English Pronunciation Mistakes to Avoid Improve English Speaking

hi everybody welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is Alicia and in

today’s live lesson I’m going to talk

about English pronunciation tips so I

have chosen some common pronunciation

mistakes that I hear from students I’m

going to talk about those mistakes show

you some example words and then try to

give some tips about how to practice

and/or fix these mistakes there’s a lot

to talk about today and for this lesson

of course I can’t see everybody and tell

you when your pronunciation is correct

or not but I hope that these can help

you at home as you practice with media

and with your speaking partners so we’re

going to begin shortly

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this week

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hello okay great so we’ll begin the

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today’s topic is English pronunciation

I’m going to talk about some English

pronunciation mistakes and hopefully

some ways to fix those or at least to

practice fixing those so if you’re

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stream okay so with the announcements

out of the way let’s get started on

today’s topic today’s topic I have kind

of separated into roughly three groups

sort of there’s a lot to explain so I’m

going to try to introduce some

vocabulary words I hope can help you

with pronunciation one big point all of

today’s pronunciation points are

American English focused so I am an

American English speaker I’m going to

talk about American English

pronunciation I’m not going to talk

about British English pronunciation so

please try to remember that today there

might be some differences depending on

the region of the world that the English

is spoken in this is going to be

American

focused so with that said let’s get

started I want to begin over here with

this point so some of these are kind of

like verses points so in this case my

first verses is the th sound versus the

s sound so th verses s so let’s start I

want to start by talking about this th

sound so we have two kinds of th sounds

actually the first one is this this

example these are three example where

it’s here like think and teeth and bath

so when we make these sounds it’s like

our tongue comes kind of between our

teeth a little bit think and teeth and

bath so that motion of the tongue being

between the teeth is a bit stronger then

you’ll hear with these words so the

second type of th sound is a similar

sound but your tongue is just pressed

against the back of your teeth it

doesn’t come between the teeth so some

examples of this are this that these

those so the tongue doesn’t come between

the teeth it stays against the back of

your teeth so this is kind of a key a

key pronunciation mistake or one that I

noticed people have difficulty with

because mispronouncing this th sound

right here in these words in the first

group can sound like these words which

use an S sound so for example people who

have trouble making the th sound that

first sound make an S sound a lot of the

time instead of think they say sink sink

it’s a sound which is incorrect you need

to make sure to practice making that

sound so to practice this sound how

should I do this I should I go to this

camera I don’t know to practice this

sound this is gonna be funny you have to

practice this sound and to do this you

need to put your tongue okay

over here okay okay hi I’ll go to this

camera that’s twice your color sorry

sorry is that better

okay is it okay alright so to practice

this daddy should put your tongue

between your teeth it’s hard to see on

the big camera are they gonna see that

yeah so we’ll go to yeah hey welcome to

camera two okay to do this to make this

down you want to put your tongue between

your teeth like this and then make the

sound so practice this like try it right

now if you haven’t ever practiced this

before actually if you laughed like many

of my students actually laugh when I

tell them to do this because it feels

really strange if you’re not used to

doing it like that the sound but that’s

correct that’s the sound that you should

make so lots of my students laugh when I

tell them this but I’ll stop them in

lessons just to get them to practice

making this sound because it does feel

strange it’s like the first time you

ride a bicycle you know it feels totally

weird because it’s not something you’re

used to doing but you need to practice

doing that okay we’ll come back to this

one so try that to practice this th

sound that think teeth bath sound to

make that sound quite clearly so that

when you make this sound think we don’t

mistake it for its ink in this case or

here teeth if you don’t pronounce this

th sound in teeth it can sound like

piece or something similar bath can

sound like bus which is also a vowel

related problem okay so when you’ve

practiced this sound this kind of

stronger th sound with the tongue

between the teeth a bit more you can

kind of like a level down the intensity

sort of when you make this one this that

these those it’s the same tongue

position but your tongue doesn’t come

between your teeth it’s just against the

back of your teeth so this that these

those if you don’t pronounce this sound

correctly it could make like another s

sound though not quite as strong so like

to compare an S sound is much much like

it has like

Hisss almost so it’s like sister or sat

or see or so so that’s quite different

from a this or that or these or those so

practice making that th sound this first

type first I would recommend start here

and then kind of like as you relax into

making that sound clearly you can work

on making this sound faster and faster

so I know that this is hard many of you

have said this is hard to say like in

quick speech just try to practice okay

good

if you have any questions let me know

though today is going to be kind of lots

of practice anything okay so that’s the

first pair I want to talk about the

second pair I want to talk about for

today is it’s in today’s lesson

thumbnail actually it’s this oops

me versus s that’s very creative me

versus V V versus V is the second versus

I want to talk about today so uh first

let’s take a look at this V sound so the

B sound it’s a sound we make we put our

lips together and curl them in so mmm

it’s it’s like you’re curling your lips

inward and then you release it to make

the B sound but but so example words to

practice are like back big ball black

big Batman so you can use these but

these strong starting B sounds to

practice making that sound so the common

mistake that I hear with these B and V

sounds is not with BB seems to be like

okay in terms of making the sound but

when we try to separate it from a V

sound is where it gets difficult so

that’s why I wanted to introduce the B

sound first so when you make the V sound

then you should not use the same mouth

position as a B sound when you make the

V sound maybe

go to the second camera again for this

one when you make the V sound it should

your teeth will go to the second camera

I think is it okay right there

okay cool thank you so when you make

this sound your teeth should be resting

on top of your lower lip so it’s a butt

so when we make the B sound both like

your top lip and your your bottom lip

are together curled together but but

when you make a V sound your teeth are

on top of your lower lip

so example words you can use to practice

this or like vegetable or vegan or

Valley or Velociraptor or very so making

that V sound you don’t need to make the

same mouth shape as a bees down so when

I hear students say like video instead

of video that’s like that’s a really

great example of a mistake so we’ll go

back to the first camera thank you okay

so be sound and V sound quite different

so practice that position making the

sound so try to do that one webcam is

ugly okay got it

Thanks control desk okay alright so but

and the that’s the second point

alright then I want to focus lastly on

this first group on a mistake of

omission omission means you forget to do

something or you do not do something

this is a mistake of omission in

pronunciation yes it’s a pronunciation

issue something we forget to pronounce

but it’s related to grammar knowledge as

well so these two examples are the sound

and the death sound so by this I mean

the left sound in a pattern like I’ve

like I’ve been to France I’ve never

eaten ramen I’ve really had fun today

this sound so people forget to make the

sound I’ve I’ve we forget sometimes or

learners forget sometimes and say I

never and that’s not correct so it’s a

grammatical problem and it’s a

pronunciation related problem the two

are closely connected here so I’ve I’ve

I’ve so that same the position we talked

about here look we can use here it’s

just quicker and shorter I’ve I’ve the

same problem I here with this D sound

so this apostrophe this relates to I for

example I’d like a drink I’d like some

help for example I I’d so this is I

would the contracted their reduced form

I would like something right so please

don’t forget this one this is a mistake

relating to grammar but that will affect

your speech as well so I would I

oh right I think it’s time for a break

do we have stuff to show today as always

we have free stuff for you guys I think

thank you as always we’ve got lots and

lots of free stuff in the link below the

video

ah YouTube check the link in the

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a video on Facebook if you’re watching

on Instagram please check the link from

YouTube or from Facebook um so today

we’re talking about pronunciation but

I’ve noticed that when you are traveling

or you are working or in a situation

with people who are not used to dealing

with like second language learners it

can be extra difficult to communicate if

your pronunciation is not like

spectacular so let’s take a look a

couple of situations where it can be a

really good idea to have good extra good

pronunciation we’ll go back over here is

when you are eating at a restaurant so

when you’re eating at a restaurant like

I just said actually

there are back here there are some

situations where good pronunciation can

be important when you’re ordering for

example where’s a good one where is it

ah

so when you’re ordering for example up

here data so like I can or I can’t eat

or drink that tea sound is important

here or when you’re asking for something

I would like for example that’s another

situation where your pronunciation is

important or maybe this one this key

word here it’s raw that could be an

issue anyway this is a situation where

having good pronunciation could be quite

important when you’re at a restaurant so

you can get this this is a free PDF with

vocabulary words and expressions you can

use at restaurants this is for free as

are all of these other ones I’ll show

some other ones a bit later too so these

are all for free on the website there

they are all of them of control desk is

showing them to you now

so check these out please you can

download these for free

you need an account on the website but

the account is free so please check

those out you can grab all of them at

one time not just one everything you

know ok so if you’re just joining us

today today’s topic is English

pronunciation tips so I covered the th

and the S sound B and V sounds and this

end sound already so now I want to move

on to the next group and as you’re just

joining don’t forget to like the video

it’s very helpful ok let’s go on to the

second group or the second part of

today’s lesson which is one of the

biggest pronunciation mistakes

I hear L verses are the L sound versus

the R sound so I know in many languages

there are no like equivalents we don’t

have the exact same sound for the

English

and the English are sound so today I

want to introduce some words that can

help you practice and help you kind of

like understand how to make this sounds

better so let’s begin with an L sound so

first a couple example words I’ve paired

these together first with L there’s lái

lái and lip so these all begin with that

L sound lai lai and lip so these are

commonly confused for example with our

sounds like Wray Wray and rip these are

all real words

so pronunciation can really affect your

understanding of a conversation or the

listeners understanding of a

conversation okay so when you’re making

the L sound if you want to kind of find

the mouth position you need to use for

that L sound it’s a it’s kind of a tall

feeling in the back of your mouth and

when you make the lip sound your tongue

briefly touches the top of your mouth

look like the back of your teeth the top

row of your teeth the back of them your

tongue briefly touches that look so and

then it quickly moves away so I touch

the top of my teeth and then move it

away quickly look to make that L sound

so to practice this yeah lai lai lip

love fly lice so there are lots of

starting L sounds that you can use to

practice this but as I said a lot of the

time this sound is quite difficult and

as a result students make this error

sound so R this is one of the kind of

the more difficult sounds to make I

think so when we make the R sound the

tongue is not touching any part of the

mouth so the tongue is just like is

pointing up the tip of the tongue is

pointing up in the mouth and then the

back of the throat kind of tightens as

we release our voice so

ar-ar-ar so my tongue doesn’t touch

anything it’s just like hanging out in

space in my mouth

are are so don’t let your tongue touch

anything in your mouth when you make the

r' sound fernando says what do ray and

dry mean ray is like a ray of sunshine a

beam of sunlight and rai is a type of

flower or a type of bread for reference

so a little extra vocabulary um excuse

me so our our does not touch anything in

your mouth the our sound el does when

you make the L sound your tongue touches

the top of your mouth the roof of your

mouth L yeah so many people have trouble

with L sounds and our sound someone said

can you do a quick review for

pronunciation if you missed the

beginning part of this lesson you can

watch it back this video is being

recorded so if you missed these parts

don’t worry you can watch the video

later on YouTube or Facebook

okay so time’s going quickly so I’m

going to go to the next one the next

point I want to talk about is er endings

so I talked about this R sound this

basic R sound but when we put it at the

end of a word

I noticed sometimes students make an O

sound instead of an ER sound so some

examples are player and computer earth

so it’s again that Earth sound not

player or computer which I sometimes

hear again this is for American English

computer player junior says corridor

corridor that’s how you pronounce

corridor yes this is live why do you how

do you pronounce butterfly that’s how a

butterfly I say butterfly so er sounds

other common ones are like a father or

bigger so this is a great point right

here this word bigger in your

comparative forms bigger

warmer smaller these ends with E are

sounds so don’t make it an O sound but

an ER sound bigger smaller faster cuz

okay some of you are sending just vowel

sounds into the chat I can’t answer that

because it depends on the word so a you

in one word might not sound the same as

a you in another word I’ll talk a little

bit about vowels at the end of today’s

lesson but please keep in mind that one

vowel sound does not make like one vowel

does not equal exactly the same sound

everywhere okay let’s move along then I

guess we’ll take one more break and then

yeah

okie dokie we’ll take one more break and

then we’ll continue to the last group of

points vowels I’ll talk a little bit

about that though that’s a really tricky

topic to do in this kind of lesson so

Donna let’s look at some other free

things what sounds interesting to talk

about now not that guy we’ll talk about

something else for oh this is a good one

oh my god this is such a good one for

this topic singing in English oh man

like I don’t know if people like cuddle

or karaoke as we say in English but when

you if you like music and you like

singing I’ll go this camera if you like

music and you like singing and your

pronunciation is not very good when

you’re trying to sing along to your

favorite song it can sound really really

strange so these are some words related

to singing these are not specifically

like ways to improve your singing we

unfortunately can’t help with that but

if you’re interested in music and you

like music and you like singing along to

English songs these are some vocabulary

words and some phrases that may help you

to do that so like right here we’ve

talked about it on this channel before

but how to talk about your favorite

singer

for example or your favorite song so I

like this song

that’s a great example of when to use

that s sound instead of the th sound so

check this out

this is another free thing on the

website you can download right now okay

right now I’m sorry okay

let’s finish today’s lesson then with as

I mentioned some vowel related issues

some vowel problems so it’s a bit tricky

to to talk about all vowel sounds in a

lesson like this but I want to share a

couple vowel sounds you can practice

yourself these are again these are from

mistakes that I’ve heard students make

students make these mistakes in my

lesson and I have trouble understanding

and we have to practice together so

let’s look at this first pair this first

pair is crash and crush crash and crush

so crash is like a car crash two things

or more coming together like in an

accident

crash to crash then crush is the other

one to crush something means like to

violently destroy something like to

crush a can for example to crush so the

difference here is this vowel sound

crash and crush so the a sound has a

really tall feel to it crash is wide

later sorry it’s quite tall that was the

word quite tall crash but crush uses a

really low

you sound so it’s like your jaw this

part is called your job right here we

drop that a bit crush to crush something

this gets even more complicated with a

word like class two like crash class

clash so making this our sound is also

quite important so like

clash is also a word to clash means to

have a verbal argument of words argument

not actual fighting necessarily to clash

so this is a great example of a

pronunciation pair for vowels and for

this L&R sound let’s look at one more

pair that focuses on a different vowel

problem this is work focusing here work

and walk work and walk so this is

another one my students really struggled

with work so this is it oh yes this is

an O but the pronunciation here is the

same as the word word work if I were you

it’s the same sound were here walk this

has that same tall L sound

walk walk let’s walk in the park I need

to take a walk so walk and work quite

different so a great way to practice

this is with the sentence I walk to work

I walk to work so really practice making

those sounds clearly and distinct from

one another walk and work Oh someone

else has a nice pair cup cap and cop

I’ll add that here bonus one cup cap ah

so vowel practice cup cap cop so that

low you sound I talked about here with

crush cup the tall a sound cap and then

cop so this is kind of kind of a wide Oh

sound cop cop so these are great ways

great kind of pairs or groups that you

can use to practice pronunciation okay

let’s move along then because times go

in quickly let’s go on then we’ve talked

about this point a few times in live

streams and in lessons this is Eadie

endings I want to review these easy

vowel sound and

the Spelling’s end in edy but there are

three different sounds we make so to

review they are this eid sound a sound

and a sound so let’s take a look at some

words that use these so let’s start with

this in sound an example wanted or

pleaded so these words they end in an e

d sound yes

but they have like this Eid Eid thing so

it’s not an IDI one Ted pleaded but one

did plea did it’s an ID ending this one

so that’s the first type the second type

as I said is this T sound

so examples of these are walked and

talked so again the ending is an IDI

sound but we make a sound I walked to

the park I talked to her yesterday

so again IDI ending a second type a

third type then here is this D sound so

a great example is like breathe breathe

or side side breathe or side so it’s a

soft D sound so we have this in and a

dip sound so one spelling yes but three

different types of pronunciation okay

good umm then finally to finish today

because we’re out of time

ah there are lots of other things we

could talk about up and thank you for

all of these like questions about

pronunciation these are some just very

common mistakes I’ve noticed if you

really want to practice some difficult

pairs one of my favorites to practice is

elegant versus arrogant

this is a great one to practice because

it pairs vowel pronunciation with this L

and our pronunciation elegant so here we

need to focus on this L sound here we

have an R sound arrogant arrogant

elegant and arrogant this is a great

pair I’m like to really challenge

yourself with your clear pronunciation

and another good one is the word brewery

brewery this is a really tough word

brewery this is a place where like beer

is made like the factory where beer is

made a brewery this is a great word for

this our pronunciation along with some

kind of tough foul pronunciation in the

middle okay someone says they can’t see

the live stream on YouTube would no I

don’t see any friends with the YouTube

yet alright but that’s a quick

introduction to some common some common

pronunciation related problems I know

that that’s not everything and thank you

for your questions maybe we can do

another pronunciation stream in the

future but as I talked about with

especially with this th sound and with

this V sound try to actually practice

that mouth position so again to review

the th sound to practice that first type

your tongue goes between your teeth but

the think teeth bath sound and with V we

should put the teeth on top of our lower

lip okay so I have to finish up there

but thank you as always to everybody for

joining us on Facebook and YouTube and

on Instagram fantastic if you missed

this live stream don’t worry the video

has been recorded you can watch it on

YouTube and on Facebook and you can get

the behind-the-scenes view on Instagram

if you like we’re going to be back next

week we’re gonna be back next week

August 29th that is Wednesday 10:00 p.m.

stern standard time we’re going to

practice leveling up your adjectives so

for this I want to the goal for this

lesson next week’s lesson is to give

some like better more specific

adjectives I’m going to talk about us

like a specific tool you can use to

called adjectives wheels so we’ll talk

about how to go from saying like good or

bad or sad or happy to something more

specific so how to level up your

adjectives a bit I’m going to focus

specifically on like emotions and maybe

like tastes and smells I think we’ll see

okay so we’ll finish there for today

thank you as always for joining us thank

you for liking and sharing the video we

really appreciate it and thank you very

much for all of your comments in the

chat too so please make sure to check

out the free stuff that’s on the website

of the link below or above the video on

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there for today so thank you as always

for watching enjoy the rest of your day

or your week or your night or whatever

and we will see you again next time bye

bye

you