How to Pronounce the Most Important Consonants in English | Core Training with Hadar

Hello, everyone. Hello. Hello. Welcome to day two of the seven day pronunciation challenge. How are you doing? I hope you are well. I hope that you were able to catch up on the content of day one. We already had two mindset talks and one core training yesterday. How are you doing? Let me know in the comments. I want to see you, I want to see you excited about today. Today we are going to talk about consonants. Yesterday we talked about how to organize your speech and how to categorize the different challenges that you're experiencing. Today we're going to start talking about pronunciation and dive deep into the pronunciation of consonants. You're probably asking yourself, but wait a minute, what are consonants? What are you talking about? So hold your horses, my friends, because we are going to get started in 3, 2, 1. How to pronounce the most important consonants in English. So here's what we're going to learn today. Today we're going to learn about consonants. We're going to talk about what are consonants and then what are the most critical consonant related challenges. So we're going to take what we talked about yesterday when it comes to different challenges and we're going to go like only focus on consonants. We're going to talk about the th, I'm going to teach you some tips and tricks on how to pronounce the th, we're going to talk about the R, we are going to talk about the l, and I'm going to address other challenging consonant pairs. So if you haven't downloaded the workbook just yet, I invite you to do it. You will find some guidelines and links and everything that you need all. Also, if you go to the main challenge page, you will see the resources at the top where you'll find the priority chart and additional resources for you to use. All right, so let's begin with the first question. What are consonants? Consonants are speech sound that we produce by blocking the flow of air, fully or partially. And we distinguish consonants from vowels or where vowels are actually pronounced, where there isn't friction so much. Right? So if a vowel would be a, or a, a consonant would basically stop the air on the way out. How we define consonants is really a consonant is really based on where it's blocked and in the lips, inside the mouth, in the back of the throat, and also the way in which it's blocked. Right. Fully partially, where there is barely any contact or even Y, where it almost feels like a vowel. So that would be the manner. Okay. And also where we place it. And one more thing that affects consonants is whether or not I'm producing just air to create the sound, for example, or. Or whether I also activate the vocal cords and then that's where the vibrations happen. So all of these elements are taking into consideration when we talk about consonants. Now, I want to go back to the priority chart to remind you. We organized different challenges that speakers of English as a second language might face when speaking a language. Right. When speaking English in particular. And we divided it into high priority, medium priority, and low priority. High priority are things that would definitely affect your clarity. Medium priority are things that will affect your clarity, but people can get used to it or still understand you. And low priority is usually things that are for your own personal kind of like if you want to polish it a little bit, but it's not critical for your own personal experience, let's say. But when you focus on improving your pronunciation, you definitely want to focus on high priority first and then medium priority. So when it comes to consonant challenges, let's talk about high priority. When we talk about high priority challenges, let me just make it a little bigger for you to be able to read it. The most critical challenges that I have seen is first, consonant swapping. When you replace one consonant that exists in English with another consonant that exists in English. Okay. You replace those two, for example, l versus R. Or when you replace a sh sound with an s. Or when you replace a sound with an S. Okay. Or when you completely eliminate consonants. If you completely eliminate consonants, it's going to affect your clarity. And that usually happens at the end of words, especially for speakers who don't have words in their language, where there are a lot of consonants at the end of a syllable or at the end of a word. Now, medium priority challenges when it comes to consonants specifically are also consonant swapping, but some of them are not that critical. So, for example, if you take a W and you an R and you replace it with a W, that might not be as critical as the high priority challenges. Or when you replace a th with a t sound or replace a sound with a z sound. Now, again, this is generalization, and of course it really depends on the speaker when it comes to consonant challenges. But this is a very good outline for challenges that you can use and identify what you are struggling with. And also mispronouncing key consonants like the R sound or the l sound. For example, if you don't use the dark l at the end of words, and we're going to talk about it today, so instead of saying, well, well, you might be saying well, right? Not using the dark L. Even though this L is perceived to be an L in your brain, it's the same L that you use for the word light. Then as a result, you might be misunderstood. So. So this is why it ends up here in the medium. Priority consonant challenges. Okay, so let's talk a little bit more about consonant swapping and what it is. Consonant swapping is replacing a consonant with another consonant that exists in English. And it will undermine your clarity. But remember that not every swap is critical. Before I continue, let's take a quick break and. And I want to say hi to everyone who joined us and everyone who's here. And I want to ask you this. What are the consonants that you struggle with pronouncing the most in English? What are the consonants? Consonants are sounds that are stopped, partially stopped, or interrupted, like. N, L. These are consonants usually represented with consonant letters. What are the consonants that you struggle with the most? Or at least that you're aware of the fact that you're struggling with them? So we have th. We have D and ed. That's interesting. I want to talk about this for a second. Because the ed suffix that a lot of people struggle with is basically either a T sound or a D sound. So. So when you say to yourself, oh, I have a problem with the ed suffix, I want you to be even more specific. Because if you don't have an issue with pronouncing a T sound or a D sound in isolation, then the problem is not the production of the sound. What is the problem? Knowing exactly which sound appears when there is this suffix? Because sometimes it's a T, sometimes it's a D, and sometimes it's an id. Right? For example, in the word embedded to embed embedded. And sometimes it's a T, like in worked, and sometimes it's a D, as in begged. So how do you know when to use a T, when to use a D, and when to use an ed sound? So that is a different challenge. The challenge is not with the production of the consonant, it's just knowing when to use it. But another challenge could be a high priority challenge. For example, when you say the word worked and it's hard for you to pronounce two consonants together. And then you might say, that is the challenge. Putting two consonants one after the other together and making sure that I pronounced both of them clearly. Because if you don't and you just say work, it might sound as if you're making a grammar mistake where in fact you're not. Okay? You're just. It's Just a pronunciation challenge. It's a constraint that exists in your first language. Because in your first language, maybe there aren't sequences of consonants at the end of words. And as a result, you know you're dropping it because it's kind of like it's illegal. And this is why it's happening. So whenever you come across a challenge, be clear with yourself what is the challenge itself, because when you do, then you know how to solve it. Because practicing the T and D is not going to help you if you already know how to do it. But understanding when to use what that is going to help you in practicing just that. As a side note, usually the suffix is a D sound. The ed suffix. Okay, that's just like. Just for. Just to clarify here, but when it appears after a voiceless consonant, a consonant that is produced just with air, like, then the D becomes a T, because it's really hard to pronounce a voiceless consonant like work and then a voiced D work D very hard. So this is why the mouth is like, oh, let's just make both of them voiceless. And then it becomes a T. Okay? And when you have a word that ends with a T or a D, like in the word embedded, right? It's. You cannot put another D there, embed, you won't hear it. So you add a little schwa there, embedded, just to signify or to symbolize the fact that there is a suffix there. Okay, so that's how it works. I have a video that teaches how to use the ed suffix. So if you want to kind of like review it again, I'm going to have Amar, who is here in the chat, share the link so that you can watch it and learn more about it. Okay, so we have th and sh sound. And also when you think about a consonant that is challenging for you, I also want you to think about why it is challenging. And what is the consonant that you're swapping it with that you're replacing it with? So if the sound is challenging, is it because it's hard for you to pronounce it, or is it because it comes out as a choice sound every time you want to say it? And then sheep and cheap may sound the same, so already start to think a little in a broader sense. And remember that a mispronunciation of one consonant is not critical, but if you replace it with another one, that's what's critical. And you want to become aware of those two consonants as a pair. Someone wrote refrigerator. Definitely a challenging word. A lot of Rs and a lot of silver syllables. Okay, W and V. I love it that you put it together. It's a pair. And some speakers replace those two sounds. So a phrase like very well might be very challenging, right? Or overwhelmed when you have those two consonants together. Maybe in isolation it's okay, why and vi or wine and vine. But then in a phrase, it might be a bit more challenging. Okay? So I don't always know when the S is pronounced as a Z. And I can't hear the difference in fast speech, though I know the Z is voice, whereas S is not great. This is a good starting point, so you know when to use it. And indeed, it is very challenging because sometimes the Z is represented with an S, like in the word cousin. Can you hear it? Cousin. The S is a Z really, but it's spelled with an S, so how do you know? And then in the word sun, the S is an S sound. On top of that, for Spanish speakers, there is no Z in the middle of words, and Z's are pronounced as an S, so you devoice it by default. So not only the challenge is that you don't know what sound it is because of the spelling, but there is also an additional phonological rule that happens in many other languages where the Z, not many, but a few, where the Z is devoiced. So sometimes you might even turn it into an S subconsciously, even though you know it's a Z sound. So there are two layers here. And again, if you want to solve something, you have to know what the core of the problem is, what the root of the problem is, so that you can address just that. This is what I'm talking about when I talk about effective practice. It's not enough to watch a video and hear how to pronounce a sound, and even to drill lists and lists of words, even though it's very effective. Very effective. We do it too in our programs. But unless you know what causes you to mix it up or to confuse it, it would be really hard for you to overcome this challenge and to make it your own. Okay, so if it's just about, I don't know, the pronunciation, it's really about expand, like drilling sounds and. And opening your ears when you're hearing different words and listening to the word, to the language spoken as well as written. But I believe that sometimes what happens is that I think this is a bigger challenge when we devoice sounds. So that also requires repetition, awareness, and more, which we're not going to go into all the things that we can do. But definitely there are ways to handle that. Okay, Ernest says dark L, T and D. Good. So, okay, good. And even T and D. When is it challenging? Is it challenging at the beginning of the words or only in the middle or maybe just after an R? Is it as hard for you to say time as it is to say better? As it is to say party? Not all consonants or consonant challenges are equal. Now, I don't. I'm not trying to confuse you. I want to simplify it. I want to tell you, you may not have an issue with all the T's and D's or all the L's. Maybe it is just the dark L. Maybe it is just the T and D and in the middle of the word. Maybe it is just after an R. And then you minimize the. Even in your brain, the. The work or the amount of words that you actually need to practice so you don't waste your time practicing things that you don't need. Okay, good question. I have. When I study pronunciation, it's all right and beautiful, but when I speak with other people, I can't apply it without stop or slow down. My. How do I do it? This is a big challenge, and I have addressed it yesterday, and we will talk about it in day on day five. It is one of the biggest challenges when learning pronunciation. I'll give you some tips on how to be able to do it. And that's it. That's what I have to say. And it's all about a specific way of practice that will allow you to use it naturally when speaking and not just when you're practicing. Okay. Tr, when it goes together is very hard. Okay, so let me give you a quick tip here. When the T appears before an R, it's actually not pronounced as a T. It's pronounced in American English. It's pronounced as a ch, as in chain ch train. That is the pronunciation of the T before an r. And I think it's actually easier to pronounce it that way so it actually gets your tongue closer to where you want your tongue to be. For the R sound train trust tree trauma. Okay, good. I'm going to look at some of the other challenges that you might be facing are before you, like, rule. I get it. I'll tell you why that is. Because the position of the tongue for the R is very similar to the position of the tongue for the oo sound. And sometimes what happens is that we keep the tongue up for the R. And then when you go into the oo the oo sounds muffled a little bit, right? Or, and that's because you didn't bring the tip of the tongue down for vowels. Keep that in mind. The tip of the tongue always has to be down, right? And if you don't, it's going to sound muffled. Rule, rule, rule. So keep it down. All right, going back to the slides. Ready? Let's talk about some of the key consonants. A lot of you have already mentioned them, so I want to give you some tips on how to pronounce some of the key consonants in English. And then at the end, I'll be happy to answer even more questions. So the th. The th is not critical, not high priority. I want you to remember that. Okay? And even though some people really struggle with it and become very self conscious, most of the swapping is not going to be critical. So if you say thanks instead of thanks, not a big deal, but sometimes it will be challenging. This is why I want to teach you about the thumbnail. So let's begin with the fact that for the th, the tongue has to be out. You want to stick the tongue out just a bit. And the idea is that the air passes between the tongue and teeth, creating this friction sound as if you're releasing the air out of a balloon really, really slowly. That's the voiceless th. It's just air coming out and passing between the tongue and teeth. Now, if you add the vibrations of your voice, what you get is an additional sound, and that is called the voiced th. The tongue is still out. Now, in my programs, when I teach a sound, and I'm going to do that with you as well, I don't only teach it, I also tell you what to expect, what is going to be challenging, and how to know if you're not on the right track. I call it the practice guide, because again, I don't believe it's enough for you to just, you know, get the instructions on how to pronounce it. You also need to know what how to know if you're on the right track. So here are two things that you might be doing that will prevent you from pronouncing the sound clearly. The first one is you're not sticking the tongue out. That's pretty clear. Now, a lot of times you might think that you're sticking the tongue out, but it's not fully out. So here I would use a mirror or your phone camera, or even your finger. And you actually want to feel the tip of the tongue touching your finger. If you're not, then you're probably not sticking the tongue out enough. Now, it's just the tip. Don't stick the tongue out too much. Not think too, but just the tip. Think, think, think. Just enough for the air to pass between the tongue and teeth. Same thing with the voice consonant. So the first thing is you want to see the tongue coming out. Second thing is that your tongue might be out, but it still sounds like a T or a D. So let's say you want to say thank you, and it still sounds like thank you, and you're like, but I see my tongue coming out. Thank you. Do you know why this happens? For all of you watching, do you know why this happens? I'm sticking the tongue out, but still it sounds like a T. Thanks. They. Instead of thanks and they. If you look at the camera, it looks exactly the same. Thanks. Thanks. The reason is because I'm still blocking the air inside. So the tongue is very tight against the teeth, and the body of the tongue is touching the upper palate. You can't see it, but it blocks the air. And as a result, you're creating a stop sound, where the air is stopped and released versus a fricative, where the air gradually transitions from the inside to the outside. Right? So you don't want to block the air. You want to feel the air coming out. So anticipate those mistakes. Okay. When you pronounce, when you practice, make sure that the form is correct, but also anticipate the mistakes. And when you do, it's a lot easier to pronounce it. Okay, you get the sounds. Let's practice it in some words. Is it clear? Is it easier? Let me know in the comments. Yeah. No air. Flora says no air. So, Flora, release. Relax the tongue. Lower it a little bit. Keep it out. Use a mirror, but make sure you blow out the air. It's like an F sound. Feel the air. And then instead of the bottom lip, just bring the top teeth. You want to have the same feeling of air bursting against your palm. Okay. And when you do, then you're like, oh, okay, now I get it. Good. Flora, did you get it? Let me know. Crystal clear. Good. So, Flora, I'm just waiting for you for. For you to confirm that you got it, that you feel the air. Practice together. Th versus tnd. No, actually, I don't want to start with this. I want to start with th that might be confused or replaced with an S or Z or F or V. Now tell me. I'll tell you this. The th is a fricative. You hear the transition of the sound and when you replace it with another fricative, like an S or Z or an F or a v, this is where it's confusing. Okay? This is why it's top priority. Critical mistakes. If you say sink instead of think, it will turn into a totally different word. Okay, good. The air is coming out. Think sink. Here it's just a matter. It's not the quality, it's the placement of the tongue. The quality of this is the same, but you want to make sure that the tongue is out. If it's not out, it's going to sound like an S. Think sink. Pass. Okay? If they sound the same, then it's because your tongue is not out. Then Zen. And comparing minimal pairs is really good for your practice. Three free. Today, Christina, one of our coaches and the head of our content department, said that she was walking with a neighbor's child the other day, and the kid said, we are free. And Christina said, of course we are free. Why wouldn't we be? And the child said she was confused and she said to free because she mispronounced the th. Now, this is the thing. Even Christina, who coaches for a living, she's a pronunciation coach. When she wasn't paying attention to the context and it made sense in the sentence, right? Like, we are free is a totally legit sentence. And her brain went to free as in freedom, rather than free as in an F. That substitutes the th. Okay? So this is why it's important for your clarity. So here the quality is the same. Your brain might, or your ear even might feel it's the same sound, but you replace the bottom lip with the top teeth, swapping one consonant with another. Three free. Three free. Good. Good. I'm looking at the comments because I can't see you, unfortunately. Usually in my lessons, I see all my students in front of me. I can't see you, but I'll just trust your comments. Okay, next up, let's practice the th when it's replaced with a T or a D. Thanks, Tanks. This is the case where your tongue is not sticking fully out, but it's still very close to the teeth, but just blocking the air or when the tongue blocks the air on the teeth. Thanks. This is a mistake that I talked about. So here, make sure that the air comes out. Thanks, Tanks. They day, bath, bat, breathe, breed. Right. So these are minimal pairs, different words that sound the same or no different words. Yeah, that sound the same if you misplace it. Thanks, Tanks. Let's do it together. They day, bath, bat, breathe, breed. Good. All right. We're going to move on to the R sound, which is another very important consonant in English. Who here struggles with the R sound? It's just got a comment. Hi. You are great. Thank you so much. So are you. Can you repeat the last one? What was the last? Breathe, breed. Breathe. Voice. Th. Breathe, breed. A D sound. Breathe, breed. Yes. Okay. Some R challenges here. I get it. The R sound is a very unique sound. A lot of languages don't have the R sound. There are some languages that have it, some dialects in or accents in Brazilian, Portuguese, and I think in Mandarin Chinese. But the quality R R is very unique for many other languages, and people categorize it as an R sound. So it would be replaced with completely different sounds, but they're still in the same category, like right and right. And sometimes back here. Right and right. So they might sit in the same category sometimes. So let me tell you about the R sound and how to pronounce it. The R sound in American English is produced by bringing the tongue to the middle of the mouth. And it has a very unique position where the sides of the tongue touch the sides of the teeth like this. The tip of the tongue should not be touching anything. It could point up, could point forward. But the most important part is this. It clicks against the top teeth, and then you release a sound. There's a lot of tension here in the back of the tongue and the root of the tongue. And one more thing that is really important for the R is this. Notice the difference between. And I'm really closing the sounds. I'm kind of, like, grabbing it together and creating a deeper sound. When I close my lips, I allow the sound to resonate more inside the mouth so it's deeper and stronger. So I don't have to work hard to pronounce sounds. If you feel that you have to really push your voice and push your energy whenever there is a word with R, or you feel exhausted when you have to say phrases like around the world or the girl. And then probably that's the case, you're probably investing a lot more energy than you need to. Okay, so let's try it together. Red. Right. Ready? So Ernest says that the R is very different in American English and in British English. So my answer to this is yes and no. No, because when you say the word right, it's the same in American English and British English. Maybe you have a little more friction for the R sound in British English in some dialects, but the quality is the same, and how you produce it is exactly the same. However, There is this thing called an R vowel. So up until now, today we practice R consonant. R consonant Rs where the r is before a vowel. It's a strong R. And it's the same both in American, British, Australian and all dialects of English. But when the R appears after a vowel, it's called an R vowel or an R diphthong. What happens is that the vowel is actually the core element of the sound, as in the word car, and the R is just like this little addition at the end. In British English, this R is not pronounced. It's a schwa or you just drop it. Car. Where first girl versus Car. You just lift the tongue up. Where first girl. That's the main difference. So the quality of the R is different. Is the same. My words are get all confused. Today the quality is the same of the R, but in British English, it just drops when it appears after a vowel. The vowel is what matters. Car. Where First. First. Just keep the tongue down. This is why I tell my students who struggle with the R to only focus on the R at the beginning of the words. Because if they drop it at the beginning of a word and it's going to be critical, I instead of ry or Y instead of rye, it's going to affect their clarity. But if they drop it at the end and they say car instead of car, people will understand them because there are so many dialects of English that actually drop the R at the end. Okay, so permission to drop the R when it's at the end of words. If you really struggle with. Yes, the R is mispronounced. It's actually just. It just is not pronounced completely good. The tongue is below the teeth or beside them. So the tongue is not below the teeth. It doesn't touch the teeth. It's here. Oh, I get what you're asking. Yes. You could consider it as if it's below the teeth. Like this. Yeah. It could stick out a little bit. It can even bite on your teeth and feel it. So both are okay. Even if you just touch the tongue. Touch the sides of the teeth with the tongue. That is possible. And also. Let me just remove it because we got it. We got it. We're talking about the R. You don't have to see it in front of you. Right. Like this. R Like this. It doesn't matter. What matters is the quality of the sound and the quality of the tension inside your tongue. And also make sure that you're not adding a lot of tension here. R. Not this. No need. Just this. How to pronounce vulnerable. I'll teach it after I teach the dark L. Okay. All right. Thank you. Or let's talk about. Let's practice it. Let's practice it a little bit. Now, when it comes to the R, something that you might notice is that you might be substituting it, swapping it with other sounds. So if you are a speaker of Japanese or Korean, then this might happen to you where the R and l get replaced. So let's practice this. This is a critical mistake. Right. Light. So for the. Why is it so confusing? Because when you pronounce the R, the tongue almost touches the upper palate, but it doesn't R. And for the light, it has to touch the upper palate. Right? Light, Rain, Lane. Pray, play. And here's another thing. Even if you don't confuse those two sounds, you want to be able to hold out the R when you practice it. Puree. Right. So it's not pray, pray. Right. You want to be able to hold it out. Purr, pray, play, pray, grow, glow. And when you hold it out, you realize if it's the right sound or not. Grow versus Glow. Can you hear it grow? Good. Let's talk about the L. Okay. And then I'm going to leave some room for more questions. Yes, we have a lot of questions. I see the L. There are two Ls in English, the light L and the dark L. The light L appears at the beginning of words and before a vowel. Allow. Listen. Play. Classic. The dark L appears at the end of words or before a consonant. Well, alternative, vulnerable. Can you hear the difference between the two Ls? La, o, la O. For the dark L. I barely even touch the upper palate with my tongue. L. Let's take the word light, for example. When I. And. And. And I'm actually going to add another L to the. To your vocabulary of Ls that you're thinking when you think about the sound. The American L, the English L at the beginning of words is called a light. L. Light. However, the funny thing is, is that it's still a little darker than the L in many other languages. For example, in my own language, Hebrew, this is the L. La, la. When I use that light in an English word, it might sound a little off yet clear. Not a big deal. I add a little bit of tension to get to the quality that I want. Light. Oh, oh, oh. It's not la, la, la, Light. Now, the light L appears in many other languages like Spanish and French and, well, Russian has a two, has many other L's. I'M kidding. Like two more. So I'm not going to go into that. But the ultralight L is very common. So even when you work on the light L and you want to get a little fancy, so you can add a bit more tension here. Listen. Light alone. So ultralight L. Light. Light. American L. Light. Dark L in the light position. Light. That's already too heavy. You're probably not going to hear it, but it's not going to affect your clarity. Okay, but speakers who have that dark L in all positions or in other positions might use the dark L even in a light L position. But when it's before a vowel, we want to have a bit more clarity. Light. Listen long. Okay. When it's at the end, well, we have that sound. The back of the tongue goes up. There is tension. The tip of the tongue either touches or not touches the upper palate. Well, it's almost like you're taking a W and you're taking an L and a little bit of R and you're sprinkling a little bit of R on top of it and you're mixing everything together. That is the dark L. Well, well, now let's hear this word with an ultralight L. Well, with a light L. Well, perfectly fine. But what we're expecting to hear is, well, I'll do it again. I know it's confusing. I know it's a lot. We only have seven days. Teaching pronunciation takes a little longer if we want to cover the real substantial things. So if this is not enough, at the end of the challenge, I'll tell you how you can continue working with me. But for now, take whatever you can and if needed, watch the replay. Ultralight. Well, this might be confused by listeners, right? Because sometimes the ultralight L is confused with an R and they might think that you're saying, where? Well, light L. Well, right. Well, light. There is a little more tension here, but the tongue touches the upper palate and then. Well, that is the dark L. That is the L that people expect to hear at the end of words or before a consonant like help or milk or vulnerable. Break down this word because someone asked about it. It's a V sound and then a cup sound. V and then a dark L. The dark L usually colors the vowel before. Val. Val. Can you hear it? It's not V, but it's V. We're coloring the vowel before because of the dark L. Then we have an N sound with a schwa. Volna and then an R sound round your lips. R and then a B sound. And a dark L. Bull. And here as well. Because there is a dark L, it almost feels like you're adding an O sound before the l. Bull. Vulnerable. Vulnerable. Good. What do I want to do? Do I want to practice a few more words with the l? Now, I want to tell you this. If you're a Brazilian Portuguese speaker or a Mandarin Chinese speaker, you are likely to turn the l sound, or even Japanese speaker, the l at the end, you are likely to turn it into an oo sound. Now, for most speakers, like when we hear well, we do hear an ooish sound there. But if you don't bring the tip of the tongue up or you end up saying well or go instead of go, it's going to affect your clarity. So if this is a challenge for you, here's my piece of advice. Bring the tongue to touch the upper palate. Don't compromise on feeling the contact between the tip of the tongue and the upper palate, even though you can do it without. If you tend to turn it into an oo, it might sound like an oo if you don't bring that. If you don't create that contact. Contact well. Right. Your tendency of turning it into an oo is already going to create that dark L sound. So don't worry about the quality because clarity is more important than accuracy. Someone says, I feel like I'm in a live for new sound module 5. Module 5 is the module where we talk about vowels and consonant. No consonants. So it's fun. Volume. Yeah, same thing. Same thing. The beginning, like it's a cup sound and then a dark link. Okay, let's practice. Before we go, we have. Oh, let me share. This is for you guys. Those of you who confuse the dark L with a. With a W sound or an ooh sound. Put yes in the comments if that's you. Ooh. Lily is a good word. I'll. I'll. I'll talk about it. Go. Goal. Let's not confuse those. If you feel that these are similar, this is a critical challenge. Toe, tole, bow. Bowl, row, Roll. Yes. Okay, we have a lot of yeses here. So for all of you, we're going to do it again. Make sure you bring the tip of the tongue to touch the upper palate. If. If these sound the. Toe. Toe. Good. Bow, bow. Get to the L. Grow. Roll. Good. Good. A lot of yeses. So make sure you practice this. Take a screenshot right now so you can practice it afterwards. Okay. Just for fun, we're going to talk about a few other challenges. Hold on, hold on. More cases. This is relevant for some speakers, not all speakers. This could be relevant for, let's say Spanish speaker who might confuse the ch sound with a sh. What is the difference? Can you hear it? Ch. Sh, Sh, Sh. So basically both of them has sh, as in shine in them. Sh. We round the lips, but the ch spelled with a C and then an H. We actually add a T sound right before T. Sh, T, sh, T, sh, T, Sh. That's the sound. Chip. Ship. Make sure you don't pronounce the T sound in the second word. Chip, Ship. Choose. Shoes. Catch. Cash. Let's do it again. Catch. You block the air and then you release it to a sh sound. Cat. Sh. It's like when you sneeze. Right? It was a fake sneeze. I'm really good at fake sneezes because I know how to control my pronunciation. That's the sound of a sneeze. Cat. Cash. You don't block the air. Cash. That's the sh. Catch. Cash. Watch. Wash. Good. I'm glad you resonated with my sneezing example. Watch. Wash. All right, who hoot, Struggle, struggles with this? Let me know if this is a challenge for you. Could you please return to the previous slide? Yes. Flora, this one a screenshot. Okay, good. Don't forget that this is going to be recorded. It's already on the website. Recorded. As soon as we're done, you can go back to it. And we are 45 minutes into the session. Okay. Arabic speakers. Do we have any Arabic speakers here? Raise your hand if you're an Arabic speaker. BNP could be a challenge. Right. By PI. Because the P, we don't have a P in Arabic. So we replace it with the most. With the closest sound that we have, which is exactly the same sound, only it's voiced. So the B is a voiced P sound. So you already know what you need to do. You know how to make voiced sounds. You know how to close your lips and release air with a puff. For a P, you just need to add voice. It's like the difference between. You definitely have that in Arabic. Both, I mean, depending on the dialect. Sh. Okay. By PI bit, pit. For those of you who don't struggle with the two, then focus on the vowels as we're practicing it. Cab, cap, rib, rip. And that's something else. Like sometimes we don't fully pronounce the words at the end. We kind of hold it at the end. Yes. If you're exposed to other languages. Right. Then that have a P sound. Then absolutely this is not going to be a challenge for you. Good. Yeah. So it definitely depends on your dialect. Okay, good. All right. How are you doing? I'm going to leave some room for questions, so let's just wrap up really quickly what we did today. Okay. So we talked about consonants, sounds that are stopped, partially stopped, or interrupted. We talked about the most critical consonant related challenges. We said that it's swapping of most consonants, a consonant that exists with another consonant that exists in English. And then also we talked about dropping consonants that it. It's like a big challenge, so that it's definitely something that you want to avoid or be aware of. Then we talked a little more deeply about the th, the r, and the l. I gave you some tips on how to pronounce it. Not enough. There is more, but we don't have a lot of time for it. So again, if you'd like to go a little deeper into learning pronunciation at the end, I'll tell you how we can do that. But if not, then I also have free videos on my YouTube channel that go a little deeper and then other challenging consonant pairs that we've practiced. But even if we haven't practiced the sounds that are challenging for you, specifically when you understand how we approach other consonants or other challenges, it helps you understand what you are struggling with as well. Okay, your daily task for today, before I answer some questions, first of all, review the priority chart. Review the priority chart focusing on consonants. Then choose one consonant sound or consonant pair that you struggle with and that is in your high or medium priority list. And then practice the sound according to the instructions or the recommendations in the workbook. So download the workbook if you haven't yet, it's there. And also listen to the mindset talk if you haven't before we go. Okay, I will do it. So I can kind of like get the slides out of the way and then answer some questions. Tomorrow, if you join me at the same time, we will do the same thing, but with vowels. We're going to talk about how to stop confusing similar vowel pairs. It's a lot of fun. All the sheep, ship, bus, boss, cap, cop. I just published a reel yesterday with a listening quiz about, you know, similar vowel sounds or similar consonant sounds. And it was funny. Most people got most of it. Okay. But there were two sounds there that most people got wrong, which is the cup sound versus the oz and father. Like in the words bus versus boss. So if. If you tried this, if you tested that reel and you got confused there, then make sure. You show up to tomorrow for the lesson about vowels. Okay, so, moving into some questions. Let's see. So Alfredo is asking how to pronounce the word art. Art. I'm deliberately popping the T so you can hear it, but I can pronounce it in both ways. So let's start with the beginning. The beginning is an ah, as in father. Ah. You relax your tongue. You open your mouth. It's the most open sound in English. You round your lips just a bit, barely ah. Ah. Now, right after that, there is an R sound. So you lift the tongue up to the same position that I talked about earlier. But you have to make sure that you first pronounce the vowel. See how the tongue goes up, and then you round your lips, and then you bring the tip of the tongue up to touch the upper palate for the T. Art. Now, you can pop the T. Art. Like I did, but you can hold the T. It's called a hell t. Art, which is basically an abrupt, abrupt stop of the R sound. Art. That's the T. Yesterday, if you were in yesterday's lesson, I talked about the word can. It's the same thing. Art. Art. But again, pop the T. If it's easier. Art. For British speakers, you drop the R. Ought. Ought. Good. Next, how to pronounce. Parallel. Parallel. The first P is an aspirated P. Pa. It's an as in cat, but when the as in cat appears before an R, which is the next sound, it actually moves into an e sound. Then it's an R sound in a schwa. And then we have a light L, an S sound, and a dark L. L. Parallel. Parallel. Parallel. Can you hear it? Light l and then a dark L. In your program, is there any way that someone is checking if we are doing well? Okay, so I do have a program that focuses on pronunciation and fluency. I teach you how to give yourself feedback in a much more elaborate way. So, first of all, and I'm going to talk about it on day five, it's critical that you know yourself if you are on the right track. Right. Because we do not want you to be dependent on speech coaches to always tell you if you're doing it okay or not. When you get the tools and the knowledge and the understanding of knowing exactly if you're pronouncing something correctly or not, and if not, why. And there are ways to do that, and that's what I teach in my program, then you are able to do it yourself in addition to that. Yes, we have some offers and options. We have some opportunities where I go live like this. And then you can jump in and I give feedback. But it's not guaranteed that everyone gets feedback. But we also have an option to add. To add. Getting feedback from coaches in all your practice exercises. So the answer is yes, but we have different plans for that. But again, I want you to remember that the most important thing is for you to be able to manage it on your own, for you to be able to know if you're on the right track or not. Does volume has a dark L? Volume. Yes. And here's. That's a good question. You're asking this because there is a vowel after the L sound. And you're like, it sounds very deep. It sounds heavy. But it doesn't look like it has a consonant after. But it. There is. Because after the Vol. You have a Y sound. Volume, volume, volume, volume. It does have an U sound. For a second, I was like, volume, yes. So because of the Y sound, the L is not a light L, it's a dark L. Vol. Vol. Volume. Okay. I still feel a little flaky about the ooh sound. Volume. Yes. Definitely an ooh sound. Volume. Okay. I was. Okay, I was correct. How to pronounce grow and glow. I'm from China. They sound the same to me. Great question. So here it's physical. You have to make sure that you have to hold out the sound for the R. The tongue doesn't touch the upper palate. You will be able to hold it out. Gr. You can feel it here. Can stick the finger and feel like the tongue is touching the finger. Gro. Grow. For the word glow, you need to feel and see your tongue touching. Right? And then this is an easy one. It's not like with vowels where the difference is this or this, right? With your tongue, and then you're like, I don't know how to tell the difference. Here you can physically see your tongue and feel it and then know if you're pronouncing it correctly or not. But here's the thing, my friend. It might still sound the same to you. So you'll have to trust what you see. If it touches the upper palate, you're probably pronouncing an lip. If it doesn't, you're probably closer to an R sound. Okay. Sometimes we need to use. And this is what I do when I teach you, I give you the practice guide in my program, because it's kind of like if these things are happening, then you're probably on the right track because your brain might trick you what you hear, what you perceive in your brain is not necessarily what you hear. If you remember yesterday I gave you the example of pay versus pay and I said some people might hear the same. Okay. So what you hear, what your ear is capable of catching is not how the brain interprets it. There are a lot of filters between what you hear and what is perceived. And the filters are like the bodyguards of sounds. And it really depends on what your first language has. Right. And this is why sometimes even a far brain is like, wait, I can't hear it. Sometimes we need to record ourselves or to use other elements like a mirror or our phone camera to see if we're on the right track or not. Paid, pay. Paid. It's a D sound. We bring the tip of the tongue up. Paid. Block the air. Pay. Okay, I have a question about sight and sight. So these are homophones. They're pronounced. There's two different words, sight as in eyesight and also sight as in a location. Right. S, I, T, E. They're pronounced the same. Sight, sight, homophones. Two different words spelled differently. Pronounce the same. How to pronounce? Rare. Rare. Rare. Round your lips for the R, open it to an E sound. Do this with your hands. With me, Say red. Red. But instead of now, instead of going to the D, re, go back to the R. R. But you got to hear the eh, Rare. If you don't, it's going to sound like this just sounds like a barking dog. Rare. Rare. Open, close, close, open, close. Okay. Okay. We have some questions about vowels. Wait for it tomorrow. Okay. You asked about bet, bat, and. But tomorrow I'll. Is it a dark L? Yes, because it's at the end of a word. I'll. I'll tell you. I'll talk to you. Ability. Okay. Actually, let's talk about the I flat T and Y sound and then the l before that. Here's why it's confusing. Put. Yes. If you're saying abidity. So they actually sound the same. Abidity. If this is for you, or am I just inventing it? Because I remember that when I used to work with students one on one, this. This is a challenge that I would always see. Abidity. Why? Because the brain and the tongue like to kind of like imitate sounds. Okay, thank you. I'm not alone. Because the T is a flap T and the flap T is a flap against the upper palate. It actually sounds like an R in Spanish or in Arabic or in Russian, like a very light R. That's the Flap T. So the ending is. So the tongue touches the upper palate really lightly. And for the L, the tongue touches the upper palate but not really lightly, but also not strongly. L. So it's so similar that the brain is like, let's just make them the same. Doesn't matter, right, Aberdy. But. And by the way, you're still going to be clear if you're saying it like that. So don't worry. Clarity over accuracy. But if we want to be accurate just for the sake of practice, because when we're able to achieve or overcome a struggle, we get better at everything related to pronunciation. So L abil. Gotta have a little bit more contact. Contact L, L, L. And then I like flap ability. Ability. So hold it out a little bit more. It's also the end of the primary stress ability. Okay, how to pronounce the word would. So the W. W. If you confuse it with a V. Here's a secret. Make sure nothing touches the top lip and bottom lip should not touch. W like a kiss. W For the V. There's always contact. Now, some people have another sound that doesn't exist in English that brings. That is created by bringing the two lips together. So it's actually. It sounds like a V, but it looks like a W. V. That's because they come so close until it creates the friction instead of this W, W, V. So make sure there is no contact. Learn how to do it, and then drill it in words. W. Why? That's not a word. I just made it up. But it's okay. It works well with the practice. Okay, last word for today, girl. Let's talk about that because it is a challenging one. Okay, Would W. Would you might be also referring to the vowel after. But that's for tomorrow. Okie dokie, girl. Here we have the R sound. R vowel, and then a dark L. Start with that. The tongue is not touching anything. And then we transition to the dark L, not earl. Right? It's not just that light L. URL. There is the transition between the R and then like a middle sound and then the dark L. Earl. And that's it. And before that there is a G sound. Girl, if you say the word bigger. Bigger. Bigger. The end of bigger. Notice there is no vowel in between. It's not big gare. It's ger gur. Grr. Bigger G. Prepare your lips for the R as you pronounce the G. And then gr. Gr. Make the R a little longer. Prepare for the L. Pronounce it, girl. All right, my friends, you have many more questions that I'm really tempted to continue and answer all your questions. There is nothing that I love more than teaching you how to pronounce words. However, we are at the end of the hour, and I want to make sure that you take now the time that you still have left for your English practice today, and you go to your workbook and you do the work, because we're all about implementing what you've learned. Okay? Let's not fall into the trap of the illusion of learning, even though it's fun for all of us. Okay, my friends, thank you so much. I will see you tomorrow as we talk about vowels. Keep up the good work. If you have friends that are not a part of this challenge and you want to invite them, make sure you invite them, because it's going to hold you accountable, get you excited about it a bit more, and if not, that is fine, too. We are friends here anyway. All right, my friends. Take care. Love you all. You guys are amazing. See you tomorrow in the mindset talk. Bye.