You're learning English and you want to sound like THIS
It's been so very nice. I've enjoyed my afternoon enormously.
I'm so glad. So have I. I apologize for boring you with long medical words.
I feel dull and stupid not to be able to understand more.
And not like this.
I would like to buy a hamburger
Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk
Today we've got 10 tips for perfect British pronunciation. Now English pronunciation is
not easy there is no silver bullet to perfect pronunciation
the spelling and the pronunciation are different. What you spell is often not what you say,
it does require a lot of work on your part but if you follow these tips you will be on
the way to getting a great British accent.
Sometimes verbs and nouns are pronounced differently.. Yes, it's true.
Do you think there is only one way to pronounce a word in English. English is not so simple.
With two syllable words.With the noun the stress goes on the first syllable and the
verb on the second syllable. be careful to stress it correctly as the meaning can completely
change if you get it wrong. So for example
an INsult that's the noun INsult. Stress on the first sylable.
To inSULT that's the verb to inSULT
a REject to reJECT
Let me give you some examples in sentences
PerMIT me to give you the PERmit
The EScort decided to esCORT me.
They wanted me to proDUCE the PROduce
I'll leave a link to a list in the description with a list of these words
Also sometimes the pronunciation can change with one syllable words too depending on whether
it's a verb or a noun. For example: to use /juːz/ is the verb but use /juːs/ is
the noun /juːs/ for example
I cannot use /juːz/ my phone because the use /juːs/ of phones is forbidden in the classroom
Etymology is the origin of words and when you are reading English it can help with the
pronunciation. For example words of French origin ending
in "et" are often not pronounced as in French for example; Ballet, gourmet, buffet, depot.
because because (as always) there are exceptions.
words from greek with a "ch" are usually pronounced with a hard ch like a "k" - for example
Architect, chaos , chemistry.
So when you look up an English word in the dictionary always check it's origin because
it will not only help with this word but others with similar spellings. So for example
the "psych"- is from Greek is pronounced /saɪk/ for example psychology, psychotherapy, psychopath.
Knowing the origin of the word give us clues
as to the proper way to spell a word and to pronounce it modern English.
In English some of the most common words have 2 pronunciations a "strong form" and a "weak form"
For example. "and" - you and me. But in conversation
most English speakers will say "n" most of the time. You 'n' me.
So "and" is the strong for and "n" (/ən/) is the weak form
Another example is "are" (the strong form) but in fluent speech most people will say /ə/
"what are /ə/ you doing" -
"them" has a weak form 'em. "I told 'em I'd be late"
There are many and I've made a video just on this subject and I'll leave a link
for it in the description.
Informal contraction are some common words and phrases that are spoken
but not normally written. It's not slang it's just a spoken form.
For example "Gonna" I'm gonna see you tomorrow"
wanna (want to), betcha (bet you)
dunno (don't know) "I dunno what's happening".
and you need to understand them and with some practice
use them too. We have a video with more detail about this the link is in the description.
If a word ends in a consonant sound and the next words starts with a vowel then we usually
link the 2 words together so it sounds like one word.
For example. "Swit chof" the light. Not "switch off the light" - we link them together.
"wake up [way-kup]"
"get off [ge toff] the bus"
In English we don't like to have 2 vowels together it's difficult for us to say so we
sometimes put a linking consonant between the two vowels this can be a r, y, w.
For example "he's too-w-upset" -
Did you hear the "w". For many English speakers it's easier to say than "he's too upset"
Another example is "day". It ends in a "y" but
when we say the word it has an "ai" sound.
However when the next word begins with a vowel then we would pronound the y
So for example, "a dayof the week"
That's called vowel to vowel linking a we have a video about this and I'll
link is in the description.
In British English we only pronounce the "r" when the next word begins with a vowel.
So for example you say "far". "better", "door". but the "r" is not pronounced
but "Fa-rand away" the "doo ris closed" "Butte ris better"
So did you hear in those examples we pronounce the "r" because the next word
begins with a vowel sound.
Ok and remember in English the "r" is a soft "r"
So make sure you get the "r" sound right.
English is full of irregular spelling but there are some rules. And did you know that 70% of
words do have regular spellings.
One rule that you can learn is The magic "e" which will help your spelling and pronounciation.
and pronunciation. With the magic "e" if you put an "e" at the end of a word that has a single consonant before it
then the previous vowel "says its name". It becomes a long vowel. for example
rat - rate
not - note
hop - hope
tub - tube
There is a lot more detail
in the video we made of the magic "e". A link in the description.
There are some very common irregular pronunciations such as
"recipe", "women", "mayor", "iron".
The spelling and pronunciation are quite different.
Unfortunately there are no rules about these so you just have to learn each one. Fortunately LetThemTalkTV
has two videos about this with some of the most common irregular pronunciations.
- a link in the description
In English over the centuries the pronunciation has changed but the spelling hasn't been updated.
One trend in English is for long words to lose a syllable
For example "interesting" (intresting) and not in-te-rest-ing.
"Vegetable" (vegtable) and not veg-e-table
"Comfortable" (comftable) and not com-for-table
I'll leave a link in the description with a list of these words with lost syllables
I've given you a lot of work today but if you follow those tips you'll be on the way to sounding
more like a native speaker. Thank you for watching, more English language videos coming soon.