How to Get a British Accent - Lesson Two - "The Schwa"

Hi again guys! Welcome back to our series on the British accent!

How to improve your accent, sound more British.

Today, we're looking at the Schwa.

It sounds like *the schwa sound*

And it's represented in phonetics as this symbol : /Ə/

You see that in dictionnaries when you're trying to find the pronunciation of words.

This is the most common sound in the English language.

Why? Well, one of the reasons

is any word which finishes with an "er" sound

is pronounced with the Schwa.

The /Ə/ sound.

So, firstly,

repeat after me, make sure you have the Schwa sound right.

/Ə/

I'm sure you were perfect, well done!

So, this word, we pronounce it like

Ever /evƏ/

Better /betƏ/

Maybe you joined the last class with the glottal T and the true T,

you can combine what you've learnt from these two classes.

the glottal T and the Schwa :

Be'er /be'Ə/ (better with the glottal T and the Schwa)

"be'er", so, it could be pronounced like that.

The same here :

"Wa'er" (water avec le glottal T et le schwa) or "water" (avec le schwa)

Again, the "er", pronounced like a schwa.

"Water" ou "wa'er", however you want to say it.

Teacher /ti:ʧƏ/ (with the schwa)

Doctor /dɒktƏ/ (with the schwa)

Adventure /ƏdventʃƏ/ (with the schwa)

So, any "er" sound at the end of a word

is pronounced with a Schwa.

Americans they pronounce the R very strongly, for example :

an American would pronounce it

Ever /evƏr/

Better /betƏr/

Water /watƏr/

I'm exagerating but

they pronounce the R, we pronounce the Schwa!

Not only when a word finishes with an "er" sound,

it also goes for the weak syllables in a word.

For example :

In this word, where is the stress?

Well, it's in "-lice"

"po-LICE"

The stress is here,

so the weak syllable

"po-" is pronounced, again, with the Schwa.

/pƏ/-/li:s/

Police

The next one : where is the stress with this one?

Of course it's here, on "Ta-"

So this one takes the Schwa

Taken /teɪkƏn/

/Ən/

Taken

This one : where is the stress?

So, here has the Schwa sound.

/Ə/

/Əbaʊt/

About

This one, very commonly used word in particularly classrooms

I hear it like "pencil" (with a i sound)

No! Where is the stress?

"PEN-"

So, "PEN-cil"

"-cil" has the schwa sound.

So, let's go through them one more time :

Repeat with me, so you can compare your pronounciation with mine!

So,

Ever /evƏ/

Better /betƏ/ or /be'Ə/

Water /wɔːtƏ/ or /wɔː'Ə/

Teacher /ti:ʧƏ/

Doctor /dɒktƏ/

Adventure /ƏdventʃƏ/

Police /pƏli:s/

Taken /teɪkƏn/

About /Əbaʊt/

Pencil /pensƏl/

So, that's our class for today, on the Schwa.

Join us tomorrow to improve your English accent even further!

Bye!

Non-automatic English subtitles by Julie Descaves