English 路 Chapter 1 路 Lesson 18 路 Pronunciation
The sounds of English
The two th's, the schwa, and ship against sheep. The sounds learners fight longest, with the mouth shown from the inside.
Pick a sound, watch the mouth make it, then play the example words and copy them aloud. When a slider appears, drag it slowly and watch which part of the mouth moves - that moving part is the whole difference between the two sounds.
UK vs US: what actually differs
Both are correct. Pick the one you are learning towards, be consistent, and know the other when you hear it.
t between vowels
UK: water/藞w蓴藧t蓹/ - a true t, no final r
US: water/藞w蓱删蓺/ - the t flaps to a d-like tap
r after a vowel
UK: car/k蓱藧/ - the r is silent
US: car/k蓱晒/ - the r is spoken
the bath-trap split
UK: ask/蓱藧sk/ - long 'ahsk'
US: ask/忙sk/ - flat a
the o of hot
UK: hot/h蓲t/ - short and rounded
US: hot/h蓱t/ - open 'haht'
Read the mouth
No sound this time: the mouth moves, you say which sound it made. Nobody else will ever test you on this - which is exactly why it sticks.
Hear it, pick it
One of the two words plays - which did you hear? This is the single highest-value pronunciation exercise there is.
Ear check
0/8
Real words, one sound each: how is the highlighted part pronounced?
How do you pronounce the highlighted t in UK English?
water
word pageLesson 18 of 35 in this chapter