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  • hey guys I know you're super keen to

  • improve your English pronunciation and

  • to do that you 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 cut but that's different to

  • the word place and when a c is next to a

  • hey CH it's often chip like in chocolate

  • but in the word ake it's pronounced like

  • a cut again here 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 IPA 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 Oh ugh 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 Oh

  • Koff 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 five English

  • vowels aren't there a oh I oh and you

  • 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 e e o o

  • err

  • oh all ah ah are oh 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 ear air or al Oh a

  • I we so we've been through valves and

  • diphthongs now we'll move on to

  • 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 are you can feel

  • it here and unvoiced sounds use just air

  • you can't feel anything here

  • huh

  • tip

  • shit Shh

  • but mmm mmm Jim this is good what you

  • 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

  • make sure you subscribe by clicking the

  • red button so that you get my next video

  • lesson which is all about English vowels

  • now

  • see you then

hey guys I know you're super keen to

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