Used by approximately 1.35 billion people around the world, English is the most spoken
language on the planet, and more people speak it as a second language than a first language!
However, it’s not the easiest language to master, with pronunciation being particularly
problematic. I blame our very unhelpful spelling.
Well, in this video we are going to look at some of the hardest sounds in English, that
1 - The ‘TH’ sound.
Did you know that there are actually two TH sounds? It’s true, a voiced TH and a voiceless
TH. Both sounds are produced in the same way but,
as their names suggest, one uses voice and the other doesn’t. To produce these th sounds
simply place your tongue loosely between the teeth. Not too far out, just a little. Then
allow the voice or air to pass between the top teeth and tongue creating friction or
vibration.
A voiced TH (sounds a voiced TH). Here is the phonetic symbol for this sound /ð/.
Repeat these words: The, Then, With, Weather.
Try this sentence. Then the boy ran off with the weathervane.
The unvoiced TH sound. Here is the phonetic symbol for this sound /θ/
Repeat these words: Thank, Think, Thief
Try this sentence. The thief thanked his father for thinking
of him.
Now French, German, Russian, and many other languages don’t have a TH sound whatsoever!
So it’s no surprise that this is often mispronounced and replaced with alternatives like a D, an
F or even a z. The dropped TH is also a feature within some British regional accents too like
cockney.
2 - The ‘R’ sound.
The English R, internationally speaking, is a peculiar beast! We have a smooth, flat R
that doesn’t roll or tap like it does in many other languages.
In contrast, the Spanish R is elaborately rolled, this is also known as a ‘trilled
R’. Other European languages like Italian and even German also have a trilled R. How
does your language treat the R?
“Our Rs are really rock and roll.“
Beyond that initial difference in the pronunciation of this sound, the English r is non-rhotic,
which means we do not pronounce it when it is immediately after a vowel and not followed
by another vowel, like in words such as hard, warm, floor, doctor.
This is in contrast to American English which is the dominant variation of English being
taught around the world. Therefore if British English pronunciation is what you are going
for, then you will need to flatten and in many cases disregard that R.
3 - The V and the W sounds.
Did you know that V and W are treated as the same sound in Urdu & Hindi? So creating a
difference between these two sounds when speaking English can be a little bit tricky at first.
And did you know that there is no V sound in Thai?
To make things more complicated, most languages only have one or the other, even though, in
some European languages, they have both of the letters! How confusing…
Let’s look at these two sounds side by side, you’ll soon see that there is a big difference
in the production.
(Shows both sounds close up, and side by side)
With the V - get your teeth involved, the top teeth should be touching the bottom lip.
With the W - forget the teeth, they should not be involved. Round the lips and W
Repeat after me: Wow - Vow
I vow to wow you.
Right so technically we have covered five sounds, the two TH’s, the rock n roll R,
the V, and the W. But I’m having a nice time so I am going
to carry on.
The ‘ed’ ending
Okay, so this one is more like three in one. The ‘ed’ ending isn’t really a sound
but more of a misleading spelling issue. Not following? Let me explain…
In English, ‘ed’ is the ending used for regular verbs in the past tense. And that
simply means that we use it A LOT.
What makes it complicated is that there are three different ways to pronounce it, in essence,
there are three sounds but only one spelling.
So how do you know which one to use? Well, I’ve got a little trick that will help you
here.
The easiest to remember is when -ed is pronounced as an /Id/ sound. This is used when the base
verb ends with a /d/ or /t/ sound. For example: Complete = Completed
Need = Needed Haunt = Haunted (so you can let that example
haunt your thoughts… whuuuuuughuu)
(Stupid D.T)
Slightly more complicated is when -ed is pronounced as a /t/ sound.
You use this when the base verb ends with an unvoiced sound: p, f, s, ch, sh, or k sound
(but not t - remember, that belongs to the previous rule - stupid DT). That’s it, just
6 endings to remember. For example, Pop = popped Cook = cooked
Wash = washed Hiss = hissed
Laugh = laughed
The last one is easier to remember, and kind of the default, as it is used for all other
verb endings. That is the /d/ sound, which is used for all verbs ending with a voiced
sound, except d. For example:
Play = played Call = called
Enjoy = enjoyed Save = Saved
Bog = Bogged Dab = Dabbed
Now if I were to keep going, and trust me there are many more sounds that cause my students
trouble, I would mention the short vowel u (up) and the long vowel OR and ER. Diphthongs
would need to be touched upon, as would CH. The L’s need attention and
The H sound - I should have covered the H sound…commonly constricted, or even, not
pronounced at all. I should have covered the H sound.
by clicking the link below.
Is there a pronunciation that you particularly struggle with? Why not let me know in the
comments below?
Until next time, bye for now.