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  • Hello, students.

  • This is Fanny.

  • Welcome back to this English pronunciation video.

  • In this video, I'm gonna focus on two tricky vowel sounds, /æ/ and /e/.

  • I know they sound similar, but they are different sounds in English.

  • So we need to practice.

  • Let's take two example words.

  • The first word is 'bad'.

  • Can you hear the /æ/ sound?

  • 'bad'.

  • The second word is 'bed'.

  • Can you hear the /e/ sound?

  • 'bed'.

  • So 'bad' and 'bed'.

  • I know they sound practically the same, but they are different.

  • And you need to practice.

  • And by the end of this video, I promise you will hear and pronounce them correctly,

  • so keep watching.

  • Get ready, guys.

  • I'm gonna help you make these sounds /æ/ and /e/ in English.

  • You will be able to hear the difference and to pronounce them correctly.

  • It's very important also for you to know the IPA spelling.

  • Watch how I move my mouth.

  • And always try to repeat after me in this video.

  • I know you can do this, so let's get to it.

  • Let's first learn how to make the sound /æ/.

  • Now as you can see my tongue is very low and my chin as well.

  • /æ/

  • Repeat after me.

  • /æ/

  • /æ/

  • /æ/

  • Let's practice with the word, 'bad'.

  • Repeat after me.

  • 'bad'

  • 'bad'

  • 'bad'

  • Let's now make the different sound /e/.

  • Now for this sound, my tongue is in the middle part of my mouth

  • and I stretch out my lips a little bit.

  • /e/

  • Repeat after me.

  • /e/

  • /e/

  • /e/

  • Let's say the word, 'bed'.

  • Repeat after me.

  • 'bed'

  • 'bed'

  • 'bed'

  • Let's now use minimal pairs.

  • Words that sound almost the same

  • but the vowel sounds are different.

  • They're a good way to practice.

  • First, just the sounds.

  • Watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

  • /æ/

  • /æ/

  • /æ/

  • /e/

  • /e/

  • /e/

  • /æ/

  • /e/

  • /æ/

  • /ɛ/

  • /æ/

  • /e/

  • Let's use the words 'bad' and 'bed'.

  • Repeat after me.

  • 'bad'

  • 'bad'

  • 'bad'

  • 'bed'

  • 'bed'

  • 'bed'

  • 'bad'

  • 'bed'

  • 'bad'

  • 'bed'

  • 'bad'

  • 'bed'

  • Okay, guys.

  • Let's now read minimal pairs together.

  • Watch very carefully how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

  • Let's get started.

  • 'and' 'end'

  • 'axe' 'X'

  • 'bag' 'beg'

  • 'band' 'bend'

  • 'bat' 'bet'

  • 'bland' 'blend'

  • 'cattle' 'kettle'

  • 'dad' 'dead'

  • 'fad' 'fed'

  • 'flash' 'flesh'

  • 'gas' 'guess'

  • 'gassed' 'guest'

  • 'had' 'head'

  • 'ham' 'hem'

  • 'jam' 'gem'

  • 'land' 'lend'

  • 'man' 'men'

  • 'manned' 'mend'

  • 'marry' 'merry'

  • 'mat' 'met'

  • 'pan' 'pen'

  • 'pat' 'pet'

  • 'rabble' 'rebel'

  • 'sad' 'said'

  • 'sat' 'set'

  • 'shall' 'shell'

  • 'spanned' 'spend'

  • 'tack' 'tech'

  • 'track' 'trick'

  • 'tamper' 'temper'

  • 'vat' 'vet'

  • Great guys.

  • Okay guys.

  • Moving on to words now.

  • I'm going to show you some words and I want you to read them with the proper vowel sound.

  • Is it /æ/ or is it /e/?

  • Let's get to it.

  • Let's start with the first word.

  • How do you pronounce this 'tack' or 'tech'?

  • 'tech'

  • Next word.

  • 'marry' or 'merry'?

  • 'merry'

  • Next word.

  • 'sad' or 'said'?

  • 'said'

  • Next word.

  • 'track' or 'trek'?

  • 'track'

  • Next word.

  • 'bat' or 'bet'?

  • 'bat'

  • Then we have 'track' or 'trek'?

  • 'trek'

  • Next word.

  • 'and' or 'end'?

  • 'end'

  • Next word.

  • 'sad' or 'said'?

  • 'sad'

  • Next word.

  • 'bat' or 'bet'?

  • 'bet'

  • And finally,

  • 'marry' or 'merry'?

  • 'marry.

  • Very good guys.

  • Okay students.

  • Let's move on to sentences containing /æ/ and /e/ sounds.

  • Pay attention and repeat after me.

  • The first sentence,

  • 'Dad had a pet bat.'

  • Second sentence,

  • 'We met sad men who beg.'

  • And finally,

  • 'The merry vet had cattle.'

  • Excellent guys.

  • Let's move on.

  • That was very good guys.

  • You now understand a lot better the difference between the English vowel sounds /æ/ and /e/.

  • It's tricky but it takes time practice of listening and speaking to master these vowels,

  • but you can do it.

  • Also you can watch my other pronunciation videos.

  • They are extremely helpful if you want to improve your English skills,

  • so see you next time.

  • Thank you so much for watching my video guys.

  • If you've liked it, show me your support,

  • click 'like', subscribe to the channel,

  • put your comments below, and share my video.

  • See you.

Hello, students.

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