Learn The Secret To Pronouncing English Vowels In Practice English Pronunciation
Today we are going to improve your English pronunciation with some listen and learn practice of English vowels. Want to talk more like a native speaker of English? This lesson is for you.
There is a single sound that a lot of English language learners just donāt know about
. A sound that can quickly and easily help you improve your English vowel pronunciation.
Iām going to explain what the sound is, why it works and how to use it to improve your English language pronunciation.
The only vowel I'm concerned with is 'I.'
ā Enzo Amore, Musician
Which English vowel pronunciation do you need to work on? How about all of them? Just listen to this podcast. This podcast has lots of examples you can try for yourself. You will improve your English language skills in no time.
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Most Unusual Words:
Comfortable
Bizarrely
Occasion
Emphasis
Syllable
Emphasis
Most common 3 word phrases:
Phrase | Count |
---|---|
Native English Speakers | 3 |
Never Heard Of | 3 |
The Vowel Sounds | 3 |
Vowel Sounds In | 2 |
You Like To | 2 |
Of The Word | 2 |
Aside From The | 2 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
The mp3 audio and pdf transcript for this lesson is now part of the Adept English back catalogue . You can still download and listen to this lesson as part of one of our podcast bundles.Transcript: Quickly Mastering The PRONUNCIATION Of All English Vowels
Would you like to sound more like a native English speaker? Well, thereās something that all native English speakers do that most of them are completely unaware of. But if you listen to this Adept English lesson on pronunciation, you will be aware of it - and this knowledge will improve your English pronunciation a lot and help you sound more like a native speaker. So in todayās podcast, Iām going to talk about āthe schwaā.
Never heard of it? Well, even better, youāre about to learn something really useful.
Hello, Iām Hilary, and youāre listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.
What is āthe schwaā?
Now when it comes to pronunciation in English, vowel sounds are quite difficult. But today Iāve promised you a piece of knowledge, a short-cut if you like, to improve your English pronunciation and sound more like a native speaker across all the vowel sounds. And this involves understanding the idea of āthe schwaā.
Now thatās spelt SCHWA. And bizarrely, most native English speakers have never heard of āthe schwaā, but they use it all the time. Until I came to study English pronunciation myself as a language teacher for Adept English, Iād never heard of āthe schwaā either! Yet I use it in almost every English sentence that I speak!
What is this thing? What is āthe schwaā? Well, itās something that happens with vowel sounds in English. If you think about it, itās the vowel sounds in a language that give it the syllables. So if I say a word like ācomfortableā, ācomfortableā, COMFORTABLE - that word has four sounds, or four syllables - ācumā-āfortā-āabā-āulā.
Now, for many English language learners, the natural thing there is to say each of these sounds, each of these syllables, these parts of the word ācomfortableā with an equal emphasis. COM-FORT-AB-LE, COM-FORT-AB-LE. But, if you listen to native English speakers, this isnāt what they do at all. A native English speaker like me - well, weād say ācom-frt-b-lā, ācom-frt-b-lā.
Changing the emphasis on words to sound more like a native English speaker
Look at whatās happening there. The emphasis or the stress is not the same, itās not equal on each sound, on each syllable of a multi-syllable word. In ācomfortableā, Iām very much emphasising the ācomā, the COM bit of the word. And the rest of the syllables, well the vowels may as well not be there. So COM-FORT-AB-UL becomes ācom-frt-b-lā, ācom-frt-b-lā.
Do you want to try saying that? āIām here sitting recording a podcast with a cup of coffee on the side and Iām comfortableā. In this word then, aside from the first syllable, the ācomā, the vowel sounds have been replace by āthe schwaā. āCom-frt-b-lā, āCom-frt-b-lā. Thatās aside from the E on the end, which of course makes the BUL sound - thatās the part thatās spelt BLE. āCom-frt-b-lā.
š·
A photograph woman in a comfortable swinging chair. This lesson will help you improve your English pronunciation and make you a better English speaker.
The āschwaā is like a lazy āuhā sound that replaces any vowel sound. Itās as though weāre too busy or too lazy to pronounce all the syllables properly - instead we emphasise one or two of them, and then we āschwaā the rest. The schwa happens then on many words in English that have more than one syllable. In fact, the more syllables in an English word, the more of them are likely to be āschwaād outā as I say - replaced with a schwa sound on the vowel.
Do you like chocolate?
Let me give you a couple more examples. Do you like chocolate? Well, I certainly do. Biscuits, cakes, pastries, sweets - if Iām trying to cut down on my sugar intake, I can stop eating any of those things. But take away my chocolate and Iām not very happy! But just take a moment to listen to that pronunciation there? āChocolateā.
āChocolateā is spelt CHOCOLATE. Now thereās a letter E on the end, which isnāt pronounced, of course - you may be familiar with the idea of Magic E? That final E is just there to make the ATE into an āayā sound for the vowel. But what about that middle O? Well, itās almost disappeared.
The most youāll hear is a sort of āuhā sound - āchocolateā. So the emphasis here again is on the first syllable āCHOCā, the middle O has nearly disappeared and then weāre āschwa-ing outā that final A into a āL-uh-Tā sound. āChocolateā.
Video
Do you like photography?
More examples? Well, how about I read you a short passage, a little story, (a really little story!) with some words in it that use the schwa. Not difficult to find words in English, which use the schwa but Iāve chosen words here, where itās more noticeable.
Just a reminder before I do that - like many other aspects of English pronunciation, the schwa is best learned through English listening practice. So donāt forget that there is plenty more English listening practice available on our website at adeptenglish.com in the form of our podcast bundles.
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There are hundreds of podcasts like this one that you can download, so youāve always got plenty of great English language learning material to listen to, wherever you go. Donāt miss an opportunity to use your ādead timeā and improve your pronunciation this way.
Can you spot the schwa sounds in this passage?
OK, back to the schwa. Listen to the following passage, and try to hear where Iām using the schwa. Afterwards, Iāll pick out some of the words with a schwa, then you can practise saying them and hearing them. OK, here goes.
One of my favourite pastimes at the weekend is photography. Photography is great if you want something which is interesting and enjoyable to do, and which also gives you memorable images. You can use your artistic flair to edit on your computer afterwards.
On a sunny day, one of my great pleasures is to take my camera and go for a walk in the countryside and try to take some beautiful photographs. Or if Iām at a celebration with my family - I can record the occasion.
Letās talk about the schwa sounds in this passage
OK, so how many words with schwa sounds did you hear? Can you remember them?
Well, how about the word āfavouriteā - thatās FAVOURITE. So youād expect three syllables, three sounds. Thatās another Magic E on the end, so we donāt count that one. But what you hear is āfav-ritā or āfav-uhāritā. The middle syllable is either not there at all, as in āfav-ritā or youāll hear it replaced with a schwaā- āfav-uh-ritā.
And then āphotographyā. So itās not āphotographyā with all equal syllables. Itās more like āph-tog-r-phyā. So that TOG syllable gets the emphasis and all the others are āschwaād outā.
The word āIn-ter-est-ingā - itās not āInt-er-est-ingā. Like āchocolateā one vowel sound has almost completely disappeared. We donāt say āIn-ter-est-ingā, we say āInt-rest-ingā. And the main emphasis is on the INT in āinterestingā - and the other syllables are more of a schwa.
What about āenjoyableā? Thereās more emphasis on the JOY, the ājoyā part, the second syllable - and the schwa is there for the rest of them.
Or āmemorableā? So here, the emphasis is more on the MEM, the first syllable. You can clearly hear the āehā sound at the start of āmemorableā, but the middle O sound has almost completely disappeared and the āableā ending is schwaād. Itās more like āub-ulā. So āmemorableā.
And ācomputerā? Well again COM, ācomā is emphasised, you can hear a bit of the āooā sound in the middle, but the ER ending, well youāve guessed it, itās the schwa. Itās more like an āuhā sound. āComputerā.
Another one? The word ācameraā. That middle E is barely noticeable. You might hear a slight āuhā sound of a schwa. āCameraā.
And ābeautiful photographsā? Well, in ābeautifulā, the emphasis is mainly on the ābeauā. And the āifulā, ābeautifulā - well thatās schwaād out. BEAUTiful.
And āphotographsā? Well, you might expect the emphasis to be the same as in the word āphotographyā. But itās not. The middle O is now schwaād and the emphasis is on the first syllable. PHOT-uh-graphs. What about the word ācelebrationā? Well, you can hear, again first syllable is emphasised as is the third - CEL-uh-BRA-shun. And the second and fourth syllable are shwaād. āCelebrationā.
And the word āfamilyā - what do you notice? Well, yes āFAM-uh-ly. So the emphasis again on the first syllable, the I in the middle is schwaād and the āiā sound at the end is pronounced, but not emphasised. You might also hear people say āFAM-lyā. Thatās quite common - so that middle syllable has disappeared altogether - itās not even a schwa.
And the last two - ārecordā. So here, as is common with many English verbs, the first syllable is a schwa and the emphasis is on the second syllable āRecORDā. If this same spelling was being used for the noun āRECordā - notice the emphasis changes. The ārecā bit is emphasised and the second syllable is now a schwa sound. This is quite a common way of distinguishing a verb and a noun which have the same spelling in English.
And finally āoccasionā. So here - youāve got it - the emphasis is on the middle syllable the āayā sound of āoccasionā, while the O at the start and the āshunā at the end are both schwa sounds.
Listen again, now youāve heard the schwa sounds
So the schwa is one of the reasons that English listening practice is so important. And you canāt pick this up through reading, of course. You have to hear the words being said to notice this at all.
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Even if youāre noticing it automatically, without realising youāre noticing it and you reproduce it, which is what happens if you do a lot of listening. But itās good to pay attention to which syllables in a word have the emphasis, and which syllables are schwaād, when youāre learning to pronounce.
Your English will sound much more natural, much more like a native English speaker. Just before we finish, Iāll read that short passage out again to you - so that you can all those words one more time, in context. Here goes.
One of my favourite pastimes at the weekend is photography. Photography is great if you want something which is interesting and enjoyable to do, and which also gives you memorable images. You can use your artistic flair to edit on your computer afterwards.
On a sunny day, one of my great pleasures is to take my camera out for a walk in the countryside and try to take some beautiful photographs. Or if Iām at a celebration with your family - I can record the occasion.
Practise with that one. Notice the schwa. See if you can do the schwa.
Goodbye
Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com