Pronunciation ChallengeWhat to Do About Being Clumsy

Introduction
Have you ever spilled your drink on the front of your shirt? Have you ever stubbed your toe? Have you ever cracked your head on something? I know I have. I think pretty everyone, at one time or another in their lives, has been clumsy. And that’s the topic of today’s video, so I suggest you check it out. I have my own methods of dealing with my clumsiness, but I’ll talk about those at the end. For now, let’s listen to today’s featured sentence:

Sentence
Furious with, and ashamed of ourselves, our clumsiness violates our self-image as competent grownups.


Pronunciation tips

Furious - small y sound after the f
Blended words - ashamed of - also v sound on ‘of’
Clumsiness - short u, long e, short e


Vocabulary


1. Ashamed IPA /əˈʃeɪmd/ KK〔 әˋʃemd 〕
Adj.

Ashamed means feeling guilty or embarrassed about something you have done, or about a quality in your character. Here’s an example sentence “Jack apologized to Sally, and said he was ashamed of all the terrible things he said to her.”
2. Clumsiness IPA /ˈklʌm.zi/ KK〔 ˋklʌmzInIs 〕
N.


Before we define clumsiness, we should define clumsy. Clumsy is an adjective, it means awkward in movement or manner. For example, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you. I can be clumsy sometimes.”, and clumsiness is the noun based on clumsy. Here’s an example sentence for clumsiness: “I’m sorry, I accidentally dropped your plate and broke it. I apologize for my clumsiness.”


3. Competent IPA/ˈkɑːm.pə.t̬ənt/ KK〔 ˋkɑmpәtәnt 〕
Adj.

Competent means being able to do something well. Here’s an example sentence: “When my son moved out, I worried about what he would eat. But he’s managed to become a pretty competent cook.”

Outro
And that brings us to the end of today’s pronunciation challenge. So what tips do I follow to mask my own clumsiness? For starters, I almost never wear white. I tend to wear darker colors, so that if I spill my coffee or some food on my shirt, it’s less noticeable. Also, I take pictures of any pieces of paper or other things that are handed to me, like receipts or post-it notes, because I know I have a habit of losing things like that. But I think the most important thing is to have a sense of humor about it. It’s easy to get angry and feel embarrassed after a clumsy act, but that doesn’t help anything. It can be frustrating, I know, but I’ve learned to just roll with it and have a laugh at myself. In the end, life goes on and it’s not really a big deal. But enough about me, I want to hear about you! How do you deal with your clumsiness? Do you have any tips to share? Let me know in the comments below, and don’t forget to do your recording! I’m Jonathan for VoiceTube. I’ll catch you next time!

Furious with, and ashamed of ourselves, our clumsiness violates our self-image as competent grownups.

Furious with, and ashamed of ourselves, our clumsiness violates our self-image as competent grownups.