How to Answer the Phone American English Pronunciation 1 of 2

today I’m going to go over vocabulary

for answering the phone when I’ve lived

abroad for me it’s been one of the most

intimidating things to answer the phone

and to speak on the phone because of

course you don’t have the benefit of

seeing the person’s mouth seeing their

face and having all that communication

that happens without the voice so let’s

start with the most common way to answer

phone in the United States hello

you can see the voice goes up hello this

is because we’re asking a question

inviting the person to say the next

thing hello

so simply the word hello has the H

consonant sound the EH as in bed vowel

sound had the light L and the O as a no

hello hello

although simply saying hello is the most

common greeting you might sometimes do

something different especially at work

for example if your desk phone is

ringing you might answer the phone this

is Rachel and just say this is and then

your name this is Rachel so this is the

th is voiced so you make sound with your

vocal cords it is then the e as in sit

vowel the and the unvoiced S sound this

for the word is you have the it isn’t it

and here the S is voiced so it is the Z

sound is this is this is Rachel another

important thing you might do when

answering the phone is to say how can I

help you this is Rachel how can I help

you how begins with the H consonant

sound and has the ow as in now diphthong

how now the word can hear how can I help

you

is not as important as help and so can

in this case gets reduced to connect in

the K sound squish together with the N

consonant sound without ah the ass as in

bat sound how can how can

i with the AI as in buy diphthong how

can I help help begins with the H

consonant sound and has the air as in

bed vowel sound hair all it then has the

dark L sound all all and the P sound how

can I help how can I help you you has

the Y consonant sound you get any you as

a move L sound you so it is the U as in

few diphthong how can I help you now

let’s notice here the words I said can

is reduced and help is important how can

I help you how can I help you

perhaps you’ve answered the phone

without giving your name just by simply

saying hello and the person has asked

for you is Rachel there then you want to

let that person know that it’s you

that’s speaking for that you can say

this is she or this is he it begins just

like this is Rachel but instead of your

name you would say she or he this is she

this is he also sometimes you might just

say speaking that is to say this is me

speaking but it gets shortened adjust

into the word speaking is Rachel they’re

speaking speaking begins with the

unvoiced s consonant sound it has the P

consonant sound

the e as in she vowel sound speed the K

sound speak and the it as and sit with

the ng sound in in speaking maybe the

person on the other end of the line has

asked not for you but for someone you

live with or work with that you can go

get and let them know someone’s calling

then you can say hold on or yes hold on

hold on has the H consonant sound and

the Oh as in no diphthong it’s followed

by the L which is coming at the end of

the syllable here so it is a dark L that

means that the Oh as in no diphthong is

not ho but whole so the lip position is

a little different as it is moving into

the dark L hold on hold on the D

consonant sound the OO as in father

sound and the n sound now the D constant

sound is really linked here to the AH as

in father sound even though it’s the

next word hold on done as it is one part

of one idea yes hold on or hold on it

also would be very appropriate to go

ahead and add the please hold on please

please has the consonant sound the light

L pull pull yes and she plea plea and

the Z consonant sound please hold on

please