English Pronunciation - Th & S

Hi there, my name is Rani, welcome to my lesson, today we are going to do pronunciation, another

tough one, another hard one for everyone to learn, is the difference between the English

sounds of 'th' and's'. Now most of you do have, luckily, the letter's' in your language,

so that one isn't as difficult for you to pronounce. The difficult one is the lovely

English 'th'. I remember even when I was a child, I had trouble saying this, and most

children do. Most children, when they are learning a language, have to do what I am

going to teach you now, in order to train their brains and their tongues to actually

say these words and letters. So do not get upset if you can't say them, you just practice

and practice and you'll get them, don't worry. So, the first one you probably already know

is's'. When we say the's', we move air out of our mouths, it is unvoiced. So, unvoiced

means if you put your hand on your throat and make's', there is no vibration in your

throat. You can also think of yourself as a snake when you say's'. To really emphasize,

when you say's', you can drag it out, and you can say 'essss'. You can be a snake.

The other sound, the "th" which is "th" is also unvoiced which means if you put your hand or your fingers on your throat and make this sound "th" there is no vibration in your vocal cords.

So these are both unvoiced.

So how do we know the difference? How do we say it?

What's different about the two sounds?

The major difference is your tongue.

When we say "th" we have to stick our tongues out.

This is so fun.

Do you remember being a child and if you did stick your tongue out you got in trouble?

Well this time you can do it.

You have to do it actually.

To make the "th" sound, to practice this, stick your tongue out and move the air through your teeth.

When we make the "s" sound our tongues do not stick out, they stay in our mouth and we put the air through our teeth.

So the difference is "th" tongue out and "th" with your tongue inside.

To practice the pronunciation differences between the "th" and the "s" we are going to look at these words.

The first one is "thin".

"Thin" means not fat.

And it's also the opposite of "thick".

So we have "thin" and "thick".

Next word is "thing".

If we don't know the vocabulary for a word you can always fall back on this trick.

The "thing".

The red "thing" is a marker.

So if you don't know the vocabulary for a word just call it a "thing".

It works all the time.

"Thing".

Next up we have "think".

"Think".

Another two words that start with "th" are these two words.

Now the spelling is very different.

But the pronunciation is exactly the same.

"Through", "through".

Once you learn how to say "through" you can say "through".

That one's fun.

So let's then look at the "s".

We can all be "snakes".

To really emphasize this and for the lesson, not the spelling, we can think of this by saying "sin".

A "sin" is a bad thing that you do.

Have you sinned lately?

"Sin".

Next one, when you don't feel very well, you can say "I am sick".

"Sick".

One of my favorite things to do is to "sing".

This is kind of a difficult word. If I have to wash the dishes at my house, or if I have to wash my hands, I go to the thing that is called a "sink".

So a "sink" is a place in your kitchen, and usually one in your bathroom, where you put in dishes or you wash your hands.

And that word is "sink".

Now, a word that we have is a name, a lady's name, which is "sue".

But, anytime you write a person's name, you have to make it a capital or a big "S".

So if it is a girl's name and there's going to be a big "S", "sue".

The other word "sue" is what happens in America a lot, and people try and get money from other people by suing them.

That means they take them to court, and they have to get a lawyer, and they get money from the other people for something they did wrong or didn't do wrong.

We're not getting into a lot in this lesson, please.

So, let's go through and check the differences and a lot of mistakes or difficult things in pronunciation.

Thin, sin.

I want you to practice these words.

Thin, sin.

Next one.

Thick, sick.

Thick, sick.

Now remember, when I say the "th", the "th" comes out.

Thing, sing.

Thing, sing.

Think, sink.

Think, sink.

And last.

Through, through, sue.

Through, through, sue.

You can go to www.engvid.com, and you can see other pronunciation lessons and other lovely English lessons to help you improve your English or help you learn English.

That's all for now. Bye-bye.