Tag Archive for: #AccentModification

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.

 

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….

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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 Fractions

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There comes a time when we all need to pronounce a fraction or two in our lives! We speak of fractions when we are measuring for new kitchen blinds, cooking, ordering a picture frame and even when we are telling time.

Fractions requires multiple higher level pronunciation skills. Who knew, right? For some people, pronouncing consonant sounds at the ends of words is much different than what they are used to.

1. With fractions, we pronounce multiple consonant sounds at the ends of the fraction.  We add the plural /s/ for plural numbers (those are numbers when the top number is greater than one) For example 2/17 is “two seventeenths” /n/ + “th” + /s/.   WHEW!

2. Then, there is the article “a” that is used in place of the number one- for singular fractions beginning with a consonant sound. (hint: almost all of them) For example:  1/2, 1/3, 1/4.  “a half, a third, a fourth”

3. And pronouncing the singular article “an” for the number one that is used for singular fractions beginning with a vowel sound.  (hint: the number EIGHT).  For example:  1/8, 1/18, 1/80   “an eighth”, “an eighteenth” and “an eightieth”

Listen to Pam’s informational podcast and if you would like the complete transcript and a handy guide for pronouncing and spelling fractions  Email Pam  HERE –  and please write “FRACTIONS” in the subject line.

Comments or Questions? You can find the comment section right under the title of this blog. I’d love to hear from you!

Practicing 3 Vowel Sounds in Head-Hat-Hot

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The English spelling system has 5 letters that represent the vowels  A-E-I-O-U (and sometimes Y), but when talking, these vowels have at least 20-different vowel sounds!

Pronouncing English vowels are defined by changes made with the tongue, the degree of muscle tension (tense or relaxed), and lip movements. These tiny little changes make a BIG difference successfully communicating your intended words.  For example, the comparisons below show that if  you try to pronounce a word with one vowel sound, ex: head,  but pronounce the word with a different sound, the desired word may sound more like ‘had’, ‘hat’, or ‘hot’.   This week’s podcast will help you hear the differences and give you words to practice saying the differences.

Listen to Ep. 26  Pronouncing English With Pam Podcast

 

/ɛ/ This is a relaxed sound. Our mouth is open slightly, lips are neutral.
pen, men, slept, head, better

/æ/ tense sound (mouth open). lips are back slightly.
fast, had, slap, clap, man, pan, Pam

/ɑ/ tense sound (mouth is open the most), lips are forward a little or neutral.
stop, daughter, fought

Can you say these two words differently?

/ɛ/ – /æ/
head -had
men -man
guess- gas
said- sad
slept -slapped
end- and
then- than

/ɑ/- /æ/
hot-hat
mop-map
rock-rack

How did you do? Do you have difficulty hearing the difference between words?  Tell me in the comments below!

 

Ordering At Starbucks-Varieties of Coffee and L Sounds!

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Practice the American English pronunciation when learning how to order sizes, flavors and menu choices from Starbucks. Let’s listen to some of the L pronunciations. I guarantee you will learn a new pronunciation in this lesson! Listen to this recording and review the words listed below.

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PODCAST- Sound like a native saying the phrase ” I have to”

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PODCAST- 10 Common Words with Dropped Syllables

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Finally a lesson where you can say less sounds!

Become familiar with these common words in American English and you will amaze your friends with your native-like pronunciation skills. Your friends will not know why you sound amazing, they will just notice that you are speaking English the correct way.

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