Субтитры (259)
0:00Are you mispronouncing
0:02these common English words? I know that
0:06English pronunciation is not easy. We
0:10have so many exceptions to spelling and
0:13pronunciation rules and it can be really
0:16hard to know what's right and what's
0:18wrong. In today's lesson, I am going to
0:20show you 10 common words that so many of
0:24my students pronounce incorrectly. I'm
0:27going to train you to pronounce them
0:30correctly. This list includes lots of
0:32words that even native speakers
0:34mispronounce. Also, if you would like to
0:38significantly improve your pronunciation
0:40and fluency in less than one week, I
0:45have just launched my 5day fast and
0:48fluent boot camp. In this 5day boot
0:51camp, I will teach you the rhythm,
0:53stress patterns, and connected speech
0:56that native speakers use naturally. In
0:59just 5 days, you will sound more
1:01confident and precise than ever.
1:04Thousands of students have already taken
1:06this boot camp, and their results have
1:08been awesome. If you're ready to
1:10transform your pronunciation in 5 days,
1:13just click on the link in the
1:14description box or scan the QR code just
1:17there. Let's get started with the
1:19lesson. And please remember that I am
1:21modeling these words with my modern RP
1:23accent. Other pronunciations are
1:26available. If your version is different
1:28from mine, that doesn't necessarily mean
1:30it's wrong. Even some of the wrong
1:33pronunciations we cover in this video
1:35may be regarded as correct in other
1:37regional dialects. So, let's get started
1:40with number one. How do you pronounce
1:46go for a run in the morning. This word
1:49here causes so much confusion with my
1:53students. Is it often or is it often? It
1:56might be one of the most controversial
1:58words in the English language. Often or
2:01often? I have said often in the past in
2:05my videos and I have received comments
2:08correcting me. This one is a trick
2:10question. I just wanted to highlight it
2:12because it's so important and I often
2:15see it miscorrected. Both often and
2:19often are correct and commonly used. I
2:22grew up in Bedfordshire and often was
2:26most commonly used. I've heard teachers
2:28say that often is incorrect. It is not.
2:31It's widely accepted. Use whichever
2:33feels most natural to you. Often or
2:36often. Number two, how do you pronounce
2:38the word in bold? I use a moisturizer to
2:46Would you say soften or soften? If you
2:51said soften with a t- sound, I'm sorry,
2:54but this time you are wrong. Soften
2:56should always have a silent t. I use a
2:58moisturizer to soften my skin. I was in
3:01a yoga class the other week and I
3:04couldn't relax because the teacher kept
3:06telling me to soften the muscles in my
3:09face. Don't make the same mistake she
3:11did. Soften the muscles in your face. A
3:14quick note on pronunciation here. Even
3:16though my yoga teacher mispronounced
3:18soften, it didn't impede my
3:20understanding. The most important thing
3:22in English is communication. Then work
3:26on fine-tuning your pronunciation if you
3:28want to. Okay. Number three is a word
3:30that I used to mispronounce all the time
3:33when I was young. I can still hear my
3:35mom correcting me. We rely on
3:39energy. The correct pronunciation is
3:44Nuclear. But a lot of people get
3:46confused with where the Y is and say
3:51Nucleular or nucular. They add in an
3:55extra Y sound. Make sure you get it
3:57right by saying nuclear.
4:00Nuclear. Now, in North American accents,
4:03they will drop the Y sound from the
4:06first syllable. Nuclear, but it should
4:08be nuclear, not nuclear. It's very
4:12subtle, but it's a misprononunciation I
4:14hear often or often. Think of it as if
4:18you're combining the words new and
4:24Nuclear. Okay. Number four. I'm a big
4:29music. When you pronounce this, do you
4:32pronounce the L? I don't blame you. A
4:35lot of people do, but this is incorrect.
4:37The correct pronunciation is folk.
4:41Folk. I'm a big fan of folk music. The
4:44letter L is often silent when it comes
4:47after a vowel sound and is followed by a
4:50consonant sound. Not always. Often. Can
4:54you think of any more examples? Here are
4:57some. Read them out with me now to
4:58practice. We have half,
5:07palm, and this last one that lots of
5:10people get wrong, almond.
5:13Many native speakers do actually
5:14pronounce the L in almond and say almond
5:18or almond. It's controversial. I don't
5:20want to get into it. In general, we say
5:22almond. And here's something else to add
5:25to the confusion. Many native speakers
5:27drop the L sound in several words
5:30spelled A L when technically it should
5:33be there. Here are some examples.
5:36Although becomes although already
5:39becomes already. All right becomes all
5:43right and always becomes always. I do
5:47this myself in fast speech. Already all
5:50right. Always. Okay. Number five. I took
5:55for my headache. Okay, this word is so
5:57difficult to spell that it's not
5:59surprising that loads of people
6:00mispronounce it. The most common
6:02pronunciation is ibuprofen.
6:06Ibuprofen with the main stress on the
6:09third syllable, but lots of speakers
6:11misplace the stress and say ibuprofen.
6:16Another tricky thing about this word is
6:18the invisible Y sound before the U.
6:23This word causes so much confusion. Can
6:25you believe I've even heard this
6:26pronounced Ibuprofen by some native
6:30speakers? If in doubt, just ask for a
6:32painkiller instead. Okay, let's move on
6:35to a picture round. We have some words
6:37that confuse so many of my students.
6:41Firstly, what is this? For those who
6:44can't see the screen, it's a leafy green
6:47vegetable used as the base of salads. It
6:53Lettuce. I know it's so tempting to see
6:57the letter U and say something like
6:59lettuce or lettuce. But we need to use
7:03the short I vowel sound here. Lettuce.
7:06Lettuce. Can you think of any other
7:09words that are spelled with a U that are
7:11pronounced with a short I sound? Here
7:14are a few. Read them with me to
7:16practice. We have busy,
7:22and minute. Got it? We'll try a full
7:26sentence together. I'll highlight the
7:28other I sounds, too. Repeat with me.
7:32Give me a minute. I'm a bit busy with my
7:36lettuce business. I imagine that's the
7:39first time anyone has said that
7:41sentence. No one on earth could have
7:43said that sentence before. It's so
7:45random. Give me a minute. I'm a bit busy
7:48with my lettuce business. Okay, number
7:50seven. What is this? A beard. So many
7:56students often get confused when
7:58pronouncing this word and three other
8:00similar words. What do we call these?
8:10Very similar to beard. Beer as in an
8:14alcoholic drink. Bear as in the animal
8:17that lives in the forest. Bird, the
8:20flying animal, and beard, the hair on
8:22your face. I want to help you remember
8:24the difference between these confusing
8:26words once and for all. So, we're going
8:28to use some short rhymes to memorize the
8:31different pronunciations.
8:33Are you ready? Read along with me. He's
8:36got a weird beard. Same pronunciation
8:39there. He's got a weird beard.
8:44That deers drinking beers.
8:49That deer's drinking beers.
9:06The bird is a nerd. Okay, here are some
9:10more images for you. What is this?
9:14And what about this? Picture one is of a
9:17delicious cake or something. And picture
9:20two is of a very dry, sandy area. Word
9:24number eight is desert.
9:27Desert. We stress the first syllable and
9:31then use the weak uh vowel sound, the
9:34schwa in the second syllable. Desert.
9:37Desert. Dessert is stressed on the
9:41second syllable and has a long vowel
9:45sound like in her. Dessert.
9:49Dessert. Can you hear the difference?
9:52Desert. Dessert. Here they are in a
9:56sentence. We had ice cream for dessert
9:59in the desert. Now, the spelling of
10:02these two very different words is so
10:05similar that it's not surprising they
10:07get mixed up. Okay, another pair of
10:09images for you. Now, number nine. What
10:12is this? It's blue with clouds in it.
10:15What is it? And what about this? It's a
10:18man going down a mountain really fast on
10:22two planks. So, we have sky as in high
10:27in the sky. And then we have ski with
10:30the long e sound. Often my students will
10:34confuse these vowel sounds. Sky. Ski.
10:39And our last number 10. What's the dog
10:43doing with the bone? He's putting it in
10:45the ground. He is burying it. So the
10:50verb berry with the letter u is
10:53pronounced the same as the fruit berry
10:55with the letter e. Berry. Berry. The
10:59letter u causes many of my students to
11:01say burying or burying. But that's
11:04incorrect. It should be berry with an e
11:07sound. By burying. This word confuses a
11:10lot of native speakers too. There's a
11:12place called Berry in the north of
11:14England near Manchester and not even the
11:17residents seem to agree on the correct
11:21Some say berry rhyming with berry and
11:24others say bur rhyming with curry. So,
11:27how many of these incredibly common
11:30words were you pronouncing correctly?
11:32Let me know your score in the comments
11:34and tell me if any pronunciations
11:36surprised you. I really hope you enjoyed
11:39today's video. If you're ready to start
11:41working towards clear, accurate, and
11:44fast pronunciation, check out my 5-day
11:48fast and fluent boot camp. You are just
11:515 days away from improved rhythm and
11:53flow that will make your English sound
11:56natural and fluent. We're running a
11:58special offer on it. Just click the link
12:00in the description box or scan the QR
12:02code right there to learn more and join.
12:05I will see you in the next lesson.
