🎉Great news!🎉 Our brand new Sounds American website is up and running!🚀🎊 There's lots of content on pronunciation.🤓You can start with the article about the /w/ sound: soundsamerican.net/article/consonant_sound_w_as_in_way
Dear Sound America, Thank you very much for your video, it is really helpful _ I think your video is considered to be one of the best references for those who want to sound like a native American.... What do you think guys? If you agree please gives me a thumb up....
We have the same sound /w/in Belarusian language. It is represented by letter "Ў", which is quite rare. We even have a monument in the honor of this letter in Polotsk. As usual, great job! Thank you for keeping high quality of giving information!
@@SoundsAmerican Thanks for commenting. I feel obliged to stay tuned and to leave comments to support the channel, because it is the best on this topic:)
Dude, you should make videos about intonation cuz it is one of the most important elements in a language. Thanks for the videos, they are great and helpful.
Thank you! We're glad you like our videos. About the /w/ sound: there's no /wh/ sound in American English. When you see a 'WH' letter combination in a word, it's pronounced as /h/ before the letter 'O', like in the words "who" or "whom," and as the /w/ sound before other letters, like in the words "where," "why," or "while." Hope this helps!
I had been making the reverse version of the most common mistake you've mentioned in the video. I used to replace the /v/ sound with the /w/ sound, but only until the point when you released your video on the /v/ sound. Now I can distinguish between them with ease, which doesn't make it any easier to pronounce the /v/ sound in some words though.
+Cosmic Disco These things can be only fixed with regular practice. You need to train your speech organs muscles, which takes time and practice regularly to teach yourself to pronounce the /v/ sound automatically in all relevant words. It's the hardest part since it'll be you teaching your brain to give the right commands to your muscles, building those neurons takes time :). But it's worth it!
I think God speaks through your voice (? Nah, seriously. We Spanish speakers tend to confuse the W with a GU (G + U) 'cause in our language is spelled like that. For example, we would likely spell the word "Wonder" as "Guonder". EDIT: And when the W is before a consonant we just simply turn it into a G. For example, we'll misspell Writing as Griting. I really love your channel!
Many people didn't understand that this is a very difficult sound to pronounce! Because you always need to pull the tongue back and make it tense. This is especially difficult when this sound isn't at the beginning of a sentence. I think this is the hardest consonant sound.
+ Камилл Беляев You're absolutely right. This sound is difficult to master for many non-native English speakers. Russian speakers often confuse this sound with /v/, it's one of the most common mistakes. Which is understandable, as to make this sound correctly you have to tense your lips, round and protrude them first, then spread them while simultaneously keeping your tongue tensed and pulled. This is a lot and this is difficult. We hope that our video helps you to understand how to pronounce the /w/ consonant and the exercise helps to practice it. Let us know if you have any questions.
i'm a native spanish speaker and we have, at least I have, a problem between this one and the /g/ sound which a lot of us confused it with, so I was trying to do the sound without raising my tongue, only rounding my lips and tightening them and forcing the air (it sounds kind of like a raspy B sound), but this video makes me think this is still a sound (at least with the e tonge position close to) approximate to the /g/ sound (only not touching the back of the throat)?? please tell me if I'm wrong. Kinda like in the /r/ sound we also try to reach the tip of the tongue to thee top of the mouth but never do it??please help me
I don't know if I like your videos more than you like our comments, but if you make me happy with your videos, why don't leave a comment and make you happy too? I found some interesting words on Cambridge Dictionary about this 'qu' combination: quiche: /kiʃ/ Quran: /kəˈræn, -ˈrɑn/ quay: /ki, keɪ, kweɪ/ quinoa: /kɪnˈwɑː/ And the important one that you refer to the sound /ju/ is... queue: /kju/ What do you think, Sounds American?
+Jesus Hagelsieb You did make us happy indeed! Thank you! The list you found is impressive. We hoped that someone would mention these words. Yes, you're right, we meant the word "queue." This is awesome! 😊👍
I dont understand why w isnt prounanced in some words but its spelled. Took me forever to learn that. Crazy language. But thanks to your channel, I think ive mastered most of the sounds. Please, stop by my channel and se what you think. I'm an actor and want to really learn the accent and your channel is my favorite. Thanks!
Thanks for your videos! I have a question about some of the words where the W is not pronounced, like power, towel, awful, and coward. I definitely hear the W sound in these words, but is it considered part of the previous vowel instead of the consonant?
We think that Longman has the most accurate phonetic transcriptions (www.ldoceonline.com/). Dictionary.com is the second-best option in terms of transcriptions.
The letter Ww doesn’t make the wuh /wə/ sound, it’s just itself. I recommend holding the sound longer without adding the schwa and don’t make the mouth TOO round.
I have a question for you. Some words that start with "wr" seem not to pronounce "w," right? For example, write, wrote, written, wreck, wrong. Can I teach my students that they don't need to pronounce "w" for those words? Thanks for your lesson!
Correct. That's actually a rule: The letter 'w' is silent at the beginning of words when it's followed by the letter 'r': write, wrong, rewritten, wrap, wrench, etc.
hello i am a big fan , i just have 2 big question about the "T' after 'N' like wanted becomes wanned, and there is a glottal stop in HILTON? thank you and i do love the job you are doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
a) "When T comes after N, the T sound is dropped in many words. This rule is for informal English. It is mostly used when people speak quickly, but it's good for you to learn them. b) pay attention to: interview, interstate, international, wanted, don't know, printer, enter, twenty . Now say: inerview, inerstate, inernational, wanned, don'know, priner, ener, tweny "
@@anglaisenkreyol8643 a) "When T is before an N, the sound is stopped and turns into a hard N. The final N should be strong." Examples: (Glottal stop = /ʔ/) mountain, fountain, curtain, written, forgotten, important, sentence Say: mouʔN, fouʔN, curʔN, wriʔN, forgoʔN, imporʔNt, senʔNce b) "When T is at the end of a word (and this is not followed by a vowel), the sound stops. To say this correctly, emphasize the preceding vowel, put your tongue into place and simply stop the sound. " Examples: hot, hat, mat, fat, lot, rat, pat, foot, want, sit, sat, fit, bat, pot. Say: hoʔ, haʔ, maʔ, faʔ, loʔ, raʔ, paʔ, fooʔ, wanʔ, siʔ, saʔ, fiʔ, baʔ, poʔ pronunciationstudio.com/glottal-stop-pronunciation-guide/
+Bendy Jean-louis Good questions! We covered them in this video, check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yFPbLcUCraQ.html The part of the glottal 'T' (yes, "hilton" is pronounced with the glottal 'T' sound) is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yFPbLcUCraQ.html , and the dropped 't' is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yFPbLcUCraQ.html
Is it appropriate to pronounce the words "toward" and "towards" as /tɔrd/ and /tɔrdz/ respectively? For some reason, I've always thought the /w/ sound in these words is silent. Is it alright to pronounce these words with no /w/ sound?
Hi there, I had a question about the pronounciation of Nebraska. In your fourth of July special, you pronounced it the way it's spelled. I listen to Gene Autry quite a lot, and in the song "Sioux City Sue" he pronounces Nebraska as "Newbrasky" (listen for yourself if you don't understand), I was just wondering if perhaps you know this pronunciation of the state's name was common back then (around 1940).
Thank you so much. This is really helpful. However, I've been confused about the difference between the /w/ and /ʊ/ sound. I wonder what their difference is.
+Arseanio Lourance The /ʊ/ is a vowel sound, but the /w/ is a consonant. The main difference is in the lips and the tongue positions and movements when you pronounce these sounds. For the /ʊ/ vowel, your tongue has to be pulled back, and the lips should be either neutral or slightly rounded and relaxed. For the /w/ sound, however, your lips should be first pulled in a small tight circle and then stretched when you let the air come out of your mouth. Looks like you've already watched our video about the /w/, so here's our video on the /ʊ/ sound, so that you could compare these two sounds: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-moLTR-dLQQY.html
Hello,friends of sounds american. I have a question for you. Why are there letters in English that are silent between syllables, such as the case of the syllable L,W,S,T,H and many more? I hope you can help me clear my doubts
Excellent question! There are so many reasons for why some letters are getting silent in English, it will take a book to explain them all. Can you give us some word examples? It would be easier this way.
how are you. Friends, here I am sending you this list of silent consonants in some words or syllables. my question that I wanted to know was this: why are these consonants silent in this type of words? thanks for your help.¡ silent letters : Know, wreck,hour ,rhetoric, island,awesome, ghost,listen,answer,would,gnat,calm Psalm, Lamb, Ptisan,surprise Hymn Debt,psychology.
You're confusing letters and sounds. We don't make videos about letters and we never had a video about the letter 'X.' We make videos about sounds because you use sounds, not letters, when speaking. 👋
We're using our own app, but we haven't released it to the public yet. We're planning to do it very soon and we'll announce the release on this channel. Stay tuned!
4:30 I think your referring to the "V" sound, in german language. After all, to pronounce the german name "Wirst" the "W" is pronounced as a "V", and not like a "W". That is just some curiosity
Do you have app for iphone or ipad?I am looking forward to have that! If you have the test version please send me too~Because I am located in China, it is very inconvenient for me to visit youtube. If I could use your application without VPN, that could be very helpful.
Dear Sound American, I have created some extra words list on each consonant on excel sheet with the phonetic symbol for self-practice and I need to embed the sound from Cambridge dictionary online on each word but I have difficulties in doing so. May you please let me know how could I do it. I have tried a few times by using audacity but I couldn't make it. Your kind reply I would appreciate it so much .... Regards, Elwin
+Elwin Harahap The name of our channel is Sound*s* American (plural) :). How long is your list? If it's not very long it'd be probably easier to grab sounds one-by-one. The links should look like this: dictionary.cambridge.org/us/media/english/us_pron/t/tes/test_/test.mp3
@@SoundsAmerican Dear Sounds American, Thank you very much for sending me the link, and I do apologize for wrong writing on your youtube title. Unfortunately, I have tried to use the link by substituting the word but it did not work out well.
Dear sound American, I live in America too but I don't use those semivowels, do you know why? because I speak Spanish, I live in this continent too, cause America is a continent not a country c: I am studying to be an English teacher in Chile ( a South American country) and Chilean people always ask me this question, Why does US people call themselves "Americans"? so if somebody has an answer it will be great
Hello Mister! I've been studying pronunciation for 5 years, but I dont know how to pronounce b p d t g k when they come in the middle of the words. Example website, advice, magnet, apartment, empty, secret. Should we pronounce them like at the end of the word or at the begin of the word. Please help me. I have asked many native speakers, but none of them give me the answer.
+colen Hello there! The pronunciation of these sounds depends on where in the syllable they are located. If they occur at the end of a syllable, they follow the Final stop rule and are not aspirated (that is, pronounced without a puff of air). If they occur at the beginning of a syllable, they are aspirated (pronounced with a puff of air). Let's take some of the words from your comment as examples: in the word "website" the /b/ sound is at the end of the first syllable, so it's not aspirated: /ˈwɛb·saɪt/. The /p/ sound in the word "apartment" is at the beginning of the second syllable, but the /t/ is at the end: / əˈpɑrt·mənt/, so the /p/ is aspirated, but the /t/ is not. We talk about this in detail in our Stop Sounds Overview video, check it out, it may be helpful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yFPbLcUCraQ.html
Thank you for your suggestion! There's no /tw/ sound in American English, there's the voiceless /t/ consonant and the /w/. You can practice both separately and they maybe linking /t/ to /w/. Let us know if you have questions on how to do that!
Ninguna. Es por eso que son homophones. Lo mismo waste ( desperdiciar) y waist (cintura). Puede encontrar una gran lista si busca en Google " homophones in Englisch". Cheers.
We're using our own app, but we haven't released it to the public yet. We're planning to do it very soon and we'll announce the release on this channel. Stay tuned!
+Eva Vânia Maia We will, we have to publish two more videos and after that, we'll have videos on all sounds. We'll provide you with a playlist, stay tuned!
