Hadar Shemesh explains that au and aw in English both make the same open back vowel sound, like the ah in father. The video covers articulation, regional variations, and words like audio, author, awful, and awesome, then gives you practice exercises.
This is not audio and this is not awesome, but both vowel letters actually represent one vowel sound, and that is. Hey, everyone, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we are going to talk about how to pronounce words that have the au or aw letters in the spelling. As you know, English is not a phonetic language. And when you see those two letters, letters, it doesn't necessarily represent the sound ow. So this is not audio and this is not o. Some. But both vowel letters actually represent one vowel sound, and that is ah. Now, first, let's talk about the pronunciation of this sound. This sound is an open back vowel vowel sound. To make this sound, you want to drop your jaw. Ah, relax your lips. Ah. And it actually sounds very similar to the ah as in father. Author. Author. Now, this is one pronunciation of the sound, but in some dialects, especially on the east coast in the US you will notice that this sound is a bit more rounded. So instead of author, you will hear author. So the lips are a bit more rounded. Author. Whether you choose to pronounce it as a author daughter or author daughter, it doesn't matter. Choose whatever is easier for you as long as you make it the same sound and there isn't a shift there from one sound to another. A shift that you might be making because you see two vowel letters and you might want to pronounce each of them differently. So not o, ther, or low, but author and law. So you want to drop your jaw. The back of the tongue is raised a little bit. The lips are slightly rounded. Author. You can also pronounce it as a more neutral sound, like the oz in father. Author, author. Choose whatever is easier for you. Just keep it one sentence sound. Ah. Author, daughter. Not doter. There isn't a shift here. O. Aw. Daughter, Daughter. Audience. Audience. Authentic. Authentic. Caught. Drop your jaw. Keep the sound consistent. Caught. Caught. Not coat. This is coat, caught and taught. Same thing with the aw spelling. Here it's even more confusing because the W feels like you should be pronouncing an U sound like you would for the word Y and we. But actually there is no W sound. It just represents the exact same sound. Law. Not low. Law. Awful. And like I said, you can even relax your lips and pronounce it more like an open ah sound. Awful. Law. If you can't hear the difference, don't worry about it. Both of them are very, very similar. Like I said, just open your mouth and make this sound a little longer. Awful. Awesome. That is so awesome. Paw, jaw. And raw. Raw food. Not row raw. Alright, that's it. Now I have a task for you. Take one of the words mentioned in the video, say it out loud 30 times with the correct pronunciation, and then come up with three to four sentences with this word and say it out loud. That is the best way to practice a new word and to practice a new pronunciation of a word that you know and that you've been using, but maybe you have been pronouncing it a little differently. That's the way to change it. Okay, so let me know how you're doing in the chat. And if you want more resources and more exercises to practice your pronunciation so you can speak English with clarity, confidence and freedom, check out my website@hadarchemish.com for a ton of resources for you. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.
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