Hadar Shemesh breaks down how to pronounce forward and backward, covering vowel reduction, the R-W transition, stress placement, and the specific tongue and lip movements you need.
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.
Ronnie asked me to explain how to pronounce the words forward and backward. Forward and backward. Now both words end the same. Listen. Word. Word. Just like the word word. Let's say a few words about it. Now, although it's spelled with W A R D W, A R D pronounced as ward, as in the neurological ward. But here it's reduced so you don't pronounce the or as in for. You pronounce it as a schwa. Word. Word. Let's start with a W sound round your lips and then you bring the tongue up as you round your lips for the R. Were. There is nothing between the W and the R Were. Just like the word were as in we were. As your tongue is up there, you push it to touch the upper palate, to close it with a D sound. Word. Word. Now that's the ending. Let's talk about the beginning in the word forward. The beginning is the word for. Just like the number four.
Four.
You bring the bottom lip to touch the teeth for the F, release air, drop your jaw for the vowel. And then you close your jaw a little bit and bring the tongue up for the R. For. Now listen, you gotta open your mouth and keep the tongue down as you pronounce the word for. Otherwise it's gonna sound like fur. Furword. It's too tight, too closed for. Also, this is the primary stress of the word. So take your time. And it's a little higher in pitch. Forward, forward. Now let's say it a few times. Forward, forward. What's the difficult part about it? Forward. Where do you struggled? I guess it's where the transition between the rw and R again, R were or were. All right. This transition is every non native speaker's dream.
I know.
Just put in a th there and it's a big party. Forward.
I'm kidding.
It's not a party, it's a nightmare. So to pronounce this transition, you bring the tongue up for the R er in four. Then you keep the lips rounded, close your lips a little bit more for the W, you relax it, and then you bring the tongue up again for the R or were or were. Forward. Now the word backward is a little easier because you have the word back at the beginning. It's in B sound. Then the as in cat. Ba. And then you bring the tongue up in the back for the K sound. Back, backward. For the A sound, pull your lips a little bit to the side so it doesn't come out as backwards. Ba. And drop your jaw a lot. Ba. Backward, forward. I'm moving forward and backward. Let's look backward, forward, backward.
That's it.
Okay.
That was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And. 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 how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day, and I'll see you next time. Sa.
