English Pronunciation Test
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to test your pronunciation?
Let’s talk about it.
Do you have good pronunciation?
How do you know?
The best way to test your pronunciation is
to speak with someone else and see if they
can understand you, because understanding
is the purpose of pronunciation and of speaking.
But unfortunately here on YouTube, I can’t
listen to you.
Maybe YouTube will create that technology
someday in the future.
So for now, I’d like to give you a different
type of pronunciation test.
The next best way to test your pronunciation
is to shadow or imitate exactly after a native
speaker so that you can see if your pronunciation
is similar to mine.
Is it different?
What are the specific areas that are difficult
for you?
I’m going to be testing your pronunciation
on 16 challenging words, but the best way
to test your pronunciation is not with individual
words, but with a whole sentence.
So this is what we’re going to do.
I’m going to show you a challenge sentence
that uses four difficult words, and this is
what I want you to do.
I want you to say that sentence out loud before
I talk about anything.
This is your original pronunciation.
I want you to hear your original pronunciation.
Then I’m going to read that sentence, but
I’m going to mispronounce one word.
I want you to guess which word is mispronounced.
There are sometimes multiple ways to pronounce
each word, but I want you to be listening
for what is the most natural way to pronounce
each word in fast English.
Finally, I’m going to be saying the sentence
correctly and I want you to be able to say
it with me, so I want you to repeat the correct
sentence with me.
Are you ready to get started with sentence
number one?
Let’s do it.
This is sentence number one.
I want you to say this sentence all by yourself.
Test your original pronunciation.
Go ahead.
Say it out loud.
Okay.
Now I’m going to say the sentence and I’m
going to mispronounce one word.
Can you guess which word I mispronounce?
I buy cloth-es through the internet.
I buy cloth-es through the internet.
Which word did I say incorrectly?
Did you hear clothes or cloth-es?
You heard the second one, but really that’s
not correct.
Instead, when we speak in fast English, we
often pronounce clothes a lot like close the
door.
I buy clothes through the internet.
All right, let’s go through each of these
challenging words and I want to help you say
them correctly.
That first word, buy.
Buy.
It sounds exactly like bye, see you later.
Buy.
Then we have clothes, which I mentioned sounds
a lot like close the door.
Close the door.
When native speakers are speaking a little
bit slower, they might add a Th sound.
Clothes.
Clothes.
You see how my tongue comes out a little bit
for that Th, clothes, but really when we’re
speaking quickly, it just sounds like close.
Close.
Then we have the word through.
Oh, this word is lovely.
We have a Th followed by an R. let’s practice
it slowly.
Your tongue is coming out between your teeth
and there’s some air.
That’s a wonderful Th sound.
Through.
It sounds like I threw the ball.
This is the past tense of throw.
I threw the ball.
So let’s try to say this.
Through.
Through.
Then we have our final word, innernet.
What’s happening to that middle T?
Innernet?
You can say internet with a clear T if you’re
speaking a little bit slower, but when native
speakers are speaking quickly, we’re going
to cut out that T completely and just say
innernet.
Innernet.
Let’s go back and try and say this full sentence
clearly and naturally together.
Are you ready?
I buy clothes through the internet.
I buy clothes through the internet.
Were you repeating with me?
I hope so because we’ve got three more challenge
sentences and I want you to test your pronunciation.
Let’s go to number two.
Here’s sentence number two.
I’m going to pause and I want you to try to
say this sentence all by yourself.
Test your original pronunciation.
Go ahead.
Okay.
Now I’m going to say it, but I’m going to
mispronounce one word.
Can you guess which word is incorrect?
A little girl took the recept to the bus.
The little girl took the recept to the bus.
Which word is wrong?
Did you hear receipt or recept?
You heard number two but that’s not correct.
Instead the P is silent, so you’re going to
say receipt.
Receipt.
Just completely forget about that P in there.
All right, let’s go through each of these
challenging words because I want to make sure
that you can pronounce them correctly.
The first one is liddle.
Liddle.
Do you see there’s two T’s in the middle of
this word, but really in American English,
those T’s are going to become D sounds, so
it’s going to sound like lid-le. Liddle.
Like a lid that you put on a container.
Liddle.
Then we have girl.
A lot of these words, girl, world, early.
Those words can be a little bit tricky.
So let’s break this one down.
Gir-l.
Gir-l.
When you want to talk about the sound that
an angry dog makes, you could say grr, grr,
and then we’re going to add L at the end.
Girl, girl, girl.
Notice that my mouth isn’t really moving here.
It’s all inside my mouth and in my throat.
Girl, girl.
With the L, my tongue is coming beside my
teeth.
Girl.
It’s right there.
Girl.
Girl.
All right, and the next word is receipt.
Receipt.
Receipt.
Re-ceipt.
This is the piece of paper that you get after
you make a purchase.
The cashier will give you a receipt.
Then our final word is bus.
Sometimes the short U sound can be a little
bit tricky, so I want to make sure you’re
not saying buss, boss, a boss.
Make sure you say uh.
Bus.
Bus.
Bus.
All right, let’s go back and say this full
sentence together.
The little girl took the receipt to the bus.
The liddle girl took the receipt to the bus.
Did you say that with me?
Let’s say it one more time.
The little girl took the receipt to the bus.
Great work.
Let’s go on to the next challenge sentence.
All right, here’s sentence number three.
I want you to say it all by yourself.
Are you ready?
Test your original pronunciation.
Go ahead.
Okay, now it’s my turn.
I’m going to mispronounce one word.
Listen carefully.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
Which one of these challenge words did I mispronounce?
Did you hear warm or warm?
You heard that second one, but that’s not
correct.
Instead, the word warm has just one syllable,
not warm.
Instead, warm.
Warm.
Notice how my lips are in an O shape.
Warm.
Warm, with a clear R. Warm.
All right, let’s go through each of these
challenge words so that you can say them correctly.
The first one is early.
This is similar to what we talked about with
girl.
Ear-ly.
Let’s break it into two sections.
Er.
Er.
Then, lee. Lee.
Early.
Make sure that when you say the L your tongue
is touching the back of your teeth.
L, L, Lee.
Early, early.
Don’t add another sound in there.
I often hear English learners say early, er
a lee, but that a in the middle isn’t natural,
so let’s make sure you say er lee and put
it together.
Early.
Next we say winner.
What is happening to the T in the middle of
this word?
You might hear native speakers say winter
with a clear T if they’re enunciating clearly
and maybe speaking a little slowly.
It’s fine to do that, but when native speakers
speak fast, you’re going to hear winner, winner.
When’s the winner Olympics?
Winner.
This is the same as a winner and a loser.
It’s the same pronunciation, so make sure
that the context helps you to know which word
it is.
Does this sound familiar?
Innernet.
Winner.
Yeah, we’re cutting out that T especially
when there’s an NT in the middle of a word,
internet, innernet, winter, winner.
You’re going to hear that a lot in fast English.
Next we have the word didn’t.
Didn’t, but this is the clear pronunciation.
When native speakers are speaking quickly,
we do not say didn’t with each sound pronounced.
Instead you’re going to hear di n.
There’s a lot going on here in your throat.
Di n.
Di n.
So that final D is cut short and the final
T as well is cut, so it’s really going to
be just your throat.
Can you say that with me?
Di n.
Di n.
Didn’t, didn’t, didn’t, didn’t.
If you have trouble pronouncing or a hearing
or understanding contractions, it’s probably
because we cut off a lot of those sounds.
We reduce them.
That’s something that’s natural in English.
I made a video about how to pronounce 81 different
contractions.
You can check it out up here because this
happens to a lot of different contractions
and I want to make sure you can pronounce
them, but also that you can understand them.
The difference between a positive word, did,
and didn’t is very important when you’re having
a conversation.
All right, let’s go to the last word.
Warm.
Warm.
Warm.
Make sure that this is one syllable.
Warm.
Warm.
Do you think you could put all of these words
together?
You got it.
Let’s say it together.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
Great work.
All right, let’s go to the final challenge
sentence.
Here’s our final challenge sentence.
Can you say this all by yourself?
Go ahead.
Now it’s my turn.
I’m going to mispronounce one word.
I want you to guess which one it is.
I definitely sought the water at the beach
was salty.
I definitely sought the water at the beach
was salty.
Which word is incorrect?
Did you hear thought or sought?
You heard the second one sought, but does
this word start with an S?
Nope.
Instead it starts with a Th, so you need to
make sure that your tongue is between your
teeth and there’s that stream of air coming
through.
Through.
We already talked about that word.
Thought.
Thought.
All right.
Let’s go through each of these challenge words
so that you can pronounce them correctly.
What’s happening with this word definitely?
Definitely.
I feel like words like definitely, certainly,
probably, those words can be a little bit
tricky.
I talked about some of those in this pronunciation
lesson up here, but the word definitely we
use a lot and you probably would like to use
a lot, but you need to pronounce it correctly,
so let’s break it down.
Deaf init lee.
Deaf init lee.
Definitely.
Definitely.
Definitely.
Definitely.
Definitely.
It’s definitely a beautiful day.
This is definitely a helpful lesson.
I hope so.
The next word is that lovely word we just
talked about, thought.
Thought.
Make sure that your tongue is between your
teeth.
I often hear English learners switching in
S and a Th sound, sought instead of thought.
In some situations this could be a little
bit difficult for other English speakers to
understand you.
So make sure that you say this correctly.
Thought.
Thought.
Then we have the word water.
Water.
What’s the sound that you hear in the middle
of this word?
Wad er.
Wad er.
Well, it’s not a T sound, water.
Instead, it’s a D. Here we have again, the
T is changing to a D.
This is typical in American English.
Wad er.
Wad er.
I want you to say that with me.
Water, water.
Finally we have the word beach.
Beach.
A lot of you are concerned that you might
say a rude word instead, so let’s practice
that vowel sound.
It needs to be a long E. Beeeeach.
Beeeeach.
Beeeeach.
Really, the context here is going to help
you a lot.
So when we’re talking about the water at the
beach is salty, you’re most likely talking
about the ocean, the sea.
You’re not talking about a rude word, so I
think the context is going to help you a lot,
but make sure that when you pronounce it,
you say EEE.
Beeeeach.
All right, let’s go back and say that full
sentence.
I definitely thought the water at the beach
was salty.
I definitely thought the water at the beach
was salty.
I definitely thought the water at the beach
was salty.
Great work.
I hope that you had a chance to say that sentence
out loud with me and test your pronunciation.
Are you ready for a final challenge?
We’re going to go back and say all four of
those sentences and I want you to say them
out loud with me.
I’m going to say them two times so that you
can listen and then you can also repeat.
Are you ready?
Let’s say them together.
I buy clothes through the internet.
I buy clothes through the internet.
The little girl took the receipt to the bus.
The little girl took the receipt to the bus.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
In the early winter, I didn’t miss the warm
weather.
I definitely thought the water at the beach
was salty.
I definitely thought the water at the beach
was salty.
Great work testing your pronunciation muscles,
and now I have a question for you.
Let me know in the comments, which one of
these words is the most difficult for you
to pronounce.
Let me know.
I’m sure that there will be people around
the world who have the same feelings as you.
It’s always good to feel like you’re in this
together.
Well, thank you so much for learning English
with me.
I’ll see you again next Friday for a new lesson
here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
The next step is to download my free ebook,
Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English
Speaker.
You’ll learn what you need to do to speak
confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.