Hello everyone and welcome back to Pronunciation with Emma.
In this video I'm going to talk about a common problem, typically with Spanish speakers.
This is with would, wood, and good.
So for many Spanish speakers these words sound exactly the same and people typically pronounce
them as good, good, and good.
All with a /g/ sound at the beginning.
Pronouncing the words like this, all in the same way, may be confusing for the listener,
so it's important that you get the sounds right so you're not confusing your friends
and potentially losing friends.
So let's start with the word "good".
The back of my tongue comes up to touch my velum.
Now you're probably thinking "Emma, what the heck is a velum?'.
Well if you feel with your tongue.
You can feel a hard part at the top of your mouth, and if you keep going back you'll feel
a very soft part.
That soft part at the top of your mouth is your velum.
So when you make a /g/ sound, the back of your tongue touches this.
The next sound is the vowel /ʊ/.
Careful you're not saying "goo", it's a very short sound.
And that final sound, typically Spanish speakers pronounce it as a /t/ so it's... they pronounce
it too soft almost.
And it sounds like "gut".
That sounds German.
Try and really voice that "d" at the end.
I know it can be quite tricky, it's not impossible.
It is completely possible for you to pronounce this sound, I promise.
So one more time.
Now the other two words, although they're spelt completely differently, they are pronounced
in the exact same way, these are what we would call Homophones.
Homophones are essentially when you have two words which are spelt completely differently,
they have different origins or different meanings, but they are pronounced exactly the same.
So with these two words it's where it gets a little big tricker for Spanish speakers,
as they would typically say "good", exactly the same as the word we just looked at.
So here it's not /g/, but I say /wʊ/.
Would.
There's no contact at the back of my mouth.
Let's think in Spanish for a second, take the word "huevo".
Now that first sound "ue", just change that second vowel sound.
Keep changing it and that's the exact sound we need, that /w/ sound.
If you can do these sounds without any contact at the back and making a /g/ sound, then you're
already halfway there to saying "would/wood".
So congratulations [applause].
Now let's try /w/.
Try and repeat after me if you can.
If you're saying that then you're already saying the word "would/wood", or both of them
because they're pronounced exactly the same, so well done, congratulations again.
[applause].
Now at this point you're either able to pronounce it or you're say there saying "oh Emma, no
puedo, no puedo, no puedo Emma.
Es imposible".
If you're sat there and you are the latter then keep practising.
Watch this video back, keep going.
Practice makes perfect.
That's all I can say.
If you say there saying "no puedo" then you're not going to be able to do it.
You need to change your mindset, believe that you can, and try and practise.
That's my only advice with this one.
Now for the rest of the word, you'll notice that there is an "l" in "would".
I don't pronounce it, it's completely silent.
The vowel sound is exactly the same as in "good".
And be careful with that final "d".
That you're not saying it as a /t/, and that you're really voicing it.
Now let's have a little recap, I'll say the words and then you try and repeat after me.
Are you ready?
I hope you enjoyed this video.
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That's it.