Lesson Summary
In this lesson, I'll show you how to use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to practice English pronunciation. If you learn and practice with the IPA, you will be able to pronounce any English word in the dictionary – even if you have never heard it before!
I have even made you a FREE WORKSHEET that you can download to help you study! Get it here: https://learn.mmmenglish.com/pronunciation
CLICK HERE to read the full lesson transcript.
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Video Transcript
Section 1
Hey guys! I know you're super keen to improve your English pronunciation! And to do that, you'll need two things:
- A native English speaker
- And a super amazing tool called the IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet
Huh?
Don't worry, I'm going to tell you all about it in just a minute!
In lots of languages, each letter represents only one sound, so it's easy to try and pronounce words just by looking at how the word is spelled but English isn't like this. No, no no no no no. Nope.
Nope… nope!
When you see letters in an English word, they won't always be pronounced the same way.
Take the letter C, for example, in the word “cup” it's pronounced ‘k' but that's different to the word “place” and when the ‘c' is next to a ‘h', it's often ‘ch', like in “chocolate“.
But in the word “ache” it's pronounced like a ‘k' again.
This is why the International Phonetic Alphabet is such a great tool for English students to practice their pronunciation with and I use it all the time when I'm teaching pronunciation lessons. In the IA every sound has a unique symbol so when you read it you know exactly how to pronounce the English word.
For example, the words “though“, “thought” and “cough” all have the same ‘o-u-g-h' spelling but actually they're pronounced very differently. “Though“, “thought” and “cough“.
Now these symbols might seem a little scary to you especially if you haven't seen the IPA before but actually they're so helpful for you when you're learning English pronunciation because it tells you exactly how to say the word.
/kɒf/
“Cough“.
So even if you've never heard of these symbols before, don't freak out. In today's lesson we're going to go through the International Phonetic Alphabet together.
Now there's 26 letters in the English alphabet, right?
But there are 44 different sounds – way more than there are letters! That's why I use the IPA to help my students when they're studying English pronunciation.
Let's look at vowels first.
There are 5 English vowels, aren't there?
A, E, I, O and U.
But there are way more English vowel sounds. Some of them are long, some of them are short and some of them are just lazy!
Let's go through them:
| i: seat | ɪ sit | ʊ book | u: boot |
| e left | ə teacher | ɜ: her | ɔ: door |
| æ cat | ʌ cup | ɑ: far | ɒ on |
There's another group of vowel sounds called diphthongs. Now, don't worry about remembering that crazy name, all you need to do is remember the sounds. Diphthongs are sounds that change from one vowel sound to another (but in the same syllable). So, watch my mouth position change as I make each of these sounds
| ɪə here | eɪ wait | |
| ʊə tour | ɔɪ coin | əʊ throw |
| eə hair | aɪ like | aʊ now |
So we've been through vowels and diphthongs, now we'll move onto consonants. The top row are unvoiced consonant sounds which means that the sound is made by air moving from the back of your mouth, through and out your lips. There is one extra letter that is unvoiced, down the bottom. Then, all the rest of the consonant sounds are voiced, which means that the sound is made here, with your vocal cords.
‘Ahhhhhh‘… You can feel it here. And unvoiced sounds use just air; ‘Hhhhhhh‘.. You can't feel anything here. ‘Hhhhhhhhh‘….
‘Ahhhhhh‘… ‘Hhhhhhh‘…
Unvoiced Consonant Sounds
| p put | f fit | t top | θ think | ʧ chip | s sun | ʃ ship | k cut | h hit |
Voiced Consonant Sounds
| b bat | v vase | d dog | ð this | ʤ jam | z zoo | ʒ vision | g girl |
| m man | n neat | ŋ thing | r red | l live | w will | j yellow |
Well that's it for this lesson!
Make sure you go to my website and download the free worksheet to help you practice the IPA sounds! The link is in the comments box below or right here: https://learn.mmmenglish.com/pronunciation
Make sure you subscribe by clicking the red button so that you get my next video lesson, which is all about English vowel sounds.
See you then!
mmmEnglish Video Lessons are a series of video lessons created to build confidence in English learners and focus on English in daily life. Download them and watch them anywhere! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to be the first to get my new videos, and come and say hi on my Facebook page!!
Thank you,I really like your work!
iwant to join with your class, but i don't know register, please help me! Thanks you.
Hi Hoa, if you'd like to join my Pronunciation Course, I am fully booked until July 2017. If you'd like to reserve a spot for July please email hello@mmmenglish.com 🙂
Best wishes,
Emma
Thanks for sharing with us
Hi, I want to grateful for this video it is so clear to understand I am very very very happy, thanks so much.
God bless your life.
You're welcome Isaias, thanks so much for watching! 🙂
All the best,
Emma
Hi Emma,
I am sorry but can not find your video on diphthongs. You tell in one of your videos that there is seperate video for them. May you share it to my mail address?
Thanks in advance
Hi Natig,
I'm currently in the process of making my video on dipthongs. I will let you know when it's on my channel 🙂
Thanks for your patience,
Emma
Do you have any pronounciation Course now?. I want to learn from you. Do you teach online or by video??
No I don't sorry! But I have some imitation lessons here that you can purchase: mmmenglish.com/studywithme
how can I join to your class. I like the way you teach us
Hi Tony! If you'd like to join one of my classes please visit https://mmmenglish.com/studywithme 🙂
If you have any questions please email hello@mmmenglish.com
great thanks a lot for your help wanna to learn more with you if you have another lessons i love to watching you god will always with you pretty girl
it was super cool thanks for helping us
My pleasure Johan! Thanks for visiting my website 🙂
One day i'll be able to speak english like u.thts my aim
Thanks for making such a nice and important video with amazing skill. It's so wonderful to learn like this for second language learners.
You're so welcome Ayub
You are special. i learn a lot from your tutorial more than i learn English for the last 12 years
People laugh at me when I pronounce any word . Please suggest me to improve my pronunciation so that I can speak english without any flaw.
Hi Emma,
is there any link for me to download your copy of IPA?
Thanks ;-*
I have an IPA worksheet that you can download here: https://www.mmmenglish.com/pronunciation-worksheet-1
It's not the IPA chart but it will help you practice it! 🙂
Hey Emma, yours flow of teaching us English is good. Especially pronunciation. I am following you from past 2 years. Wish you all good luck for your future lessons. IPA lessons was so easy to grasp. Thank you so much. Keep teaching.
With regards,
You're so welcome Gourav! Thank you for your kind words and ongoing support ❤
I love it. Super practical lessons. Congratulations
Thank you!!
Hi Emma I from Afghanistan
New student of you.
your video help but I am little bit confuse to pronounce
Emma, I came across your wonderful video lessons by chance and have a question. When I was very young, I spoke with a lisp which was corrected by an old, English actress. Now, I have a grandson with a pronounced lisping problem. I have not been able to teach him the proper placements of the tongue and exercises to overcome this problem. Do you have a video which is specific to this issue?
señorita Emma buenas tardes
soy de peru, le agradeceria mucho si pudiera haber en los subtítulos el idioma español, ayudaría mucho a personas que no hablan aun el ingles. bendiciones señorita Emma.
I am from Peru, I would greatly appreciate it if there could be Spanish subtitles in the subtitles, it would help people who do not speak English. Blessings Miss Emma.
Hi Emma
Awesome work .. Great teaching !!
Thank you so much
Thank you, Jaykumar!
Hello Emma!
Your teaching is very great and interesting. And it's indeed useful for all levels of learners, particularly non English speakers. Keep it up!
Thank you!
Hello Emma!I am your super fan and I love your videos…for me you are just like an inspiration,like a role model…you are the best. Love from India,Be happy stay blessed stay home and stay safe….
Dear Emma: I've listened to your English pronunciation classes on YouTube during my morning and evening walks. I wish to learn BBC English pronunciation in the shortest possible time. I'm from India living in London. I am now in India. I shall be here for a few more months. Would you please suggest the most effective method for quick mastery? Thank you.Ash