Pronunciation for English Fluency

Weak forms are a VERY important part of natural English pronunciation. The problem is that many student's DON'T KNOW what they are! So before we look at this very big and very important topic, let's look at what they actually are.

The topic of weak forms is so big and can seem very difficult at first - and believe me, we are going to study this a LOT in this course. So let's look at some important basic rules for this topic.

So now we know what weak forms are, let's look at a few more very common examples.

A key idea of this course is that we are moving outside the WORD level and practicing pronunciation in terms of PHRASE and SENTENCE level. So, let's put a few of these examples together and start practicing.

Another very common idea in this course is PRONUNCIATION CHUNKS. These are examples when we have two or more words that come together so often that they have developed a new pronunciation and, even though it's two or more words, it is pronounced like one unit of sound. Here are two of the most common.

Another SUPER important idea (which we will practice a LOT in this course) is connected speech. It is an important part of pronunciation (either UK, US, Australia...or anywhere) and is a big reason why students have problems with LISTENING too! So by practicing this topic you can improve your pronunciation AND your listening :-D

So I've said that this topic is important. So let's talk a little bit about why.

It's not enough just to watch and think about these ideas. We have to practice! So let's do a few example sentences to help you practice these important ideas.

Good job. Hopefully you practiced that many times. Don't rush. It's not a competition. You don't need to finish this course in a weekend. The more times you practice these ideas the more your mouth will get used to making these sounds.

Let's keep going with another example. Practice makes perfect :-)

Another example. Hopefully you're getting used to these ideas now :-)

Another one! Keep going :-D

Last one. Good job! Again, take you time. Maybe choose two or three of these examples and practice them even more. As I said before, the more you do these examples (and you have to actually DO them - not just "think" the examples in your mind) the more your mouth and throat will develop these pronunciation habits.

Pronunciation is good way to take your English to the next level. This topic is a good example of a piece of "easy" grammar...but often sounds unnatural when non-native speakers say it. So let's take this very common and important piece of grammar and make your pronunciation as good as your grammar!

Thought we had finished weak forms? Oh no! WE have many more weak forms to come. Here are a few more.

Elision is another very important pronunciation habit which native speakers do. And it is another pronunciation habit which makes LISTENING difficult for non-native speakers. So if we know about this topic it can also help both making your pronunciation sound more natural AND improving your listening skill.

Now that we know the basic idea of what elision is, let's look at some different types of elision.

Let's look at a few examples of this important topic.

We've already looked at chunks and how they can make your English immediately sound more natural. So let's take it to next level and put more than one chunk together to make "superchunks". If you can start using these it will have a very dramatic effect on your fluency :-D

We have already looked at a very important type of connected speech (the final consonant + initial vowel). However, we also have a type of connection that happens when a word ends in a vowel and the next word ALSO begins with a vowel. This is quite different from the first type of connection so let's have a look!

Let's look at a few examples and try to train our ear to notice when the new sound is a /j/ and when the new sound is a /w/

This type of connection is much more tricky than the consonant-vowel version, so let's look have a closer look at why the new sound is sometimes a /j/ and other times a /w/

In my experience, this is something that a lot of students do naturally...but it's still useful to know why we do it.