Short instructional video by Hadar Shemesh teaching how to pronounce the word "important." The speaker breaks the word into parts: the relaxed initial "im" (low jaw, forward tongue), a full "or" vowel (rounded lips, keep tongue low before raising for R), and a connected final cluster where T and N link (tongue holds and air is released through the nose). The instructor offers an optional schwa between T and N for learners who find the cluster difficult and closes with practice phrases and a call-to-action.
Chapters
Hey, it's hadar. And this is the accents way. Your way to finding clarity, confidence and freedom in English. I was asked to explain how to pronounce the word important. And since it's an important word, I made this video for you. So let's begin with the beginning of the word. Alright, so it begins with a relaxed I sound and an im. Im. What is a relaxed sound? The tongue is pushing forward, the lips are relaxed and the jaw drops a little bit. It's not important, but im. Im. Then the second syllable is an or, as in for vowel. Pour. Pour. It's very important to hear the clear vowel or before you bring your tongue up for the R. Alright. If you raise the tongue up too quickly, impertine, it sounds like a different vowel. Impertine. It's not the same versus impor. So keep the tongue down until you're done with a full vowel. Or you see the lips are rounded, the jaw drops, and then you only slightly raise the tongue for the R sound. Pour in. Pour. Then we have the end of the word here. The T, the N and the T kind of like connect together these three sounds. What do we do here? So the tongue goes up for the T import. Okay. You see, the tongue is up there right behind the teeth, touching the upper palate. But instead of releasing the air through the mouth, important. I keep the tongue up, holding the air and releasing it through the nose, then going directly to the N and then going back to the T. Then I can release the T slightly. Then I kind of like release the tongue. Alright, so it's not important or important. Tent. It's important. Now, if it's really difficult for you to produce this TN sound, you can add a little schwa between the T and the n. Important t'. Nt. That's also okay. Just make sure it's not a full vowel. Okay, so let's practice in a few phrases. An important job, important practice. It's very important. Important. All right, that's it. I hope you enjoyed this video and you found it useful. And if you did, please share it with your friends after you subscribe. If you haven't yet, have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video by.
