying the B at the end of this word correctly.
Oh, a crab pinched me.
A crab pinched me.
Make sure that there is a clear B sound here.
A crab pinched me.
We do sometimes use the word crap in a less rude way.
So I'd like to teach you that as well.
Sometimes I say this.
This is my one of my favorite euphemisms I often use in daily life.
Instead of a bad word, I might say, you scared the crap out of me.
You scared the crap out of me.
What do you think you're doing, scaring me in the middle of the night.
You scared the crap out of me.
And this is kind of a silly phrase to give some emphasis to your words.
Or if you happen to stub your toe, you could say a bad word, or you could say, oh crap.
Maybe if you forget something at the beach, like your swimsuit, you might say, oh crap,
I forgot my swimsuit.
Okay?
You don't want to say this to your boss, but it's not too rude to say with people you're
comfortable with.
Next is ask and ass.
You want to make sure that you have a clear K sound at the end.
Can I ask you a question?
If you drop the S yes, people will understand the general context, but it is much better
to add K at the end to be super clear.
Can I ask you a question?
Our final pair of tricky words are damp and damn.
Damp and damn.
Make sure that you say a clear P sound at the end of this word.
Ugh.
I dropped my towel in the water and now it's damp, it's damp.
This means it's a little bit wet.
Maybe if you try to dry your swimsuit outside overnight so that it dries, but it doesn't
completely dry.
You might say, oh man, my swimsuit is still damp.
My swimsuit is still damp.
I guess I got to wear it anyway.
And if you were to use the bad word, you might say, damn, now I don't have a dry swimsuit.
But this is a little bit stronger than some of the other bad words that I mentioned, like
crap or piss.
So maybe avoid it in more formal situations.
So how did you do, were you able to hear the difference between these pairs of tricky words?
It's very important to hear the difference, but it's even more important to them correctly
and to be able to say them differently.
I have some good news.
The awesome app, Elsa Speak, can help you to say exactly what you want to say without
accidentally saying a rude or bad word.
When you speak in English, you will get an exact score for all of the different sounds
that you've said in English.
And you'll get specific advice about how you can improve.
Let's take a look at what 13 million users are talking about.
Elsa Speak: This is good.
Vincenzo: This is good.
85.
Vanessa: Okay.
What did it say you needed to practice on that one?
Vincenzo: Yeah, he says that my TH was my, this was
actually a D and I have to- Elsa Speak:
If you don't stick your tongue out, it might sound like D, or Z.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Would you like to try it one more time with that clear "th" sound because I know you can
do it.
It's just 100% of the time trying to do that.
So let's try it one more time.
Vincenzo: Yeah.
Yeah.
Of course.
Elsa Speak: This is good.
Vincenzo: This is good.
Perfect.
Vanessa: Just like you saw with Vincenzo, you can practice
with over 1,600 lessons over 40 different topics and you can practice the tricky consonants
and vowels that we talked about in this lesson in the skills section of the app.
For English learners, Elsa Speak, is by far the best pronunciation app.
Just look at this, pretty great right.
The Elsa Speak team is offering you, my students, a 30% discount on the yearly membership and
an 85% discount on the lifetime membership.
Click on the link in the description to get this special discount just for you, my lovely
students.
Before we go, let's practice one fun challenge sentence.
And before the ocean sweeps me away, let's practice one fun challenge sentence together
using some of these tricky sounds that we practiced.
If I can't go to the beach, maybe I can eat a piece of cake with a fork.
All right, let's practice that sentence one more time.
If I can't go to the beach, maybe I can eat a piece of cake with a fork.
Great work.
Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson so that you never forget
what you've learned.
There was a link in the description for that as well.
And now I have a question for you.
Let me know in the comments, what do you like to do when you go to the beach?
Let me know.
I can't wait to read what you have to say and I'll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
Did you enjoy this free lesson?
The next step is to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Don't forget to click the Elsa Speak link in the description to practice speaking clearly
and confidently and get a special discount.
Thanks for learning English with me.
Bye.