Today’s video is the third installment of a series of videos about pronunciation that I am making for my students and YouTube viewers. In the first video we went over the Alphabet and the names of the letters that you are familiar with. The second video discussed the vowels and the use of the Color Vowel Chart. This video will focus on the Consonants, and the sounds they make. The most important part of today’s’ lesson is to remember that the “names” of the letters, ARE NOT the sounds they make. Today, we will practice the sounds. If you study the sounds of English then you will be able to improve your fluency by mastering STRESS and LINKING – 2 important components to sounding like a native speaker, and being understood by native speakers. So, let’s get started, and take a look at how to produce the consonant sounds of the English language.
Aa
Bb
• [b] “Boss; baby”
Cc
• [k] “Cold; Contract;”
• [s] “Center; Race”
Dd
• [d] “Dog; Dad”
Ee
Ff
• [f] “Four; Off,”
Gg
• [g] “Go; Big”
Hh
• [h] “Hat; House”
• [h] sounds always come at the beginning of a word, but sometimes the letter is silent as in “Herbs” (AMER); The “h” accompanies many other letters, creating new sounds: -ph, -gh, -th. Watch my next video for these pronunciations.
Ii
Jj
• [j] “John; Enjoy, Huge”
• “G” is sometimes [j]
Kk
• [k] “Kick; Cake; Unique”
Ll
• [l] “Love; Tall”
Mm
• [m] “Mother; Some”
Nn
• [n] “No; On”
Oo
Pp
• [p] “Pretty; Stop”
Qq
• [kw] “Queen; Quiz”
Rr
• [r] “Red; Four”
Ss
• [s] “Yes; First; Last”
Tt
• [t] “Two; Soft”
Uu
Vv
• [v] “Voice; Move”
Ww
• [w] “We; Wow”
• [w] “Who, What; Where; When; Why
Xx
• [ks] “Box; Exciting”
Yy
• [Y] “Fly” (as a vowel)
• [y] “You, Boy”
Zz
• [z] “Zero; Crazy”
Thank you for watching! If you would like more information about classes with me, please send an email to [email protected]! Have a great day!