A short instructional YouTube video by Hadar Shemesh that contrasts the pronunciation of 'south' versus 'southern'. The presenter gives a step-by-step phonetic breakdown for each word (s + "ow" + voiceless th for 'south'; s + schwa + voiced th + r + n for 'southern'), highlights common learner mistakes (over/under-pronouncing the th, substituting t/f/s), and offers practice recommendations and viewer engagement prompts (make sentences, comment, visit her website).
Chapters
Hey there, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. And today we are going to talk about the two words south versus Southern. How to pronounce them, and what are the common mistakes that people make when pronouncing those two words. Let's begin with the easier word to pronounce, South. Easier, not necessarily easy, because it has a th in it and an s. So we begin with an s south sound, and then it's the ow as a now sow, and you close it with a th, South. Notice that the ow as a now starts with a front vowel. Ah. It's actually the ah as in the word cat. It's like you're about to say sat, but instead of the T, you go into an oo sound. So close it with a th. South. South. That's the first word. A common confusion is when people try to overcompensate for the th or over pronounce it. And then they may pronounce a th instead of an s unintentionally. South. South. Or put an s instead of the final th. Sous or south. Just. Just a t or an f. South. All the possible substitutions for the th sound. So make sure you stick the tongue out for the th, south. And release air. Now, the word southern is obviously derived from the word south, but it doesn't sound like it. Okay, so it is not, and I repeat, it is not Southern. It's a different word. The only similar thing we have here is the s at the beginning, s. Other than that, everything is different. Instead of ow as in south, we have as in cup, as in sun, s. And then it's not a soft, voiceless th, it's a voiced th as in the word they. Then you pull the tongue in for the R sound, because here we have a schwa sound. There is no vowel really before the th and the r. So you want to treat it as. As if there is nothing there really. And then if it's not challenging enough, let's add an N at the end. Southern. South. Let's go to the south or Southern. The Southern Shore or Southern Comfort. Southern Comfort. South. Southern. Okay, so practice each word quite a few times until you kind of overcome the pronunciation challenges and you pronounce those two words smoothly. And then create. Create two sentences, one for each word and put them in the comments below. And right after that, think of other confusing words and share them with us as well. And maybe I'll make a video about them. How to pronounce your challenging word. Okay, that's it. Thank you so much for watching. If you like this video, don't forget to like it and to subscribe if you haven't yet. And right after that, come on over to my website and check it out because there's a lot of great and free stuff waiting for you there to download and to improve your fluency and confidence and pronunciation in English. Have a beautiful week and I will see you in the next video. Bye.
