Pronounce English Words Correctly SILENT SYLLABLES
You’ve heard of silent letters in English but what about
silent syllables?
I’m Emma from mmmEnglish and today we’re going to
practise natural English pronunciation.
I’ve got a heap of really common
everyday English words that you
might be pronouncing a little awkwardly.
So we’re going to practise the pronunciation of
individual words but we’ll also practise these words
in longer sentences, so we can focus on your speaking
fluency as well.
So get ready, we’re about to dive in!
So we’re talking about syllables today
and just in case you’re a little unsure about what that
means, this is a unit of pronunciation, it includes
a vowel sound and often has some surrounding
consonant sounds like cat has one syllable.
Healthy has two syllables.
Enormous has three syllables and so on
but what am I talking about silent syllables for?
Let me give you an example of one of the words
that I’m talking about.
How many syllables does it have?
You might have said three and I
can’t blame you for that at all, it looks like
there should be three, right?
But when spoken naturally, native speakers usually
reduce the pronunciation of this word
down to just two syllables.
Natural.
And it’s the same with naturally.
Most of my students will pronounce naturally
with four syllables right but when a native speaker
says this word out loud, usually you’ll only hear
three syllables, naturally.
So I can already hear you asking
“Emma does this mean that every native speaker
always says ‘naturally’ with three syllables?”
No
but usually we do because it’s easier to pronounce
fewer syllables and it helps us to speak more quickly
so this happens quite a lot.
But the problem is that until you hear a native speaker
say this word,
you can’t possibly know about the different
types of pronunciation, the spelling doesn’t change.
Even if you do hear a native speaker pronounce
all of the syllables,
the silent ones that we’re talking about today are always
a reduced syllable, they’re very soft,
they’re very hard to hear
even when spoken naturally.
So if you want to work on your English accent
and sound more relaxed and more natural
when you speak English
then this video is definitely one to keep watching.
All of the words that I’m sharing today are very, very
common words, ones that you are already using
all the time so make sure that you are able to practise
out loud with me. This is a pronunciation lesson
so I expect you
to be saying these words and these sentences
out loud as we go through them.
Every.
Not
Just two syllables.
So you use this pronunciation every time okay?
Once you get the pronunciation down to two syllables,
it’s going to help you to pronounce so many words.
Everyone. Everywhere.
Everything.
Everyday.
Every.
Business.
Now it really does look like there should be
three syllables there right but it’s not. It’s not
but business.
It’s confusing I know. In fact, when I’m trying to
write or type this word out, in my head,
I still think
to make sure that I get the spelling right and that is after
over thirty years of using English
as a native English speaker.
So I don’t blame you for being a little confused
by this language.
It’s business.
Interest.
Not
Just two syllables.
Interest.
Chocolate.
All my Filipinas out there this one is for you,
not
but
So that last syllable is also really short, both
vowel sounds in these syllables are really short.
Chocolate.
Aspirin.
So this is another example where it really looks like
there should be three syllables right.
It’s just two. Aspirin.
So it’s always pronounced this way. Aspirin.
Wednesday.
I mean
I know this one really does seem like you should be
pronouncing three syllables.
It’s very clear.
But no.
We’ve got two syllables there
and that D is a silent letter
so there’s a lot going on here right?
Wednesday.
Comfortable.
So it’s not
but just
comfortable.
And although you may hear the odd
native speaker saying
perhaps in the U.S, it’s not very common.
Most native speakers will just reduce it down
and it’s the same with this one.
Vegetable.
Not
Just three syllables. Vegetable.
Can I order the vegetable pizza?
Different
not
Just two syllables.
If I were you, I would choose a different colour.
Temperature.
So it’s not
What temperature will it be tomorrow?
Politically.
Now adverbs like this that end in -ally
can be a little tricky because they don’t
all follow the same rules
but politically has only four syllables. It’s not
Just
Four syllables.
Politically.
His decision was politically motivated.
Practically.
Another very common adverb so it’s not
It’s just three syllables.
Practically.
I’ve practically finished already!
Now before we move on, let’s practise
using some of those words in sentences out loud.
So you’ll see the sentence come up on the screen.
Don’t worry, I’m going to highlight the words
that you need to pay attention to
and I want you to first read it out loud yourself,
then you’ll hear me say it so I want you to listen,
then repeat again after me. Are you ready?
On Wednesday, I’m cooking roast
chicken with vegetables.
Can you bring your chocolate cake for dessert?
I’m interested in every business
and I’m comfortable speaking to everyone.
I practically melted, the temperature was so high!
I wish we visited at a different time of year.
So now we’re moving into a bit of a grey area.
All of the words from now on in the lesson have
two accepted pronunciations
so if you are using that extra syllable,
you’re not wrong.
But most native speakers will use the shorter version
because it’s easier and it allows us to speak quickly.
Most of my students though will use the longer version
because having the extra syllable in there
gives them a little bit of extra space when they’re
when they’re speaking - a little bit of extra time.
But let’s try and simplify the sounds a little,
the sounds that you’re making when you say these
words and try and make it a little bit more efficient.
Family.
It’s a pretty basic word, right?
Probably one of the first ones that you learned.
I wonder how you’ve been pronouncing it all this time.
Have you added that extra syllable or are you just
using two?
You will sometimes hear native speakers pronouncing
family with a little schwa syllable in there.
Family.
Sometimes I say it like this too so it’s not wrong.
But most of the time,
native speakers will reduce it down to just
two syllables because it’s more efficient. It’s simple.
Most of my family lives in Melbourne.
Now what’s awesome is that you can see
in the phonemic script that the extra schwa sound
is in brackets right which means it’s an
optional syllable. So if you use the extra syllable,
it is a reduced vowel sound,
an unstressed sound that’s low in pitch.
But you can drop it completely and when we speak
quickly, we do.
So the syllable becomes silent.
It’s like it doesn’t exist at all.
Keep an eye out for that schwa symbol in brackets.
You’ll see it in many of the words that come up
on the screen now.
You’ll also be able to keep an eye out for it
in dictionaries as you’re looking up new words
like this one.
Listening.
So it’s perfectly okay to use three syllables.
Listening.
But to make things quick and simple,
native speakers will often reduce it down to just
two syllables.
It’s the same with travelling.
So you’ll hear
travelling with that extra schwa sound in the middle.
Travelling.
But to make it more efficient, to speak quickly,
reduce it down, cut it out.
I was listening to his story
about travelling across Australia.
Literally.
or literally.
So it’s really common to hear
both of these pronunciations by native speakers.
Literally with four syllables
and literally with three.
So it’s more common to hear the four-syllable version
in American English and that’s to do with
specific pronunciation features in that accent.
So you’ll hear literally
with that flap T sound right? It sounds more like a D.
Very short vowel sounds. Literally.
In the UK, it’s more common to hear the
three-syllable version.
And that’s because of that more pronounced
T sound right? That’s a feature of their accent.
Literally.
And here in Australia, we literally use both versions.
Literally!
Because we also use the flap T too.
So you can take your pick here.
Actually.
So you’ll hear actually
with four syllables
but actually is way easier with three right,
as long as you can make that CH sound easily.
If it’s a little tricky for you, you might prefer
to keep four syllables.
Actually.
Actually, I was in Melbourne last year.
Favourite.
So instead of
It’s easier, it’s faster
to use two syllables so why would you use three?
Memory.
So like favourite,
both types of pronunciation are common.
Memory
with that little extra schwa syllable in the middle.
Memory or memory.
What’s your favourite memory from childhood?
Camera.
So this is another favourite word
for native English speakers to shorten.
Camera.
Two syllables only. Many of my students will say
but
camera is definitely much more natural.
Camera.
Restaurant.
So this word is very commonly pronounced with four
or even five syllables in other languages.
French, Spanish,
Italian, German,
even Japanese.
But in English, you will hear native speakers
reduce that down to just two.
Restaurant.
which is very quick and easy right
unless you have trouble with that STR consonant sound
like in street and struggle,
it can be tricky to have so many consonants together so
if you find that a little tricky,
stick with restaurant.
Try this one with me.
I think they allow cameras in the restaurant
but you can’t take them into the show afterwards.
Average.
If you’re a native English speaker
and you use the three-syllable version,
please let me know about it in the comments
and tell me where you’re from
because it sounds so odd to me to hear average.
I’m sure there must be somewhere where they
pronounce it that way.
Much more common to hear average, two syllables only.
Average.
Miserable.
So it looks like there should be four syllables,
but we just shorten it to miserable.
This miserable weather is average for this time of year!
Conference.
So again, if this word is similar in your native language,
you might be used to pronouncing that extra
syllable in there.
The little schwa.
But in naturally spoken English, conference
is much, much more common.
Conference.
Several.
So you might hear
again with a little schwa syllable in there.
Several.
This is a really handy word actually,
it’s used to refer to an
imprecise number, not an exact number of things
or of people so it’s not a really large amount but it is
greater than two so if
you don’t want to be specific, it’s a great word to know.
But it’s very natural to just use several instead.
There are several international speakers
speaking at the conference.
Separate.
Now this one is a little tricky because there is a clear
pronunciation difference between the verb separate
and the adjective separate.
I go into that in much more detail in this lesson up
here, the pronunciation between the verb
and the adjective so check it out later if you want to.
But you may hear a difference in the
pronunciation of the adjective form,
separate or separate.
Separate.
Very very slight.
Catholic.
This one’s tricky because of that TH sound right.
You might find it easier to keep that extra schwa sound,
that extra syllable in there
between the TH and the L consonant sound.
So this one I understand if you
having a little bit of trouble with it but you’ll hear
Catholic
three syllables
or Catholic.
Shorten it right down to just two.
There are several buildings constructed
by the catholic church in the fifteenth century.
Now it can be a little tricky to realise if you’re
pronouncing these words one way or the
other so what I encourage you to do
is to check the description box down below,
I’ve added all of these words so that you can
make your own recording of yourself
reading them aloud
in that order.
Then you’ll be able to compare them to the way
that I’m pronouncing them in this video.
So I’m going to read them out loud one more time,
one at a time so that you can listen back
to your recording and compare it to mine
alright? So this is your homework task.
Natural.
Every.
Business.
Interest.
Chocolate.
Aspirin.
Wednesday.
Comfortable.
Vegetable.
Different.
Temperature.
Politically.
Practically.
Family.
Listening.
Travelling.
Literally.
Actually.
Favourite.
Memory.
Camera.
Restaurant.
Average.
Miserable.
Conference.
Several.
Separate.
Catholic.
As I said at the start of this video, pronouncing the
extra syllable in all of these words
is no big deal at all.
You’ll still be understood
and of course, that’s the most important aspect
of communicating in English, right?
This lesson was really about helping you
to be more efficient with your language,
to help you speed up,
sound more natural and relaxed as you speak.
Let me know if you’ve got any questions or comments
about this lesson down below and then
come and join me
in there, right there in that lesson.
I’ll see you in there!