Clear English Pronunciation

Welcome to Clear English Pronunciation!

I'm Andrea Giordano, your guide for this life-changing course. You've made an amazing decision to join this class. You are going to see an amazing improvement in your pronunciation skills.

First, I want to introduce myself. My name is Andrea Giordano, and I have been teaching English and linguistics at universities in the United States for 14 years. I have a Master's Degree in TESOL, which is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. And I've been blessed to teach thousands of English learners just like you on my websites, podcasts, and youtube channel. I've helped students from every country in the world.

The student I'm most excited about though is YOU! You have an amazing opportunity in front of you to change your life through this course. Speaking English clearly will open up doors of opportunity for you. This course will change how you speak forever.

It's hard work though! To get the most out of this course, be sure to do the following things:

1. Log on to the class regularly. The more you log in and learn, the better your pronunciation will be.

2. Practice, practice, practice. I'm going to give you lots of practice exercises and activities. The students who practice the most will grow the most! Watch and re-watch the videos so you can speak more clearly.

Most important: Get started! Start speaking more clearly so you can change your life.

Happy Learning!

Andrea

Assignment Instructions

Here’s the Activity:

1. Open the camera app on your phone.

2. Press Record

3. Read these sentences: “A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. I want to catch the fox before he jumps over me!” (Don’t practice. Just pronounce it like you normally would.)

4. Save the video until the very end of the course. This is so important! You’re going to read this sentence at the end of the course and compare your before/after pronunciation.

Take a minute to record this sentence, and then let’s get started on the first lesson so you can speak English clearly!

In this video, you will learn about the place of articulation, or the location of where sounds are produced.

You will learn:

• Where to place your tongue, teeth, and lips when creating sounds

• How different sounds involve different parts in the mouth

• How to pronounce all of the consonant sounds in English.

The place of articulation is important in pronunciation, because you must know where to produce sounds in order to pronounce them correctly.

Here are a few key places of articulation you will learn in this lesson:

• labials - lips

• dentals - teeth

• tongue

• palate - roof of the mouth

• alveolar ridge - the gums behind your top teeth

If you are not pronouncing a consonant correctly, it's usually because you are not articulating the consonant in the correct location.

Here is a list of the sounds you will learn today:

• Bilabials: /p/ /b/ /m/

• Labiodentals: /f/ /v/

• Interdentals: /θ/ /ð/

• Alveolars: /t/ /d/ /n/ /s/ /z/ /l/ /r/

• Palatals: /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/ /j/

• Velars: /k/ /g/ /ŋ/

Comment below with the sounds that were most difficult and which sounds were easiest for you.

Great work! You are working toward the amazing goal of speaking more clearly.

In this video, we will talk about "manner of articulation", or how we make sounds. It's important to know how to make the sounds of English so you can speak more clearly.

When we learn our first (native) language, we don't have to think about how to create a sound. We just naturally say it. However, as second language learners, you will have to think about how to create certain sounds, because it doesn't always come naturally.

There are six different ways, or manners of articulation, that we will discuss in this video:

1. stop - We build pressure of air and then release it. This is a sudden burst of air. Examples include: /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/

2. fricative - We stop part of the air so it can't come through everywhere. It is a stream of air. /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /h/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /ð/ /θ/

3. affricate - We combine stops and fricatives to form affricates. Examples include: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/.

4. nasal - We close our palate and let air stream through the nose. Examples include: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/

5. liquid - We let air stream on the sides of our tongue. Examples include: /r/ /l/

6. glide - We move our mouth constantly from a articulation to a vowel sound. Examples include: /w/ and /j/

In today's lesson, we will talk about short vowels. These five vowel sounds are essential in English pronunciation. The sounds that we will focus on are as follows:

• /æ/ cat, tap, past, ran

• /ɛ/ bet, test, net, Ben

• /ɪ/ kick, tip, pin, sit

• /ɑ/ top, cot, Don, pop

• /ʌ/ cup, nut, pup, bun

There are rules that will help you know whether a vowel is short or long. If you follow these rules, you will know when a vowel is short or long.

Rule #1:

If there is only one vowel in a single syllable or a monosyllabic word, that vowel is short.

Rule #2

If the vowel is followed by two consonants, even if they are followed by another vowel, the first vowel will be short.

Rule #3

If the vowel comes before the letters "ck", the vowel will be short. If a vowel comes before a "k" by itself, it will be a long vowel.

Rule #4

If the vowel comes before a /dʒ/ sound (like in 'judge') or /tʃ/ sound (like in 'catch'), it will usually be a short sound.

When we get to the practice part of the lesson, repeat these words with me:

/æ/

and, ax, wax, can, man, tag, bag, ran, cap, map, jam, and, band, rat, bat, pat, sat, mad, sad, bad, dad

/ɛ/

egg, leg, sled, step, tent, bed, fed, red, nest, rest, vest, web, get, jet, met, set, pet, pen, ten, men, pen, fell, well, sell

/ɪ/

dig, pig, wig, dip, hip, lip, tin, pin, win, did, hid, kid, lid, milk, silk, swim, list, sit, bit, fit, hit, pit, fill, kill, pill, will

/ɑ/

God, nod, sod, hop, mop, top, pop, plop, dot, got, cot, stop, jot, not, fox, ox, box, mom, mob, rob, sob

/ʌ/

cub, tub, rub, bud, mud, run, sun, cup, pup, buzz, but, putt, nut, bug, dug, hug, mug, tug, cut, gum, jump, pump, dump

In today's lesson, we will talk about long vowels. These five vowel sounds are essential in English pronunciation. The sounds that we will focus on are as follows:

A /eɪ/ say, babe, paid, weight

E /i/ see, need, pea, sing

I /aɪ/ eye, ride, bright

O /oʊ/ row, so, grow, though

U /u/ you, cute, flute, huge

There are rules that will help you know whether a vowel is short or long. If you follow these rules, you will know when a vowel is long.

Rule #1

When a word has two vowels, you usually say the first vowel, and the second vowel is silent.

A - mail, gain

E - hear, near, wheat

I - dial, trial

O - coat, toe

U - fruit, juice

This is not usually true when "I" comes directly before "E". In that case, it sounds like the long "E".

Rule #2

When a vowel and consonant are followed by an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is almost always silent, but it causes the first vowel to be long.

Examples: ate, plane, Pete, like, nine, rope, note, cube, flute.

Rule #3

If a word has one vowel and it comes at the end of the word, that word usually has a long vowel sound.

Examples: he, we, hi, go, no

This is not usually true for an "a" at the end of a word with only one vowel.

Rule #4

'I' or 'O' can be long when they come before two consonants.

Examples: stroll, kind, gold, child

When we get to the practice part of the lesson, repeat these words with me:

A /eɪ/ - mail, gain, bake, ape, paint, gray, nail, main, lay, stay, sail, take, date, pay, fade, wave, way, made

E /i/ - see, seal, hear, beef, wheat, sheep, tea, bee, feel, teen, feet, meal, ear, need, meat, weep, key

I /aɪ/ - hide, bike, dime, lime, vine, wipe, pie, dive, ride, side, chime, cry, dry, wise, pine, sky, child

O /oʊ/ - road, coat, hole, rope, stove, grow, know, show, close, chose, cone, tone, stone, joke, soap

U /u/ - June, true, new, crew, knew, flew, stew, juice, cute, flute, dune, blue, clue, mule, rule, cube

Common Vowels vs. Diphthongs

Common vowel sounds in General American English include:

• /i/ as in eat, meet, living, and busy

• /ɪ/ as in it, kit, sick, and pin

• /ɛ/ as in end, best, dress, and better

• /æ/ as in at, apple, rat, and madder

• /u/ as in pool, dune, soup, and jewel

• /ʊ/ as in book, should, pudding, and put

• /ʌ/ as in but, blood, come, and sun

• /ɔ/ as in bought, daughter, long, and boss

• /ɑ/ as in opera, father, farm, and heart

Other vowels, called diphthongs, are produced by moving your mouth and tongue while you say them.

Common diphthongs in General American English are as follows:

• /eɪ/ as in ate, sleigh, pain, flavor, and say

• /oʊ/ as in toe, grow, go, and goat

• /aɪ/ as in I, tie, cry, lime, light, and eye

• /aʊ/ as in proud, mouse, cow, about, and now

• /oɪ/ as in toy, voice, and noise

For extra study, look at the different ways that these diphthongs can be spelled. Notice how these vowel sounds can be spelled in many different ways.

1) The sound /eɪ/ as in SAY

Spelling "A-consonant(s)-E"

rate – fate – base – place – same – name – take – ache – age – wage – save – change

Spelling "AY"

ray – gray – play – lay – day – may – say

Spelling "EY"

hey – prey – they

Spelling "AI"

rain – main – aim – brain – drain – train – stain – mail

Spelling "EIGH"

weight – weigh – eight – vein

Spelling "EA"

break – great – steak;

2) The sound /aɪ/ as in TIE

Spelling "I-consonant(s)-E"

ride – nice – life – smile – wise

Spelling "I"

I - idea - child – wild – climb

Spelling "IGH"

high – sigh – sign – right

Spelling "IE"

lie – die – tie

Spelling "YE"

dye – rye – bye

Spelling "EYE"

eye

Spelling "UY"

buy – guy

Spelling "Y"

dry – fry – try – style

3) The sound /aʊ/ as in NOW

Spelling "OW"

how – cow – now – owl – brown – crown – crowd – powder – browse

Spelling "OU"

loud – proud – cloud – out – mouse – south – couch - found – ground – sound – count

4) The sound /oɪ/ as in BOY

Spelling "OI"

noise – voice – avoid – join – point – boil

Spelling "OY"

joy – toy – boy – loyal – royal – voyage – oyster

5) The sound /oʊ/ as in NO

Spelling "O-consonant(s)-E"

phone - note – notice – lonely – home – hope

Spelling "O"

go – ago – no – toe – hero – veto – echo – motto - bold - most - both

Spelling "O-consonant(s)-vowel"

solar – total – motor – bonus – focus – vogue – social

Spelling "OA"

road – load – boat – coat – goal – coal – coach – roast – toast

Spelling "OU"

soul – though – although – dough

Spelling "OW"

low – know – show – tow – owe – own – bowl – blow

Common Vowel Sounds in General American English Include:

/i/ as in eat, cheese, free, and busy

/ɪ/ as in it, pin, sick, and lip

/ɛ/ as in end, rest, press, and better

/æ/ as in at, apple, ran, and mad

/u/ as in pool, moon, soup, and do

/ʊ/ as in book, should, foot, and put

/ʌ/ as in but, blood, come, and sun

/ɔ/ as in bought, daughter, long, and boss

/ɑ/ as in opera, pop, farm, and part

/i/ vs. /ɪ/

beat/bit

reach/rich

green/grin

peel/pill

seat/sit

/ɪ/ vs. /ɛ/

sit/set

pin/pen

will/well

litter/letter

bit/bet

/æ/ vs. /ɛ/

and/end

bag/beg

man/men

bat/bet

sand/send

/u/ vs. /ʊ/

food/foot

pool/pull

fool/full

shooed/should

stewed/stood

/ʌ/ vs. /u/

but/boot

hut/hoot

nun/noon

rough/roof

duck/duke

/ɑ/ vs. /æ/

top/tap

pot/pat

hot/hat

cop/cap

rock/rack

/ɔ/ vs. /i/

bought/beat

walk/week

log/league

saw/see

pause/pees

Learning Activity

For this learning activity, we're going to learn that 5 little words can have a big effect on your vowel pronunciation. Practice these 5 words with me as you get faster and faster at pronouncing these sounds clearly.

ball, bell, bill, bowl, bull

This is one of my favorite activities! Did you enjoy it?

Do you know what the most common sound in English is?

Think about it for a minute. What sound do people make more than any other? I'll give you a hint: it's a vowel sound. Is it the short "a" sound? No. What about the long "e" sound? Nope, not that one either. It's actually a vowel sound that isn't actually written as its own letter! It's the schwa sound. "The what?" The schwa. It's the most popular sound in English.

"What is a schwa?" you ask. The schwa is the unstressed "uh" sound in English. Some syllables (parts of words) are stressed (louder, higher, clearer) when spoken, and some syllables are unstressed (softer, lower, less clear). Those unstressed syllables usually change into an "uh" or schwa sound.

It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (in, on, of, about), because those types of words are often unstressed.

Getting the schwa sound right is a good way of making your pronunciation more natural. People who use the schwa sound to sound like native speakers!

Today we will talk about all 24 consonant sounds in English, and you will learn the difference of when something is voiceless and when it's voiced. Follow along with these lists and make sure you are saying these sounds out loud. Practice, practice, practice!

Voiceless sounds are created when the vocal folds are spread apart in the throat, and air from the lungs passes between them freely.

Voiced sounds are created when the vocal folds in the throat are pulled together, and the air from the lungs repeatedly pushed them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect.

One way to check if a sound is voiceless or not is to touch your hand to your throat and see if you feel any vibration in your throat. If there is no vibration, it's voiceless. If there is vibration, it's voiced.

Practice with me as we say these 24 consonant sounds:

Voiceless consonants

• /p/ park

• /t/ town

• /k/ coat

• /f/ fan

• /s/ sip

• /ʃ/sure

• /tʃ/ chicken

• /θ/ thigh

• /h/ hello

Voiced consonants

• /b/ bark

• /d/ down

• /g/ goat

• /v/ van

• /z/ zip

• /ʒ/ treasure

• /dʒ/ Jane

• /ð/ thy

• /m/ mom

• /n/ nap

• /w/ wide

• /l/ love

• /r/ red

• /j/ yellow

• /ŋ/ sing

P and B

/p/ and /b/ are formed by bringing your two lips together and giving a sudden burst of air. /p/ is voiceless, and /b/ is voiced.

Follow along as we practice these /p/ and /b/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. pea/bee

2. pin/bin

3. peg/beg

4. pay/bay

5. park/bark

6. pig/big

7. peas/bees

8. path/bath

9. pug/bug

10. poor/bore

Final Position

1. rope/robe

2. tap/tab

3. lip/lib

4. cop/cob

5. cup/cub

T and D Sounds

/t/ and /d/ are formed by bringing your tongue to your alveolar ridge (above your front teeth) and giving a sudden burst of air. /t/ is voiceless, and /d/ is voiced.

Follow along as we practice these /t/ and /d/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. ten/den

2. tea/D

3. tore/door

4. town/down

5. tie/die

6. tip/dip

7. tart/dart

8. tan/Dan

9. tot/dot

10. tear/dare

Final Position

1. lit/lid

2. cot/cod

3. wrote/road

4. fat/fad

5. feet/feed

F and V Sounds

/f/ and /v/ are formed by bringing your top teeth to the back of your bottom lip and making a stream (continuous flow) of air. /f/ is voiceless, and /v/ is voiced.

Follow along as we practice these /f/ and /v/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. fee/V

2. foul/vowel

3. fan/van

4. fear/veer

5. fine/vine

6. file/vile

7. fail/veil

8. fat/vat

9. feel/veal

10. fast/vast

Final Position

1. surf/serve

2. safe/save

3. life/live

4. grief/grieve

5. belief/believe

K and G Sounds

/k/ and /g/ are formed by bringing the back of your tongue to the back of your mouth (velum or soft palate) and producing a sudden burst of air. /k/ is voiceless, and /g/ is voiced.

Follow along as we practice these /k/ and /g/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. coat/goat

2. cold/gold

3. cot/got

4. cap/gap

5. cage/gauge

6. card/guard

7. coal/goal

8. curl/girl

9. cut/gut

10. Cass/gas

Final Position

1. back/bag

2. luck/lug

3. sack/sag

4. snack/snag

5. jock/jog

/t̬ʃ/ ("CH") and /dʒ/ ("J") Sounds

/t̬ʃ/ ("CH") and /dʒ/ ("J") are formed by bringing the front of your tongue to the alveolar ridge and producing a sudden burst of air. /t̬ʃ/ is voiceless, and /dʒ/ is voiced.

Follow along as we practice these /t̬ʃ/ and /dʒ/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. cheap/Jeep

2. chin/gin

3. choke/joke

4. chump/jump

5. chain/Jane

6. char/jar

7. cheer/jeer

8. Chet/jet

9. choice/Joyce

10. chest/jest

Final Position

1. etch/edge

2. lunch/lunge

3. rich/ridge

4. search/surge

5. H/age

S and Z Sounds

/s/ and /z/ are formed by bringing the sides of your tongue to the inside of your teeth and producing a stream of air. Your tongue should lightly touch your bottom front teeth. /s/ is voiceless, and /z/ is voiced.

Follow along as we practice these /s/ and /z/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. sewn/zone

2. Sue/zoo

3. seal/zeal

4. sit/zit

5. sip/zip

6. see/Z

7. sap/zap

8. sin/zin

Final Position

1. loose/lose

2. device/devise

3. bus/buzz

4. race/raise

5. ice/eyes

6. face/phase

7. niece/knees

L and R Sounds

/l/ and /r/ can be tough sounds for a lot of people! However, you can learn how to pronounce these challenging sounds so that you never say "light" instead of "right" again. They are actually formed very differently.

/l/ is formed by relaxing your lips, and bringing the tip of your tongue to the back of your top teeth, or the bottom of your alveolar ridge. Then when you say the sound, your tongue drops down a little.

/r/ is formed by relaxing your lips, keeping them slightly open. The tip of the tongue curls up towards the roof of your mouth, although it does not touch it. The sides of your tongue should touch the insides of your top teeth.

Follow along as we practice these /l/ and /r/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. light/right

2. lead/read

3. load/road

4. lock/rock

5. lane/rain

6. lip/rip

7. laid/raid

8. lap/rap

9. lows/rose

10. loot/root

Medial Position

1. play/pray

2. blue/bruise

3. clue/cruise

4. clown/crown

5. alive/arrive

M and N Sounds

/m/ is a nasal sound, formed by bringing the lips together and voicing sound.

/n/ is formed similarly to /d/ and /t/. You bring your tongue to your alveolar ridge (above your front teeth). But it's different from /d/ and /t/ because they have a short burst of air, and /n/ is a nasal sound with no burst of air. You actually do not let air pass through.

Follow along as we practice these /m/ and /n/ minimal pairs:

Initial Position

1. mow/know

2. might/knight

3. mere/near

4. me/knee

5. moo/new

6. moon/noon

7. meal/kneel

8. mice/nice

9. mat/gnat

10. mitt/knit

Final Position

1. cam/can

2. dime/dine

3. term/turn

4. some/son

5. am/an

TH Sounds

In English, there are two TH sounds. One is voiceless /θ/, and one is voiced /ð/.

The voiceless and voiced TH sounds are formed in the same way.

/θ/ and /ð/ are pronounced with your tongue between your teeth or even sticking out of your mouth, and you can make sure you pronounce it clearly by putting your finger vertically in front of your lips and checking that it gets wet when you make this sound.

Examples of the voiceless TH sound /θ/ are the initial position of the words:

• thin

• thought

and the final sound in words like:

• bath

• both

Examples of the voiced TH sound /ð/ are:

• these

• the

and the final sound in words like:

• bathe

• clothe

Both phonemes are consistently spelled "th".

The TH sound is a tough one for English learners! It's often confused with the sounds like /t/, /d/, /s/, and /f/. Because those are the common mistakes English learners make, we're going to practice minimal pair sets with /t/, /d/, /s/, and /f/. Get ready for lots of practice!

Repeat after me as we practice minimal pairs for both TH sounds (/θ/ and /ð/) against the /t/ sound:

TH/T

Initial Position

1. thanks/tanks

2. thorn/torn

3. thick/tick

4. then/ten

5. these/tease

6. those/toes

7. than/tan

Final Position

1. both/boat

2. bath/bat

3. path/pat

4. death/debt

Repeat after me as we practice minimal pairs for the voiced TH sound (/ð/) against the /d/ sound:

TH/D

Initial Position

1. they/day

2. thee/D

3. thy/die

4. those/dose

5. their/dare

6. though/dough

7. than/Dan

8. then/den

Repeat after me as we practice minimal pairs for the voiceless TH sound (/θ/) against the /s/ sound:

TH/S

Initial Position

1. think/sink

2. thick/sick

3. thought/sought

4. thing/sing

5. thaw/saw

6. theme/seem

7. thumb/some

8. thin/sin

9. thuds/suds

10. thump/sump

Final Position

1. faith/face

2. fourth/force

3. tenth/tense

4. mouth/mouse

5. math/mass

6. myth/miss

7. path/pass

8. youth/use

9. worth/worse

10. growth/gross

Repeat after me as we practice minimal pairs for the voiceless TH sound (/θ/) against the /f/ sound:

TH/F

Initial Position

1. thin/fin

2. thought/fought

3. think/fink

4. thirst/first

5. three/free

6. throws/froze

7. threat/fret

Final Position

1. death/deaf

2. oath/oaf

TH sounds can be really tricky! However, with enough practice, you can pronounce TH sounds like a native!

The SH sound /ʃ/

When you say the “Sh” sound, your lips are rounded and your tongue is not going to touch anywhere in particular in your mouth. Your tongue is kind of just floating and should not touch up against your teeth. It is a soft sound as if you were trying to tell someone to be quiet.

One sound that SH is frequently confused with is the CH sound. The CH sound is a quick sound. It's a short burst of air, whereas the SH sound is a long stream of air. Example: ship/chip

The SH /ʃ/ sound is a tough one for English learners! It's often confused with the sounds like /s/, /z/, /θ/ (TH), and /tʃ/ (CH). Because those are the common mistakes English learners make, we're going to practice minimal pair sets with /s/, /z/, /θ/ (TH), and /tʃ/ (CH). Get ready for lots of practice!

SH/S

1. show/sew

2. sheet/seat

3. shower/sour

4. shell/sell

5. ship/sip

6. shack/sack

7. shine/sign

8. Shaw/saw

9. shock/sock

10. shell/cell

SH/Z

1. shoe/zoo

2. shed/zed

3. she/Z

4. shack/Zach

5. ship/zip

SH/TH

1. sheaf/thief

2. shorn/thorn

3. shanks/thanks

4. she/thee

5. shy/thy

6. shay/they

7. share/their

8. show/though

SH/CH

1. shoes/choose

2. shop/chop

3. share/chair

4. sheep/cheap

5. shoe/chew

6. ship/chip

W and V Sounds

To correctly pronounce the /w/ sound, form your lips into a small, tight circle. Imagine whistling or blowing out a candle.

Your jaw should be mostly closed to make the sound, but your teeth should not touch. Then you create a voiced sound from your throat and open the circle wider.

Here is a minimal pair list to practice the /w/ and /v/ sounds.

Initial Position

1. wow/vow

2. whale/veil

3. worse/verse

4. west/vest

5. wheeze/V's

6. wet/vet

7. whine/vine

8. Wayne/vein