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