Pronouncing WO – Two Ways!

Wow! This week was International Women’s Day.  Let’s celebrate all of the women in our lives and their achievements. Now is the time to raise awareness against bias and make an effort to take action for equality.
In honor of all women in the world, please enjoy this lesson about pronouncing the words ‘woman’ and ‘women’.

Pronouncing the W in English requires the lips to be fully rounded and pushed forward a bit. Many of my students are able to form their lips correctly, but attaching the next vowel sound is the difficult part. In this lesson you will practice W +  (two different) vowels:

• W + /ʊ​​​​/ the sound in the word “put”​​​ (listen to me on the recording) as in the word WOMAN
• W + /ɪ/ the sound in the word “it” (listen to me on the recording) as in the word WOMEN.

And finally pay attention to the last syllable in both of the words:

• woMAN and woMEN are pronounced the same even though they are spelled differently! Pronounce this reduced syllable as if you are saying “MIN”