Pronunciation ChallengeWellcast - How Pets Improve Your Mood

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” - Anatole France

What’s up, everyone! It’s me, Hubert, your host for today’s Pronunciation Challenge! In this episode, we’ll be discussing the importance of pets and how they can improve your mood! How many of you listeners are pet owners? I, myself, have never owned a dog or a cat but I’m actually pretty good with taking care of them, so much so that my friends come to me to either dog sit or cat sit for them when they’re away on vacation. I love pets, but I’m also no pushover. (Pushover means a person who is easily overcome or influenced, thus the name, pushover. They’re easy to push around.) I’m stern with animals because if you show weakness around them, they’ll totally take advantage. That’s how I am with dogs at least. By the way, I’m not talking about hitting your pets, that’s something I will not agree to. What I mean, is that it’s an energy you let out or a mindset you have. Let’s get to the featured sentence before I share what new pet I recently adopted!

Today’s featured sentence:
They were more mellow, more calm, better able to think rationally about the problem than those who didn’t have any quality pet time.

I’ll say that again.

They were more mellow, more calm, better able to think rationally about the problem than those who didn’t have any quality pet time.

Ok, now time for the Pronunciation Tips.


For the first word, we have
Mellow
Two syllables.
Again, I want to tackle words with short E sounds because this seems to be an issue for many non-native English speakers. Make sure you don’t say “MALLOW”. “MEH” is like something you say when you’re not impressed, “MEH”. “LOW” like high and low. Mellow.

Next up, we have
Rationally
Four syllables
“RA” has a short A sound. “TION” is like any other “t i o n” sound, “SHUN”. “AL” has a short U sound and “LY” like Bruce Lee. Rationally.

Lastly, we have,
Quality
Three syllables.
The first syllable, “QUA” is actually the Q sound combined with the short O sound. “KWO”. “LI” has a short U sound and “TY” sounds like the letter T. Quality.


Moving onto Vocabulary!

The first word is:
1. Mellow
Definition
relaxed and pleasant or not severe
"Tom is a very mellow guy after a few drinks."

Next word,
2. Rationally
Definition
in a way that is based on reason and clear thought, rather than emotions
Used in a sentence, you could say:
"I was too nervous to even think rationally."

And lastly,
3. Quality
Definition:
how good or bad something is
Used in a sentence, you could say:
"The price of an item depends on the quality."

So recently, I adopted several new pets into my life! Can you guess what they are? If you somehow, and I mean somehow, guessed goldfish and neon tetra fish, you are correct! I’d love to adopt a dog one day but I can’t possibly take on the responsibility of a dog or cat with the way my career is, for now, that is. I’m more of a dog person myself though and if I could adopt a dog, I’ll most likely either get a labrador or a French bulldog! Those bulldogs are so funny looking, it just cheers me up whenever I look at them! I like cats too but I’m not sure how I would feel about the cat being the boss of the house and not myself. What pets do you guys have? Let me know in the comments section below along with your recordings!

Ok, that about does it for today’s episode. Make sure to give me a follow on Instagram if you haven’t already @hughtran_. Until the next episode, see ya!

Day 174