Pronunciation Practice Difficult Vowel Sounds DIPHTHONGS
Well hey there this is Emma from mmmEnglish,
coming at you with another natural
English pronunciation lesson.
Now for English learners who want to sound natural,
vowels cause headaches.
With just five vowel letters in the English alphabet,
there are twenty different vowel sounds
used in spoken English.
So today I want to focus on three of the most common
diphthong vowel sounds.
as in ‘say’
as in ‘boy’ and
as in ‘bike’.
And if you’re wondering what the heck a diphthong is,
don’t go anywhere, I’ll explain it all for you in just a sec.
Before we get started today, a quick reminder
to turn on the subtitles just down there if you need to
and if you feel like being an absolute champion today,
help me to translate this video into your native language
so that other people in your country
can learn and watch it too.
That would be truly spectacular and not to mention,
really great English practice for you.
So what the heck is a diphthong?
It’s a complicated word that you will probably
never really need to use yourself
but a diphthong is a type of vowel sound
and there are two types of vowels, monophthong,
that’s like
They’re short and singular sounds.
But diphthongs are a little different because they are a
single vowel sound that actually combines
two vowel sounds together in the same syllable.
In diphthongs, the first sound is stronger
than the second one
but it’s important that both sounds are made together
in the same syllable.
Now the reason why this is important for you is because
many of you are Italian,
Greek, Thai, Spanish, Vietnamese
and you don’t actually have this type of vowel sound
in your native language so it’s a completely new sound
that you need to learn.
And for that reason, it’s really common
for many of you to mispronounce diphthongs
and only use the first sound.
So if you’re only using one sound, then the vowel sound
that you’re making is wrong but that’s exactly
what you’re doing here, right?
We’re going to practise diphthong sounds together
and we’ll focus on three of the most common ones.
Now there’s actually eight diphthongs
in British and Australian English,
there’s only five in American English,
but we’re going to practise them
together in this lesson today.
Let’s start with
like in ‘say’.
Now this sound is made with the
and the
vowel sound pushed together so it’s
as in ‘egg’ and the
as in ‘sheep’ vowel sounds.
Now check it out, notice how my mouth moves
between those two sounds.
So when you’re making a diphthong sound,
your mouth needs to move while you are making
this sound. For this one, it’s
Right?
Are you ready to practise together?
Day.
Play.
Came.
Take.
Straight.
Complain.
Translation.
Imagination.
Ready for this?
It’s a shame I’m not able to name everyone
on the plane.
It’s a shame I’m not able to name everyone
on the plane.
It’s a shame I’m not able to name everyone
on the plane.
Let’s try
as in ‘boy’. Now this sound is made from the
and
vowel sounds
like in ‘bought, and
like in ‘sheep’.
like in ‘boy’.
Again, notice how quickly my mouth moves
between these sounds.
to make one sound.
The diphthong sound.
Practise with me.
Toy.
Employ.
Noise.
Join.
Avoid.
Annoy.
Oil.
Alright, let’s try this one together.
Avoid those annoying boys and their noisy toys.
Avoid those annoying boys and their noisy toys.
Avoid those annoying boys and their noisy toys.
Okay number three.
like in ‘bike’
Now this sound is the
and the
vowel sounds together.
like ‘cat’.
Ready?
So again, notice how quickly your mouth
moves to make that sound squish together
into one sound.
Two sounds into one sound.
Practise with me.
Hike.
Eye.
Child.
Style.
Spy.
Cycle.
Inspire.
Require.
Admire.
Delight.
So all together now, let’s go.
The child admired the cyclist in delight.
The child admired the cyclist in delight.
The child admired the cyclist in delight.
Great stuff!
So now that your mouth is
warmed up and ready to practise, we’re going to
step things up a bit, okay?
The next sentences that you see are going to be
combinations of those sounds
so I want you to watch and listen and then repeat.
Don’t leave me hanging, all right? This is
practice for you, not for me.
First one.
As a child, I used to ride my bike and play outside all day
As a child, I used to ride my bike and play outside all day
They say her style is inspired by her wild imagination.
They say her style is inspired by her wild imagination.
We couldn’t avoid the crazy weather, so we
stayed inside and admired the rain.
We couldn’t avoid the crazy weather, so we
stayed inside and admired the rain.
What a workout! Nice work to you!
Your tongue and your mouth must be feeling
a little exhausted after all of that so if you feel like
you need to take a little break, fine,
but make sure you come back to this lesson tomorrow
and the next day and practise again and again.
It’s just like doing sit-ups or push-ups at the gym.
Each time you do it, it will get a little easier
and then you’ll start making these sounds
more naturally yourself as you speak.
So I hope that you enjoyed this lesson. If you did,
please give it a like and write me a comment below.
Subscribe just down here if you haven’t already.
I make new English lessons here every week
and I would love to have you visit more frequently.
To keep working on your English pronunciation,
then check out these lessons right here.
They’re going to be really helpful for you!
I’ll see you in there!