How to Pronounce HELPFUL American English Word of the Week
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over
the pronunciation of the word ‘helpful’.
This week’s Word of the Week is ‘helpful’.
It was suggested by a user on YouTube.
Thanks so much for this suggestion.
It’s a two-syllable word
with stress on the first syllable.
Helpful, DA-da, helpful.
‘Helpful’ begins with the H consonant sound.
Some speakers,
like my students from Russia and Poland,
will want to make this sound too heavy.
Don’t let the soft palate
hang and bounce against the tongue,
and don’t lift the tongue
to constrict the air passage.
Just simply expel the air,
contracting the throat just a bit. Hh, hh.
The mouth position doesn’t matter for the H,
so you can get into the position
for the next sound, in this case, the EH vowel.
The jaw needs to drop for the EH vowel.
The tongue will lift a bit
in the middle/front.
Next we have the dark L.
Pull the back part of the tongue back
to make the Dark sound.
I find when I say this word,
I don’t lift the tip of the tongue
to ‘finish’ the dark L sound.
So my tongue tip never comes here,
like many think it should for L.
Next the lips will close for the P.
We need to go straight from the P to the F,
so when I lift my top lip,
the bottom lip is in position for the F,
where it’s touching
the bottom of the top teeth.
After the F,
go straight into the dark sound again,
by pulling back
the back part of the tongue.
Again,
I don’t lift the tip of my tongue for the L.
I just make the dark sound.
Helpful, helpful.
Was that helpful? I hope so!
That’s it, your Word of the Week.
Try it out yourself.
Make up a sentence with the word,
record it, and post it
as a video response to this video on YouTube.
I can’t wait to watch it.
If there’s a word
you find difficult to pronounce,
suggest it
as a Word of the Week in the comments.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.