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  • Take a look at these letters. They're not always pronounced the same. In the word 'boo',

  • they have the 'oo' sound. In the word 'blood', they make the 'uh' as in 'butter' sound. And

  • in the word 'book', they make the 'uh' as in 'pull' sound. This is why the International

  • Phonetic Alphabet makes it easier to study the pronunciation of a foreign language. This

  • video focuses on vowels.

  • What is the International Phonetic Alphabet? It's a system of phonetic notation, and I

  • use it a lot on my website and when I teach students. I've also used it a lot when I've

  • studied foreign languages. The IPA is especially handy when studying English because English

  • is not a phonetic language. This means when you see a letter or a group of letters, it

  • will not necessarily always be pronounced the same in each word in which it occurs,

  • just as in the example at the beginning of this video. The IPA has a written symbol for

  • each phonetic sound, so this makes it easier to read about and write about pronunciation.

  • As a student of pronunciation, it's important that you become familiar with the symbols

  • that represent the sounds of American English.

  • The 'ah' sound. Say that with me, ah. Ah.

  • This sound occurs in words like father, hot, body. Aw, say that with me, aw. This sound

  • occurs in words like law, daughter, caught. Eh, eh. This sound occurs in the words said,

  • head, says. EE, ee. This sound occurs in the words heat, be, receive. Ih, ih. This sound

  • occurs in the words him, been, women. Aa, aa. This sound occurs in the words have, bad,

  • act. Uh, uh. This sound occurs in the words love, blood, trouble. Uh, uh. The schwa. This

  • sound occurs in the words sofa, about. Uh, uh. This sound occurs in the words book, could,

  • pull. Ur, ur. This sound occurs in the words burn, journey, worth. Oo, oo. This vowel sound

  • occurs in the words through, blue, do.

  • Great. Familiarizing yourself with these symbols should make it easier to study pronunciation.

  • That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

Take a look at these letters. They're not always pronounced the same. In the word 'boo',

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