Michael Jackson Pronunciation Lesson American English

as I am sure you know the world lost an

icon last week when Michael Jackson

passed away the Rachel’s English way of

paying homage to him will be to go over

the pronunciation of some of his most

popular songs but first his name Michael

Jackson in both his first and last names

the first syllable is the stressed

syllable this means will be slightly

higher in pitch and also slightly laundr

Michael Jackson Michael begins with the

M consonant sound and opens into the AI

as in buy diphthong my Kol the second

syllable has the K consonant sound

followed by the dark L sound

of all all Michael Jackson begins with a

consonant sound where the lips round Jim

at the ass as in bat vowel sound

J Michael J the K consonant sound

Michael Jack and finally son the S

consonant sound the schwa and the n

sound son Michael Jackson first the

title track from his most popular album

actually the highest-grossing album ever

thriller thriller begins with a th sound

so the tongue must come through the

teeth thriller it then has the R

consonant sound fur fur so the tongue

has to pull back into the our position

thread the e as in sit vowel sound

thread ler the L consonant sound

followed by the schwa and the R

consonant sound thriller it’s the first

syllable here that is stressed thriller

beat it this title has two T’s in it

however neither of them are pronounced

the way that you may think a tea is

normally pronounced also they’re not

pronounced the same but let’s start at

the beginning beat it

begins with a B so the lips are closed

for that it opens into the EE as in she

vowel sound B now here comes the first T

and it is pronounced as some people call

it a flap T I really think it functions

just like a D B did you see how it comes

up and touches the roof of the mouth and

pulls down without air escaping through

the teeth it begins with the e as in sit

vowel sound

b-day and now the final T is not

pronounced as a T or as a D rather it’s

a stop so the tongue moves into position

for it beat it but then you stop the

sound so you don’t pull it down or let

air come through beat it bad bad has

also the B sound to begin so the lips

are closed over teeth that are slightly

opened back the ass as in bat vowel

sound and finally the D sound bad bad

the tongue moves up but it’s not a

strong sound bad it’s just a very light

release bad black or white another title

beginning with a B black this has the B

followed by the L sound full so full the

tongue is up in position for the L full

as soon as the mouth opens from the B

black the at as in bat vowel sound

followed by the K consonant sound black

now the next word is not pronounced or

because it’s not an important word in

this phrase it’s black or white so it

becomes reduced to simply this sound or

or the R consonant sound

blacker black or white white begins with

the W consonant sound so you can see the

lips have to be in that tight circle why

it opens into the AI as in buy diphthong

white and

ends with the T sound where you do that

air come through your teeth black or

white don’t stop till you get enough

don’t stop taking it enough sorry it’s

just so hard to resist singing them okay

this particular title has several stops

like I’ve talked about it begins don’t

you can see that T is a stop it begins

with the D consonant sound moves in to

the Oh as in no diphthong dou hmm the

tongue then moves up into the n don’t

and you don’t actually release it to

make the T sound

don’t rather you move right into the S

sound for stop the S sound is followed

by the T sound

the T sound stop it opens into the aw as

in father sound followed by you might

think the P but actually it’s another

stop don’t stop till so you don’t let

air out after that P don’t stop till you

move right into the T sound of till

which is followed by the as in sit vowel

sound and the dark L too don’t stop till

you the Y consonant sound followed by

the you as in boo you get the consonant

sound into the as in bed vowel sound

although I think I just said a T get

it’s not pronounced that way when you’re

saying the whole title don’t stop till

you get you see the tongue moves up but

it doesn’t release get enough enough you

move straight into the next vowel which

here is the e as and she or the it as

and sit it sort of depends on how you

pronounce it enough enough

the N consonant sound in the as in

butter sound and finally the F consonant

sound don’t stop when you get enough

don’t

stop till you get enough don’t stop till

you get enough man in the mirror man it

begins with the M consonant sound and

opens into the ass as in that but as

I’ve noted before when the ad as in that

is followed by a nasal consonant that is

M n or n G it is not the pure at is in

bat watch this man so it opens into that

but then it immediately starts making

this a sound as it moves into the nasal

consonant man man in the in the now both

of these words are less important than

man and mirror so they are lower in

pitch and they’re shorter in duration in

so it begins with a very quick a as in

sit then the N consonant sound the th

consonant sound and the schwa in the in

the man in the mirror mirror now this I

know is a difficult word it begins with

the M consonant sound and opens into the

e as and she me but now what’s happening

at the end of the word or were that’s

what can be difficult so the R consonant

sound for Mir or and then you sort of

slide quickly into the schwa and then

back into the R consonant sound it’s

like a second emphasis of the R

consonant sound mirror were were mirror

man in the mirror and finally Michaels

number one most popular song of all time

Billie Jean Billie Jean begins with the

B consonant sound big it opens into the

e as in sit vowel big Billie it moves

into the dark L all whole bill-e the EE

as in she sound Billy so note that it is

the first syllable that stressed the

Jeanne begins with it Jim as in jar

consonant sound the e as machine and the

N consonant sound Billie Jean Billie

Jean well we’ve lost a great artist but

luckily not his music