consider-conflict-content These three words can be pronounced 5 different ways

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Use English melody and pronunciation at the same time.

Let’s concentrate on a few words that begin with the letters con. To understand how to pronounce these con-words, it is best if you first understand whether the word is going to be used as a noun or a verb.  Let’s just say that you can

1. predict which syllable to stress and

2. choose how to pronounce the vowel O in words that begin with C-O-N

First you need know if the word you want to pronounce is being used as a noun (a person, place, or thing) or a verb (the action).

Listen to this week’s  Pronounce English with Pam Podcast episode 80 for your lesson about the American English melody and pronouncing the letter O.  This week’s lesson is filled with great ideas to help you sound natural and be better understood. Use the words below as a guide while you repeat after me on the podcast!

Melody is what the listener is listening for!

Melody is the movement of a language. One of the ways to understand American English melody is to understand how to use stress in each word. Here we are talking about stress to raise and lower your pitch, specifically in the syllables that are written in large print below. CONcert means to stress the first part of the words  CON.  Or in the verbs conVINCE means to stress the second part of the word.

Nouns

Stress the first syllable.  Practice the O with the  vowel sound /a/. Open your mouth!

CONcert

*CONtest

*CONflict

*CONtent

CONcept

CONgress

 

Verbs

Stress the second syllable .  Practice the O with a reduced vowel sound /ə/

conFIRM

conVINCE

conFESS

conTROL

* conDUCT

conFUSE

conSENT

 

*These words can be used as either nouns or verbs. Put stress on the 1st syllable when saying a noun. Put stress on the 2nd syllable when saying a verb.

noun  contest   /kan-tɛst/ – verb   contest /kən-tɛst/

noun  conflict /kan-flikt/- verb  conflict  /kən-flikt/

noun  content   /kan-tɛnt/- verb content /kən-tɛnt/

noun conduct  /kan-dʌkt/- verb  conduct  /kən-dʌkt/

Questions? Comments?

CONtact me anytime! Now you know how to say “contact” too.

 

Listening For Distinct English Conversation

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Finding a Good Speech Example

Understanding the American English accent requires you to listen to other American English speakers because how else will you know how to improve your pronunciation and melody unless you have a good role model.  In this podcast episode, you will find one of my favorite links for listening to other American speakers. NPR.org  so that you can hear timely news stories about any topic that you choose.  Be sure to find a speaker that is using the English pronunciation and melody.  If you are planning on making some changes in your current talking skills- then choose someone that is speaking in the style that you would like to imitate.

Once you have found a good role model and an interesting story- play the story. Listen to it. Enjoy the story. Learn something. Then it’s time to go back and make that story work for you!

Listening (again) is hard

Learning the English rhythm requires you to do some work on your own, unless you hire a coach.  As a coach, I find the right samples and practice work for you.  But repeat listening to the news story is the hard part because it takes your time and effort.  Take the first 4 or 5 sentences and write them down word-for-word. It takes forever I know. This is what I do for my clients/students. If there is not a transcript written for you, you must write down every word that you hear the speaker say. I guarantee you that the action of writing down each sentence (and listening to the speaker repeatedly)  will help you improve your listening comprehension as well as your appreciation of the vocabulary words and the grammar that the speaker is using.

Also, the act of writing (can you find a pen and paper anymore?) will help you concentrate on how that speaker is pronouncing each word.

Understanding the Speaker’s Rhythm

After you listen to this week’s podcast, go back to your written transcript and find the main words in the sentences. These are the content words and they carry the real meaning of the message. Underline these main words. Hint: the main words are the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. They are the “meat” to the message.

Now look at the small words that are not underlined. These are called the function words. They are the small words such as pronouns (I, you, they), conjunctions (and, but, or) and articles (the, a/an) to name a few. The commonly reduced words in English are among the 100 most frequently used words in the language. So we have a lot of reducing to do!

PROnouncing American English Like A Pro!

Now you can practice saying the main words with emphasis while reducing the smaller words. Don’t forget to link the words to the rest of the message group.  Listen to this week’s podcast for further instruction how to raise and lower your voice to express your message.

Do you have any words that you are not sure if they should be reduced? Let me  know in the comments (You can find the comments section directly below the title)

Credit Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash

Fixing the sound in “meaSure”

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We may not say this sound often but when we do, it is commonly mispronounced. If your goal is to speak English 100% better so that you can sound natural (and with confidence!) learn how to say this awkward sound with preciSIon. Hint: it’s in that word….

Read more

How To Speak Like A Leader

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Quality is Knowledge and Practice. To begin preparing for your success, listen to episode 57 and get ready for your next leader opportunity. Remember that your success in life begins with the number one ability – To speak!

Use these ideas as the catalyst for having your ideas valued and accepted.

Use your best voice to lead business discussions

prepare your next talk,

and most importantly keep your listeners listening.

Click here for your  Perfect Phrases. 

What speaking opportunities are in your near future? Write in the comments section (under the title). Have you tried any of these practical phrases before? Which ones do you think you will try out?

Study Session- Obama’s in the House!

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Use your ears so that you can improve your own speaking skills

Here are the professional techniques that you can use on your own while using a YouTube video. Listen to the podcast here-

Study listening skills using YouTube

Let me introduce you to some behind the scenes techniques. If you are studying to learn to pronounce American English, be sure that you find a native American English speaker. Although to be honest, there are many English speakers that are not native to the US that will also be using this English melody that we are listening to today. Once you find the video that you would like to study from, see if there is a transcript.

Here’s a description of how to find the youtube transcript.

 

Copy and paste the transcript on a word doc so that you can read along and make notations.

 

Also, you may want to slow the speed of the speaking.

I recommend slowing the speaking speed down  one level to .75

At this speed, you will begin to hear

  • how words are grouped together,
  • pausing in-between these word groupings
  • how the words are linked together in each phrase group and
  • one word in each phrase, that is highlighted the most, usually directly before the pause.

This practice will help you comprehend what others are saying. If you need more ideas for finding good speakers, people enjoy playing English speaking TV shows such as the sitcoms (Friends) or movies. As long as there is a transcript.  Using your own listening skills and taking the time to study this technique, is an excellent way to personally understand what you can do to polish your own abilities.

 

Pronouncing OY- EnjOY!

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Pronouncing American English vowel sounds requires a good description and model for you to imitate. After all, when vowel sounds are not accurately pronounced- the word will sound totally different than the one you intended! There are other times that vowels are surrounded by sounds that also can be difficult to form correctly.  In this lesson, you will practice both:  a two-part vowel sound AND a difficult concept…the final L sound.

I love writing these lessons and enjoy teaching to you the sounds that many require help with. I guess it’s not a coincidence that this week you will practice the word enJOY.

 https://youtu.be/FBDXuFLgSpM

My Personal Picks

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Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!

A New Year means New Beginnings. But for some reason I wanted to reflect back and review some of my favorite recordings, and tell you about the most popularly viewed recordings. I can’t believe it but the recording called, Ring, Ring Hello! currently has over 1,000 listeners. It’s been played in over 50 Countries. You never know what is going to become popular. Unless it’s stuck on constant replay-it must be a favorite somewhere!

Listen to My Personal Picks and you will hear my favorite lessons for you

If you’d like to see my playlists (and listen to all 98 lessons) LOOK HERE 

We have a whole new year to keep learning from each other.

Are you ready?

PODCAST- Learn How to Reduce Syllables in Seven Everyday Words!

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Study these 7 words and learn how to pronounce a BUNCH of new words! Hint- It’s in the word “seven.”

PODCAST-Just like a haircut, give these words a trim!

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Get the right rhythm by trimming these vowels. Which ones? Start with learning these words. Listen to 10 different speakers say them for you.

Read more

PODCAST- Say What? Understanding Stories

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Do you listen to others talk and pretend to understand them? Of course you do! That is natural for learning any new language. We all know it’s a challenge to learn slang, idioms and expressions in any new language. Practicing by listening to stories is a great way to learn new words and phrases. Contact me and write WORDS- I will send you 26 new words and phrases that will help you understand this story and many more to come.