Practice Your English Pronunciation /æ/ vs /ʌ/ Vowel Sounds | Course #4

Hello, students. This is Fanny.

Welcome to this English pronunciation video. In this video, I'm going to focus on two English

vowel sounds: /æ/ and /ʌ/

They sound similar, but they are different so you need to pronounce them differently.

Let's start with two example words.

My first example word is ‘ran’.

Can you hear the sound?

‘ran’

My second word is, ‘run’.

/ʌ/

run

run

run

Can you hear the difference?

I knew they sound very similar,

but if you practice with me,

I promise by the end of this video,

you will hear and pronounce them correctly.

So keep watching.

Get ready guys.

I am going to help you make these sounds: /æ/ and /ʌ/ in English.

I want you to hear the difference very clearly and to be able to pronounce them correctly.

Also you should know the IPA spelling,

watch how I move my mouth,

and please try to always repeat after me.

I know you can do it so let's get started.

First, let's try to make the sound /æ/.

So your tongue is very low in your mouth.

/æ/

Can you repeat after me:

/æ/

/æ/

/æ/

Let's now use the word, ‘ran’.

Repeat after me.

ran

ran

ran

And now let's produce the sound /ʌ/.

Your tongue is in the middle part of your mouth.

/ʌ/

Please repeat after me.

/ʌ/

Let's now practice with the word ‘run’.

Repeat after me.

run

run

run

Good guys.

Let's now use minimal pairs.

Words that are very similar, but the vowel sounds change.

A very good way to practice the vowel sounds.

First, just the sounds.

Repeat after me.

And watch how my mouth moves.

/æ/

/ʌ/

/æ/

/ʌ/

/æ/

/ʌ/

/æ/

/ʌ/

Let's now use the words ‘ran’ and ‘run’.

Please repeat after me.

ran

ran

ran

run

run

run

ran

run

ran

run

ran

run

Great guys.

Ok, guys. Let's see other minimal pairs together.

Repeat after me and pay attention to my mouth how it moves.

Let's get started.

ankle

uncle

back

buck

bad

bud

badge

budge

bag

bug

ban

bun

bank

bunk

bat

but

began

begun

brash

brush

cab

cub

cam

come

cap

cup

cat

cut

champ

chump

cram

crumb

crash

crush

dabble

double

dab

dub

dad

dud

dam

dumb

damp

dump

dank

dunk

drank

drunk

fan

fun

fanned

fund

F@nny

funny

flank

flunk

flash

flush

flax

flux

gash

gush

glam

glum

grab

grub

hag

hug

ham

hum

hang

hung

hash

hush

hat

hut

hatch

hutch

jag

jug

lag

lug

mad

mud

massed

must

mat

mutt

match

much

pack

puck

paddle

puddle

pan

pun

pat

putt

rabble

rubble

rag

rug

ram

rum

rang

rung

rash

rush

sack

suck

Sally

sully

sang

sung

sank

sunk

sapper

supper

sax

sucks

scam

scum

shacks

shucks

slag

slug

slam

slum

slang

slung

slash

slush

stab

stub

stack

stuck

stand

stunned

stank

stunk

swam

swum

tab

tub

tack

tuck

tag

tug

tang

tongue

thrash

thrush

track

truck

tramps

trumps

Excellent job guys. Let's carry on.

Okay, guys. Let's practice further.

I'm going to show you some words.

I want you to read them, but with the proper vowel sound.

/æ/ or /ʌ/

Let's get started.

Let's start with word number one.

Which one is it?

‘hang’ or ‘hung’?

‘hung’

Very good.

Next word.

dad or dud?

dud

Next word.

rag or rug?

rag

Next word.

F@nny or funny?

funny

Next word.

stab or stub?

It's ‘stab’.

Next word.

hang or hung?

It's ‘hang’.

Next word.

dad or dud?

It’s ‘dad’.

Next word.

rag or rug?

rug

Next word.

stab or stub?

It’s ‘stub’.

And finally,

F@nny or funny?

It's ‘F@nny’.

Very good guys.

Awesome guys.

Let's move on.

Okay, guys. Let's move on to sentences now.

I have sentences for you and they all contain

/æ/ and /ʌ/ sounds,

so pay attention and repeat after me.

The first sentence is:

‘My funny uncle must come’.

The second sentence:

‘The bad crab stunk’.

And finally:

‘F@nny must teach funny slang’.

Excellent, guys.

Let's move on.

Great job, guys.

I know it's hard but you now have a better understanding of the difference between the English vowel sounds

/æ/ and /ʌ/.

Keep practicing.

It takes time and practice of listening and speaking to master the English vowel sounds.

But you can do it.

And make sure to watch my other pronunciation videos.

They're very important if you want to improve your English skills.

See you next time.