How to pronounce 'H' in English -- not 'A' or 'R'!

Hello. This is a special lesson for everyone out there in the world of the

living. I'd like to dedicate this lesson to a very special 16-year-old

named Gabriel. He is a wonderful English teacher. He's 16 years old, and

he teaches people in Brazil. Thanks for doing that. This lesson is for you

and everyone else from Brazil or France. French speakers, everyone in the

Middle East, everywhere around the world, this is for you.

Today, we're going to learn about pronunciation... between how to say H, not A

or R. So, if I can pinpoint people from Brazil for a second, I don't know

exactly where the border starts between the north and the south of Brazil,

but I do know that people I teach from "Hecife", or as I look at it Recife,

there's a very, very strong difference between the way you say R and H. I

notice it in a lot of my students, and I think it's all over Brazil, but I

notice it more with people from the north.

People I've met from Sao Paulo, it's not as strong as accent, but you

probably might be a little confused with the pronunciation of English

versus Portuguese. So, the wonderful city where Carnival happens, in

English we say "Rio". We sound it like an R sound, not an H. So we don't

say "Hio". We say "Rio".

The next one is "rug". It might be kind of a miscommunication if you're

trying to say "hug" but you say "rug". "Rug" is a small carpet. So you

might say to someone, "I need a rug". "Oh, okay. Oh, I don't have a rug.

I'm sorry". But then you go and give them a hug, and they're like, "This is

strange". So you have to be careful with the R and the H sound. This is

"rug", and this is "hug".

The next one is a devious creature called a "rat". "Rat". The thing you wear

on your head sometimes is a "hat". So you have to be careful when you want

to say "rat" and "hat". The last one is "river".

I'm sure in Rio de Janeiro there is a river.

So you want to be careful. You don't want to say "hiver".

"Hiver" is not even a word in English, but you want to pronounce it like an

R and say "river". Okay? So be careful, especially all the friends out in the north.

I'd also like to special shout-out to Luciano in Sao Paulo. You did well

with the R and the H's.

Now, for everyone else, we have the word "happy".

When you want to say the H sound compared to the A sound, you have to

exhale. It's like you're breathing out, so you say, "happy", "happy".

One thing that we need a lot of in Canada right now is "heat", "heat". If you

don't say the H sound, it'll sound like the word "eat".

So you want to say "I need heat", compared to, "I need to eat". "Heat", "eat".

Next one! Some of you may be losing this. It is "hair". Again, when you

make the H sound, it's a strong breathe out, "hair".

If you don't say the H sound, it sounds like "air". When you want to say the A sound, you put your

mouth back, "air". With the H sound, "hair", your mouth has to be open to

begin with. So, the mouth position is important when you're starting off to

say the word. With the H it's "hair", and with the A it's "air". Your mouth

wants to be slightly open in a little smile.

The next one is a very, very common verb in English. It's "have", "have".

"I have hair". Mm-hmm. If you don't go "hhhh" at the

beginning, it'll sound like you say "ave.". "Ave.", why is there a dot

here? Does anyone know what "ave." means? "Ave." is another word for

"street". We shorten it. The actual word is "avenue", but we usually don't

say the whole word "avenue". It takes too long. So if you don't say the H,

it'll sound like you're saying a street, "have", "ave.".

The last one, "hate", "hate". You can think of it as getting very angry.

That's what "hate" means, "I hate that". When you want to say the H, you

have to "hhhh" like you want to kill someone! So it's

"hate", and the past tense of eat - watch this - also pronounced like this

number, "ate". Isn't that crazy? You don't need to say the H. Don't say the

H, "ate". So, "I hate", "I ate". It's very easily confused.

If you have a pronunciation problem with the "hhhh" and

the "ah", just try and exhale before you say the H. Also, if you have a

pronunciation problem that you'd like me to teach you, please go to

engvid.com. Email me. Tell me what you'd like me to teach you. I can do

that for you. Until later, bye-bye.

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