How to pronounce J & Y in English

Hi. I'm Ronnie. Do you have problems saying "je" and "ye"? Are you a Spanish speaker?

Maybe. If you speak Spanish, so if you're from Mexico, or Spain, or other Spanish-speaking

places in South America or all over the world, it's going to be difficult for you to get

the pronunciation of "j" like "je" and "y" like "ye". Do you know why? Because in your

language, it's just different. Isn't it? It's the opposite. Why does English have to be

so difficult with pronunciation? I'm here to help you. Maybe you have seen a lesson

like this. I did a lesson like this a long time ago, years and years ago, really, but

we had some audio difficulties, so I'm here to redo it back in the year 2015. Go for a

time warp with me. "J vs. Y".

First of all, let's focus on the mouth position, and what we do to get the differences in the

pronunciation of these letters. The first one: "je". Your throat, the air's going to

come out of your throat almost like you're yelling, so it's like "je, je". Your teeth

are a little bit apart, "je", and you're going to throw the air out: "je, je". It's a very

strong sound. Now, the "y" sound, on the other hand, is not as strong. It's more of a "ye,

ye". Think about this: what's the position of my mouth when I make the "je" and when

I make the "ye"? When I make the "ye", I get to smile a little bit. My cheeks are really

tight, so I'm like: "ye, ye". When I do the "j": "je", my mouth is more sloppy and wiggly.

So, it wiggles like Jell-O. The "j", your mouth is not as tight: "je" and more loose

and open. And with the "y": "ye", you have to make your mouth tight, your cheek's got

to be tight. These are your cheeks. Your cheeks have to be tight and: "ye". It's a much softer

sound. Let's go through some examples, shall we?

Somebody's name: "Jo-Jo". "Hi, Jo-Jo, how are you? Cool." "Jo-Jo, je, Jo-Jo." Oh, it's

another name. This is not Juan, oh no. In English, we say: "Je, John. Hi, John, how

are you? Cool. Thanks for watching." The next thing we have, a really, really fast airplane

is a "je, je, jet". Jo-Jo, John, jet. You try now.

Perfect. Good. Next one, the word

"jeer". Oh, what does that mean? That's a strange word. I've never heard that. "Jeer"

means you make fun of someone. It's not very nice to do to people. This, another one is

a person's name, it could be a boy or a girl: "Jess", "Jessica", "Jessie". So this word

is: "je, Jess". "Jell-O". What's Jell-O? Jell-O is gelatin, it's a dessert. In Canada and

in North America, or in... Sorry. In Canada and America, Jell-O is a brand name of a kind

of gelatin. And there was a really famous actor that would advertise Jell-O. Bonus points

if you know his name. Jell-O Pudding Pops. We have the months of "June" and "July". So

practice the "je" sound.

Good. Okay, so let's move on to the "ye". Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. "Yo-yo". What's a

yo-yo? I bet you you know what a yo-yo is. A yo-yo is a toy. Hmm. It's a toy on a string.

Maybe you are really, really good at playing with a yo-yo. I've never been really good

at yo-yoing. It's a noun, it's a verb. Just to... Didn't work. Bored. Ronnie doesn't like

to yo-yo, but pronunciation is fun. So this word is: "yo-yo". You may hear this in some

movies, and people be like: "Yo, yo, yo, what's up, yo?" You have to be careful if you're

going to be a cholo gangster, not to say: "Jo, jo." You have to say: "Yo, yo." Please

be careful. [Yawns] "Yawn", "yawn". Yawn means you go [yawns] because you're tired, so you

yawn. Next: "yet". "Yet" is a kind of grammar word and it means that something is going

to happen, but it won't happen now. So it's like "still". I yet have got to get you to

subscribe to my YouTube channel. Go do it. "Year". The year is 2015. Funny story, the

other day I was looking at my phone and I realized that it wasn't 2014 anymore. And

the thing I was looking at, at the supermarket had expired. Ronnie has no concept of years,

but now I do know it's 2015 is the year. "Yes". Not: "Jes", "Yes". The colour, beautiful colour

of "yellow". Let's practice one more time. Yo-yo, yawn, yet, year, yes, and yellow. Oh,

we forgot one. "Yeast". Yeast is something that we use to make bread or pastries rise.

It's also an infection that some people get. Let's not talk about that in the pronunciation

lesson; we'll save that one for later.

So, the next thing that we have to do, and probably the most challenging thing that we

have to do is comparing the two sounds. So, it's fine and dandy if you can just say the

j's, and then you say the y's, and you're like: "Yo, I got it!" No you don't. You will

only get it if we do this now. So, please, follow along. The "j" is Jo-jo. The "y" is

yo-yo. Please repeat. Jo-jo, yo-yo. Make sure that your mouth is really tight for the y's.

Tight mouth for the y's. Jo-jo, yo-yo. Your turn. Perfect. Next one: Hi, John, how are

you? John, yawn. John, yawn. Ye, ye, yawn. Jet, yet. Jet, yet. Jeer: "he-he, he-he",

jeer, year. Year. What year is it? Not: what jeer is it? Jess: Oh, hi, Jess, how are you?

Cool. Yes. Jess, yes. A lot of the time I hear people say: -"Jess". -"Where's Jess?

Jess, Jess is here? No. Jess isn't here. You're lying. Jessica is not here. Oh, you meant

'yes'." Please be careful. Jell-O which is a kind of dessert, Jell-O and the colour yellow.

Jell-O, yellow. Try and say this: "Yellow Jell-O." It's lime. Lemon. Yellow Jell-O.

Then we have: yeast. The "j" words, these obviously don't connect, but we have June

and July.

If you have any other pronunciation problems, please go to my Facebook, which is

Ronnie McEnglish, or hit me up on the website. I will be happy to try and help you figure out

more of your pronunciation problems. From Jo-Jo, John, and Jess, we're out of here.