A short Influency Podcast episode (How to Pronounce Friday) in which host Hadar Shemesh teaches the pronunciation difference between 'woman' (singular) and 'women' (plural). The lesson explains articulatory cues (lip rounding for W, schwa in the second syllable for 'woman', vs. the 'i' vowel in 'women'), offers example phrases ('one woman', 'a few women'), and includes brief opening/closing remarks with host contact info.
Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar, and this is how to Pronounce Friday, where we take a confusing word or word pair. We learn how to pronounce it and how to use it with confidence. Let's get started.
I figured it would be the perfect day to discuss the difference between a woman and women. One woman, a few women, or many women. So let's get started. Woman, Women. Let's begin with the singular form. We start with a W sound. So round your lips and then open it up to an as in good. You see? So my lips open up a little bit, but they're still a bit rounded. The jaw drops, the tongue pulls back, and it's kind of relaxed in the back. Think like you have a hot potato in the back of your mouth and you don't have to touch anything. W. And then you move on to the second syllable, which is. It's an M sound, a schwa, a reduced vowel, and then an N. W, M, W, N. The plural form is different in the spelling at the end of the word, right? So instead of A, you have e, but it affects the pronunciation of the first syllable. Now, why is that? I have no idea, but that's just how it is. So instead of saying W, man, we now say we men. All right? It's the E as in situation vowel sound. So from the W, you switch to the I sound, and then again, the ending is exactly the same. Woman, women, one woman, a few women. All right, that's it. Now, at the end, I'd like to wish all of you, my women friends around the world, that you'll always give yourself the permission and space to express yourself in English and in your native tongue.
Okay, that was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you like the podcast, then consider subscribing to the podcast. And if you feel really crazy, you can even rate and review the podcast. And you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, where you can DM me and ask for all the crazy, fancy, confusing words that you'd like to know and how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day and I'll see you next time.
