In this English Pronunciation tutorial, you're going to improve your English speech by learning
the difference between the long 'a' sound in English /a:/ and the short English at sound /æ/.
You're going to learn /a:/ verses /æ/ in just three easy steps.
What I'm going to do is teach you the three steps and I'm going to show you the difference between the two sounds in my mouth,
and then what I'm going to do is I'm going to compare two sets of words that have exactly the same pronunciation
apart from the difference between these two specific sounds.
Watch until the end of the video to test yourself on your recognition of these two sounds.
This is the most important thing in improving your English Pronunciation.
And if you feel like you've still got room to improve your English Pronunciation,
then make sure to subscribe for weekly English Pronunciation tutorials that come out on a weekly basis.
So first of all, a big thank you to Ran Gur Tu for requesting this tutorial.
Let's dive in and get started with the lesson!
As you can see we're on a busy road in London. We're in the centre of London here in a place called Russell Square.
It's a really nice area and I love coming here to do work and to different videos like this!
So, the two English vowel sounds /a:/ vs. /æ/.
The first thing that you need to do to tell the difference between these two sounds is, recognize that
one of them is a long vowel sound /a:/
and the second one is a short vowel sound /æ/.
/a:/, /æ/.
This is the most important thing and actually recognizing the difference between these two vowel sounds.
One is long /a:/ and the other one is short /æ/, okay?
That's the easiest way to recognize straight away that there is a difference between the two sounds.
One is long /a:/ and the second one is short /æ/.
The next step in learning to tell the difference between these two vowel sounds is
the fact that one of them come from the front of your mouth and the second one comes from the back of your mouth.
So do this:
/a:/, /æ/
If I turn my mouth sideways like this and I say the two vowel sounds have a look at my jaw:
/a:/, /æ/
For the /a:/ sound, my jaw is back. The /a:/ sound comes from the back of my mouth
/a:/
For the /æ/ sound, my jaw comes forward. It actually comes forward to make the sound
/æ/
/a:/, /æ/
Excuse the siren in the background. There's a lot of police and ambulances that go past this route.
So /a:/
from the back of my mouth:
/a:/, /æ/
There are two kinds of vowel sounds:
Some the back of your mouth and some that come from the front of your mouth.
There are also a couple of sounds to come from the middle of your mouth.
And knowing whereabouts they come from in your mouth is another--
[Siren]
Knowing where they come from is again essential in telling the difference between the two sounds.
So, /a:/ comes right from the back of your mouth, my jaw is back
/a:/
/æ/
My jaw comes forward.
So, the second tip is making sure that for /æ/ your jaw is forward
and for /a:/ your jaw is back.
The third step in recognizing the difference between these two English vowel sounds
is the fact that for /a:/, the long vowel sound, my lips are completely relaxed.
They're unrounded like that but they're completely relaxed if I say
/a:/
it doesn't make a difference if I get my lips and start playing with them because they're on rounded
and relaxed.
For /æ/
My lips are tight. My mouth is stretched wide open
/æ/
And if you do this now - do it now - you'll feel that your lips
/æ/
are actually stretched in there tight.
So, for /a:/ the lips are relaxed.
For /æ/ because your mouth is wide open and your jaw is at the front of your mouth:
/æ/
Your lips are tight for /æ/
Okay?
So there are the 3 steps in actually telling the sound.
The first one is knowing whether it's a long vowel sound or a short vowel sound:
/a:/, /æ/
The second thing is recognizing that for /a:/, it comes from the back of my mouth
and for /æ/, my jaw comes forward and the sound comes from the front of my mouth.
The third step is that for
/a:/
my lips are completely relaxed.
For /æ/
/æ/
my mouth is more wide open and my lips are stretched and tight:
/æ/
I'm now going to give you five words that sound exactly the same in English apart from this one specific vowel sound that is different, okay.
These words are essential for: one, test in your recognition of the two sounds, but; two, also then being able to actually pronounce the sounds correctly.
If you can't hear the difference between the two sounds, you'll never pronounce the difference between the two sounds.
So I'm just gonna give you five simple words that you can now use to test your recognition.
The first ones are the two words 'cart' and 'cat.'
'Cart' and 'cat.'
'Cart,' 'cat.'
The second pair of words are the two words 'Bart' and 'bat.'
'Bart' and 'bat'
Okay if I say to you 'have you seen Bart?'
or 'have you seen the bat?'
Can you tell the difference? I hope you can.
'Have you seen Bart?' 'Have you seen the bat?'
I hope you can tell the difference.
Words number three 'barn,' a kind of old building in England is a barn.
/a:/
'Barn'
And 'ban.'
'Ban'
If I say 'you're banned from doing something' it means that you're not allowed to do it.
So 'barn'
'Barn' 'I've just brought a barn.'
Or 'ban'
'Ban'
'Ban,' there is a ban on-- if you smoke in England, there's a ban on smoking inside, okay. There's a ban.
'Barn,' 'ban'
Words number four:
'Farm'
and 'fam'
'Fam'
'Fam' isn't really a word that you'd use in professional English speech
it's more of a colloquialism as a slang word. If I'm talking about my family I might say my fam.
But it's not a professional word it's more of a slang word.
'Fam'
'Farm'
/a:/, /æ/
'Farm,' 'fam'
And the fifth and final word, or pair of words, is: 'mark'
'Mark'
There's two different types of 'mark' in English, you've got someone's name someone is called 'Mark' it's a man's name.
And you've also got 'mark,' if I say-- if I've got a mark on my skin it means there's something on my skin a 'mark.'
'Mark'
'Mac' is also someone's name in English.
'Mac'
But a 'Mac' is also a kind of computer most people these days tend to have Macs.
Are you a Mac user? If so comment below!
But also a 'mac' is a kind of coat so a kind of raincoats in England could also be called a 'mac'.
It's short for the word 'Macintosh,' just like the Apple Mac is short for the word 'Apple Macintosh'.
'Mark,' 'mac.'
Okay! So there you've got five different words that you really should hopefully be able to tell the difference between now.
Practice making these words yourself.
Practicing actually making the words and then practicing putting the words into speech is going to be invaluable for
actually using these sounds and words in your English speech and sounding professional.
Throughout the video, you'll see some cars come up on the top there.
They are to tutorials focusing on these specific sounds and other essential points in English.
So make sure to watch them.
Subscribe for more videos like this to come out on a weekly basis.
Comment below with any difficulties that you're having with this specific sound and I'll be able to see what difficulties you're having.
And thumbs up, share the video with anyone else that could benefit from this that wants to speak professional business English.
And I'll see you in next week's video.
Thumbs up and see you next week!