How to pronounce the “NG” sound in English

I've been working in a coal mine.

Every day I've been working in the coal mine; I'm working over time.

Work...

Hi. James from engVid.

Now, did I say: "I was working in a coal mine" or "I work in a coal mine"?

Some of you are going to go: "Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Got it." and others go: "What?"

That's today's lesson.

The "ng" sound in English is often confused with "in", but let's go to the board and ask

Mr. E.

So, Mr. E, was it...?

Is it...

Or is it "ing" or... "in"?

"ng" or "in"?

He doesn't know either.

But before I continue, Aris from Mexico was a good student of mine.

She made a couple mistakes, and I said: I promise I will make a video to clear this

up.

So, Aris, I hope it's a good video; you and your cute dimples and glasses.

All right, so is it "ing"...?

So, not "ing", but "ng", because we can have "tongue", or "ing", but the sound, here, is...

I'll show you how it's made in a second, too, but it's often confused with "in" for a lot

of students.

So, "ng", "ng", as in: "walking"...

Okay?

It's often confused with "walk in".

"I walk in the rain because I like it, and I'm walking in the rain."

Okay?

It's very, very similar.

One of the things we want to know to say the difference...

Because, to be honest, I'm not going to teach you about "in".

I'll do another video with "n", "m", and "ing" or "ing", and we'll...

We can compare, there, but today what I want to do is teach you about the "ng" sound, because

if I can teach you that, it will help you with the "in" sound.

It's my belief that if you get very good at one thing and can really see it, you can see

everything that is not it.

Okay?

So it's the simplified way; instead of teaching you five different things.

Just like: This is it, and if it's not that, it's different.

And you should be able to pick it right up.

Okay?

So, "ng" is one of the three nasal consonants in English.

The three of them are-remember I said I'd do a video on it?-"n", "m", and "ng".

There's "mm", "nn", and "ung".

So, what that means is it vibrates through the nasal...

Nose and nasal passage.

And you're probably saying: "What?

Nasal passage."

Well, your nose.

It comes from your nose over here.

What happens is we move our tongue in a certain way, and the tongue in our head, and when

we lift it up it kind of blocks the air so the air goes through your nose a bit.

And when you do it, you'll feel like: "mmm", vibrate.

"Mmm", vibrate.

"Ng", you can touch your nose and you'll feel there's a vibration.

That's because the air is going by where your nose is, and it makes that particular or interesting

sound.

Okay?

So, what's important to know about the "ng" sound is you can find this sound in the middle

of words.

For example: "anger" and "English".

We're learning English.

Ah, you knew I had to put it somewhere.

Okay?

So: "anger" and "English".

Or you can find it at the end of the words, like: "thing" and "wrong".

There are a lot of words in English that people confuse, like: "think" and "thing".

I'm going to teach you today and you won't make that mistake.

In fact, I'm going to teach you another lesson how to do that as well.

So, this is a really good lesson because it will help you with many things.

Okay?

So, as I was saying, people often confuse the "ng" with "in".

Okay?

An example is they confuse: "sleeping" with "sleep in", and "doing" with "do in".

Well, what's the difference?

It's not much?

Well, they're very different.

"Sleeping"-[snores]-the activity you do at night.

"To sleep in" means to get up late.

So, they're not even the same.

They sound similar and they are related, but this is sleeping at night and sleep in.

"Doing" is your activity now, and "do in five minutes", "do in time", so I'm talking about

maybe a time period.

"I can do it in five minutes."

Now, what am I doing?

Well, no, I can do this for you.

I'll do it in five minutes; not now, but a little later.

Similar; not the same.

So, I talked about this "ng" and showed you the two of them, but...

And I did promise you that we would...

I would make it that you could learn the one sound to see the difference.

So, why don't I show you how to do it?

Ta-da: How to do it.

First, drop the jaw.

Drop, drop, drop.

Your jaw, drop it, open it.

Okay.

Now you look like a dead fish.

Dead-fish look.

Okay.

Lips open.

So, ah.

Lips open, so drop the jaw, and open your lips.

Oh.

Try that: "Oh, oh".

Okay?

Now, the back of the tongue goes to the roof of the mouth, and some of you are going to

say: "Okay, whatever."

And to be honest, that's what I said.

I watched a few videos and I looked at some of the books, and they have all these pictures,

and it looked like something out of Aliens with the tongue, but it didn't teach me how

to do it.

So, I'm going to give you a silly, little trick.

Now, if you look here where my throat is and my jaw, I put my finger, I'm going to push

up, and I go: "Uh, uh, uh", and just push a little bit, like that.

Okay?

That's the area where you want your tongue to go up.

So if you go: "Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock", pushing

your tongue up, you'll make that sound.

Ready?

"Unh, unh, unh, unh, unh".

You're halfway there.

Finally, we take the tip of the tongue forward and down.

I like to tell students your tongue should go to the bottom of your teeth at the bottom:

"Ing".

And if you combine: "ung" and "ing", you'll go: "ung, ung, ung".

Tongue, working, thing.

Notice my jaw is open or dropped, my mouth is open, the roof of my tongue is going to

the top at the back, and I go: "Ung, ung, ung, ung", that's what you practice, and the

tip is going behind my teeth.

And that's how you make the sound.

Now, here's some things we can practice with examples: "sleeping, sleeping", "hoping, hoping",

"going, going", "working, working".

And I'll give you...

Well, I'll give you a bonus in a second on how to know the difference between the "n"

if you really want to know, but work on these.

Now, something that can help you a lot to find that "ung" sound is this word, here.

It's a magic word.

It's so magic I saved it to give to you now.

But try this: "along, along".

Because it's a long vowel sound: "along", it helps you get that tongue up.

So: "along, along".

Cool?

Great.

Anyway, we're going to go to the board, because of course, what is a pronunciation lesson

without a test?

Tests for pronunciation?

You bet ya.

See ya in a second.

[Snaps]

Okay, so usually when I do this part we have a bit of a test, and a bonus, and homework.

Well, I'm going to kind of give you a little bit of a bonus early, and then one later on

with the "n" sound.

So, I want us to practice right now before we do the quiz over here, and we're going

to do, like, I call a catch and release, so I'm going to say the word first normally,

then I'm going to take a break, then I'm going to really exaggerate.

Exaggeration is important, because in exaggerating, it helps you learn exactly what's going on

in your mouth and where to put your tongue, or your teeth, or whatever, so you can teach

your brain how to repeat the sound.

Okay?

So, I'm going to be using the words with the "ng" sound that we're going to be doing on

the quiz anyway, and then hopefully you'll be able to see the difference when I use the

"in" versus the "ng" sound.

All right?

Let's do this first one: "hoping, hoping".

John's hoping I'll come to the party.

"Hoping".

Exaggeration: "hoping, hoping".

Remember?

"ng".

Next: "working, working".

I'm working on a big project.

"Working, working".

"Going, going".

I'm going to Japan next year.

"Going, going".

"Sleeping, sleeping".

I enjoy sleeping in on the weekends.

"Sleeping, sleeping".

Make sure you can feel the vibration.

Sometimes it gets annoying right up in here; I can feel it in my eyeballs.

Okay?

So, these are the sounds we're doing: "hoping", "working", "going", "sleeping".

Try to keep them in your head.

You'll notice I have some holes in here we're going to fill in.

Now, I'm not going to fill them in just yet.

I'm going to read the story as I would as a Canadian, and then you're going to find

out which ones have the "ing" or the "ng" sound, and then we can find out which ones

would have the "in" sound.

And if you think it's really cool, I haven't taught you the "in" sound at all, but you

should be able to tell the difference.

Are you ready?

"Hey E, I'm hoping you can give me some help in improving my sleeping habits.

Lately I find that I sleep in, and because I work in another city I am often late for

work.

When I go into work, my boss gets very angry and I'm afraid I'm going to lose my job.

So, I am putting all of my hope in you and giving you..."

And...

Sorry.

"...hope in you of giving me a helping hand waking me up, so I can be on time for the

job I love working at."

There, you might say that's quick, but hey, that's how we would speak and say it in English.

Now, I want you to try to figure out which ones...

I'm just going to put some numbers, here, because there are eight.

Which one is, like...?

For instance: "hope in" and "hoping".

You tell me when we go through and we'll fill it in correctly together.

Okay?

Are you ready?

"I'm hoping you'd give me some help in improving my sleeping habits.

I'm hoping you can give me some help in improving my sleeping habits."

Good: "hoping".

And I like to say: "verb 'to be' equals 'ing' (V2B=ING)".

Part of your bonus package.

You can see "I'm", so probably ends in an "ing".

"I'm hoping".

So: "I'm hoping you can give me some help in improving my sleeping habits."

Sleeping habits.

Okay?

Now, this is a gerund which acts as a noun at times; or in this case, an adjective.

So, it doesn't follow this rule exactly, but: "sleeping habits"; "sleeping" describes what

kind of habits in gerund form.

So, now I'm kind of giving you a little extra bonus and teaching you some grammar with your

pronunciation, but hey, we're a work in progress, so we can do that.

Right?

So this is the gerund modifying, but it's the "ing" sound.

Let's do the next section.

"Lately I find that I sleep in, and because I work in another city I'm often late for

work.

Lately I find that I sleep in, and because I work in another city I'm often late for

work."

Good.

Now, none of you asked me, because you cannot, but I'll answer it for you.

What's the difference between "sleeping" and "sleep in"?

"To sleep in" means to stay in your bed past the time.

If you want to get up at 8 o'clock usually and you sleep in, you'll get up at 8:30 or

9:00.

I like to sleep in on the weekends; I like to sleep later than I go to work.

And "sleeping", I think I mentioned before is the-[snores]-just sleep.

Cool?

All right.

Now: "because I work in another city".

Okay?

Let's do the next part.

"When I go in to work late, my boss gets very angry and I'm afraid I'm going to lose my

job."

What do you think that would be?

"When I go in to work late, my boss gets very angry and I'm afraid I'm"...

Now, notice what I did here.

I actually purposely gave you "go in" and "going" to see if you could actually tell

the difference.

Now, if you followed the grammar I gave you, there's the verb "to be" again-right?-equals

"ing".

Right?

So, you could have used that rule.

Now we've got two more left, so let's see.

What do you think they might be?

"So, I'm putting all of my hope in you giving me a helping hand waking me up, so I can be

on time for the job that I love working at".

"...my hope".

Okay?

"...my hope in you, and love"...

Sorry.

"...working at".

Now, if you were listening carefully, there is something I can help you with; a bit of

a bonus.

The "n" sound from "in", is at the back of your teeth, so: "in"; and the other sound,

the tongue goes down...

Sorry.

The back of the tongue goes up, but the tip of the tongue goes down: "working" and "in".

So, if you think of the word "no", that's where your "n" is.

So, you can say: "I sleep in" - tongue up, "work in" - tongue up, "go in" - tongue up,

"hope in".

Cool?

Well, I'm glad you liked it because that's your extra bonus.

And for your homework: Rewind and practice with me again.

Okay?

So, we can do this.

You've seen me do it, so I'm not going to do it now.

Rewind this, go through this, and until you can hear the difference between "ing" and

"in".

All right?

I hope this has been a good lesson for you.

I've enjoyed working with you, but you need to work on-see?

I changed it, but it's still the same-this yourself.

I will do a lesson on "m", "n"...

Sorry, "m", "n", and "ng".

And I hope you, you know, do the two together and it'll help you.

Well, it's been fun.

But before I go, make sure you go to engVid.

All right?

Check out the other lessons of pronunciation we have.

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So, it's always a pleasure.

Thank you once again, and I'll see you soon.

Take care.