10 MOST Difficult Words to Pronounce in English PART 2 | British English Lesson

62,744 views ・ 2017-09-15

Eat Sleep Dream English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Welcome back to another Eat Sleep Dream English video. If you haven't met me before my name
0
329
5010
00:05
is Tom and I teach fresh modern British English so that you can take your English to the next
1
5339
5081
00:10
level and achieve your life goals. Today we've got a really important lesson. Now I know
2
10420
5450
00:15
how much you guys love pronunciation videos so today I'm going to take you through ten
3
15870
5700
00:21
really difficult words to pronounce in English and by the end you'll be able to pronounce
4
21570
4980
00:26
them perfectly. So if you are ready, let's do this!
5
26550
2910
00:37
First of all thanks to all of you that wrote in on Facebook and Instagram telling me which
6
37280
5140
00:42
words were the most difficult for you to pronounce. I've tried to include as many as i can. I
7
42420
4520
00:46
couldn't do all of them so I promise that I'll try and do another video at some point
8
46940
4250
00:51
with all the other words. Another thing to remember guys is that I teach British English
9
51190
4280
00:55
and therefore my pronunciation will be mostly British English. Now British English comes
10
55470
5460
01:00
in all different accents. Mine is a London accent so I'm going to teach the pronunciation
11
60930
5580
01:06
that I have. It's not the only pronunciation ok. There are many different varieties. I
12
66510
4790
01:11
can only teach the one that I have.
13
71300
1760
01:13
Ok, our first pair of words are these two. Now these two are very commonly mispronounced.
14
73060
5110
01:18
Now we have thing and think. And they are very similar. The first thing we've got going
15
78170
8040
01:26
on is the /th/ that th /th/. This is a difficult sound if you are not sure how to position
16
86210
9050
01:35
your mouth. So that's really important, is what are we doing with our mouth? Well the
17
95260
4590
01:39
first thing, to make the /th/ sound. We need our tongue, touching our top teeth, ok? So
18
99850
5559
01:45
tongue, top teeth and we are blowing air out. Thing. Now to make the /ing/ I'm bringing
19
105409
15601
02:01
my tongue down on to the bottom of my mouth, thing. So starting on my top teeth and then
20
121010
11559
02:12
coming down as I make the sound, thing. And it's a kind of -ing sound, you've got a vibration
21
132569
8961
02:21
just there, thing. Ok, now the other word, think, same sound so -th sound that -th think
22
141530
15060
02:36
and you're bringing the tongue down 'think' and at the end you just add the /k/ sound
23
156590
7040
02:43
which comes from the back so you are pushing air out again /k/. So 'think'. Ok, so let's
24
163630
17630
03:01
try this one 'thing' 'think'. Ok, let's do a practice sentence.Ok, you're turn. Ok, let's
25
181260
3520
03:14
try another practice sentence. You're turn. Alright, so thing and think. Practise guys.
26
194320
1480
03:30
Remember this is really important when you are doing pronunciation practise, practise,
27
210520
3880
03:34
practise, ok? So repeating it as I do it, stopping the video and repeating. It's really
28
214400
5500
03:39
important. Ok, let's move on to the next one.
29
219900
3330
03:43
So many of you asked me about this one. These two words here similar sounds, we've got girl
30
223230
6750
03:49
and world. It's that -rl combination that you are finding so difficult. So let's try,
31
229980
5800
03:55
I'm going to go really slow with this one so you can see what happening with my mouth.
32
235780
5349
04:01
Ok, here we go. 'Girl' 'World' Can you see what's happening with my mouth? So, first
33
241129
14821
04:15
of all, my mouth is open and it's starting, it's opening up quite big. So 'girl' and then
34
255950
9639
04:25
as I come out of the girl sound as I finish the word my mouth closes again and my tongue.
35
265589
9121
04:34
Watch what my tongue does. 'Girl' so my tongue goes down and then it comes back up again
36
274710
9299
04:44
to finish that sound. Let's try again. 'Girl'. Ok, so my tongue kind of comes back up and
37
284009
10190
04:54
slightly pulls in to my mouth, so 'girl' and I'm finishing in that position 'girl'. A similar
38
294199
13020
05:07
sound with 'world', exactly the same 'world' so my mouth opens up and then closes again.
39
307219
9141
05:16
The tongue finishes coming back up 'world'. Alright, it sounds very strange when you do
40
316360
8970
05:25
it slowly but 'girl' 'world'. Now the sound in British English is different from American
41
325330
7639
05:32
English. In American English it's a much stronger /r/ so it's 'girl' whereas in English it's
42
332969
6791
05:39
'girl' not quite so pronounced the /r/ there. Alright, let's do a practise sentence. Ok,
43
339760
6140
06:01
This word has two different pronunciations. We have 'our' as in the letter /r/ or the
44
361500
9259
06:10
very to be but with they 'they are' 'our' or 'our' like minutes and hours 'our' so you
45
370759
10931
06:21
can use both. 'Our' or 'our' it depends on what you feel at the time. I think I use both
46
381690
7279
06:28
to be honest. I probably usually say our but both are totally fine, totally normal so which
47
388969
7650
06:36
ever you prefer you use that 'our' or 'our'. Both totally fine.
48
396620
4060
06:50
This next word also has two different pronunciations. One of them is American English and one of
49
410640
5141
06:55
them is British English however I commonly use both. So I don't think it's that important
50
415781
5519
07:01
which one is American and which one is British English just that there are two pronunciations
51
421300
3720
07:05
and you can use either one you want, don't worry too much about whether it's British
52
425020
4349
07:09
English or American English, just use both, ok? The first pronunciation is 'schedule'
53
429369
5810
07:15
and that is the American English pronunciation. In British English we would say 'schedule'
54
435179
7140
07:22
so it's the -sh sound. So in American English -sk in British English -sh 'schedule'. As
55
442319
10120
07:32
I said, I use both, I don't really think of them as being one American and one British,
56
452439
4160
07:36
I just, whatever I feel like saying I'll say it and I think a lot of people feel the same.
57
456599
5231
07:41
So let's do the American English again 'schedule' in British English 'schedule'. And the stress
58
461830
13289
07:55
is on the first syllable 'schedule' Alright, an example sentence. Alright,
59
475120
4340
08:11
this word causes a lot of problems but it's actually really simple. Two syllables 'mirror'.
60
491440
11559
08:22
It's not mir or, 'mirror' it's really easy 'mirror'. A similar word 'error' So we are
61
502999
10941
08:33
using that schwa sound, the -eh, which is the most common sound in the English language,
62
513940
5700
08:48
Let's tackle three words that are spelled very similarly but the pronunciation is very
63
528440
5580
08:54
different. Ok, the first one 'though' kind of means like however 'though'. So the -th
64
534020
8830
09:02
sound. Now we know that there are two different ways to pronounce that -th. Here it's 'though'.
65
542850
7620
09:10
This is a voiced sound, you feel it in your throat 'though'. How we make that sound is
66
550470
7990
09:18
we put the tongue up against the top teeth and we make a kind of humming sound in your
67
558460
8720
09:27
throat. Sounds like a bee flying around or something . And then to create the 'o' we
68
567180
10580
09:37
release the tongue 'though' and open the mouth 'though'. Good so that's the first word 'though'.
69
577760
12170
09:49
Now this word we're adding the /r/ but the -th sound totally changes. Now we're moving
70
589930
5820
09:55
to the other sound which is, it's the voiceless sound 'through'. So here remember with thing
71
595750
11640
10:07
and think we're putting the tongue against the teeth and we're blowing air out. You can
72
607390
9000
10:16
feel the air on your hand 'through' and then my lips are going outwards. 'Through'. Alright
73
616390
15000
10:31
and the last word in this little combination 'thorough'. If you do something thoroughly
74
631390
10550
10:41
you do something properly, completely. So it's the same -th sound 'thorough'. So the
75
641940
16700
10:58
first word was though, with the voiced, then through, voiceless with the air and then thorough
76
658640
10280
11:08
was the last sound. Though, through, thorough. -Th spelling but different sounds each time.
77
668920
8620
11:17
Alright here's a really tricky one 'regularly' here are four syllables there however when
78
677540
6330
11:23
we say it we cheat slightly. We make life easier for ourselves by just saying 'regularly'.
79
683870
8960
11:32
So three sounds there 'regularly. The stress is on the first syllable 'regularly'. Alright,
80
692830
5910
11:38
good job 'regularly'.Alright the final one, we're going to look at the difference between
81
698740
14330
11:53
this word and this word. Very similar sounds in many ways however it's what we do with
82
713070
6250
11:59
out lips and our tongue that really determine which word we say. So the first one 'free'.
83
719320
9050
12:08
Now in this word my lips are doing a lot of work 'free' and they open up as the sound
84
728370
6640
12:15
comes out 'free'. My tongue isn't really doing anything in this one so 'free' it's not touching
85
735010
7360
12:22
anything it's not moving anywhere so just let it relax. Now the other word 'three' the
86
742370
8560
12:30
tongue is really important because just like with thing and think 'three' the tongue is
87
750930
6540
12:37
touching the top teeth, we're blowing air out 'three'. So this word 'free', this word
88
757470
10560
12:48
'three' 'free 'three' 'free' three'. Now there's a great tongue twister for this one and it's
89
768030
12250
13:00
to do with basketball. I don't know if you have every played basketball but in basketball
90
780280
3570
13:03
they have something called a free fro. Sorry a free throw, a free throw.
91
783850
5970
13:44
That's a tough one. Ok, practise that one because that's really going to get you to think about the
92
824960
3720
13:48
sounds that you're making and particularly the lips and the tongue and what you are doing
93
828680
4140
13:52
with them to help you make the right sounds. Guys how was that? Did you enjoy that lesson?
94
832820
7030
13:59
Which words do you find most difficult to pronounce? Let me know in the comments below.
95
839850
4240
14:04
I've done lots of other pronunciation videos that will help you to say them perfectly in
96
844090
6160
14:10
British English. Check them out, they are just above me right now. And if you'd like
97
850250
5180
14:15
any other pronunciation videos please let me know, I really enjoy these ones. I think
98
855430
4650
14:20
they are so helpful and so useful for you guys. i know the feedback you give me, tells
99
860080
5110
14:25
me how useful they are. So yeah, if you'd like me to do any other ones let me know and
100
865190
6060
14:31
remember guys if you haven't already discovered my Patreon page I would love you to go check
101
871250
5340
14:36
it out. It's a community where I offer extra English resources for you guys, ok? So go
102
876590
7310
14:43
check it out, if you haven't already. The link will be below and also at the end. So
103
883900
5540
14:49
please go check out my Patreon page. I have some wonderful Patrons there who are getting
104
889440
4930
14:54
extra English materials to help them take their English to the next level. Also guys
105
894370
5630
15:00
remember my new videos are out every Tuesday, every Friday. Hit that subscribe button so
106
900000
4640
15:04
that you don't miss any of my lessons. Thank you so much as always guys, this is Tom, the
107
904640
5840
15:10
Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.
108
910480
1990
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7