Pronunciation Paul Gruber #9|JohnnyVo

Hi and welcome back. Again, my name is Paul Gruber and this is the Pronunciation Workshop's 9th training session. I hope things have been going well. Today we will be addressing the O and the A vowel sounds. Also, most foreign speakers do not know how to correctly pronounce the 50 American states. In fact, many times when non-native speakers try to name the states, they are not even close to how they are supposed to sound. Therefore, in today's session, I'm going to show you how to correctly pronounce all 50 of the United States. Hopefully this will come in very handy. Let's get started. Let's begin with the American O sound. Many foreign speakers do not pronounce the American O correctly. And very often, the O sounds like an ah. So, for example, the word open sounds like oppen. And there's no such word and people may not understand you. So, let me teach you how to properly pronounce the O. First thing that I'd like to talk about is what I call the hidden W. I have found this to be the best way to teach foreign speakers how to pronounce the O sound correctly. When an American speaker makes an O, we end the vowel with a small W sound. Watch this. Oh, oh, oh. You notice how my lips are all the way forward and the front of my lips are opening and closing like the front of a trumpet. Oh, oh, oh. And you hear that little W sound in there like wah, wah, wah. That's what you need to make a good O sound. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's a little hidden W at the very end. Now, another way you can approach this is to bring your lips forward, use a strong W and say the word wee, like that. Now, put an O in front of it and connect the two. Oh, wee. Now that you've done that, now just drop the E vowel. Oh, and you've got a perfect O sound. Oh. So now, when you want to say this word, you're not saying ah-pen with an ah, you're using that hidden W, you're bringing your lips forward and you're saying oh-pen, oh-pen, like that. So let's practice some of these words with the O sound. Repeat after me. Let's start with oh-pen, oatmeal, blown, bold, owner, phone, cold, robe. Remember to bring your lips forward on that R. Very good. Now, let's do some sentences. How did you know that? I don't know where the hole is on the coat. Does Joe know how to drive on the road? I need to blow my nose when I have a cold. Has it ever snowed in Rhode Island? Okay, now try this. Cold winds will slowly blow snow over most of Ohio. This low is no joke, so folks don't go out without coats. Very good. Now, I want to tell you about two words that you are probably saying wrong. And these words are woke and won't. Most foreign speakers mispronounce these two words. Instead of saying woke, when they say it, it sounds like walk. So instead of saying I just woke up, it sounds like I just walk up. And that is not good. And instead of saying the word won't, it sounds like they're saying want. So instead of saying I won't go, it sounds like they're saying I want go. So it sounds like you want to go when you're actually saying you won't go. So listen carefully because I'm about to give you great information on how to say these words correctly. And you are not going to learn this anywhere else. Here we go. If you were riding a horse and you want the horse to stop or to slow down, if you remember, we're taught to say whoa, whoa, right? Now watch my mouth when I say that. There's a W sound at the beginning of that, but there's also a hidden W sound at the end. And my mouth is also very forward and tight. Right? Say it with me. That is exactly the sound you need to make to say the words woke and won't correctly. So here's what you do to say the word woke. First, say whoa with the W sound at the beginning and at the end. And then you just add the K sound. Whoa, like that. Put it together. And you've got woke, woke. I just woke up. Like that. Very good. Now won't. First say whoa with the W sound at the beginning and at the end. And then you add n't. Whoa, n't. Now you put it together. Won't. I won't go. Like that. Won't. Let's practice these exercises comparing the words want, woke, and won't. I want the ball. I won't give you the ball. She wants to sleep. She woke up. He wants to buy a car. He won't buy a car. They want to speak with you. He won't speak with you. Very good. Okay. Now let's work on A sounds. If you listen carefully, you will hear that this sound is a combination of two vowel sounds. You start with an A and then you glide up to an E. A, A. Notice how my mouth also closes a little bit at the end of the vowel. A. And notice it's not eh as in egg. It's not the eh sound. It's A, A as in age. Think high. It's a high vowel. Okay. Let's go over some of these words. Here we go. Age, aid, ate, able. Chain, date, eighteen, fake, lazy, made, baby, gain, change, gave, nation, day, paper, angel, basic, face. Okay. Now let's do these sentences. The ape gave the trainer a cane. David began shaving when he was eighteen. The rainbow appeared when daylight changed. The baby snake lived in a painted cage. My neighbor's basement was changed from blue to beige. Okay. Now try this. Hey, take away the strain. Weigh the gains of a great break with lazy day vacations. Lines are open eight till late. They aim to make your day. Very good. You know, by improving your O and A vowel sounds, it will really make a huge difference in your speech. And people will have a much easier time understanding you. Okay. Now for something new. How to pronounce the names of the 50 American states. Many of my clients have often asked me to help them out and provide them with correct pronunciation. So I thought this may be helpful for you as well. The names of many states are difficult to pronounce, especially the ones with R and L sounds in them. When saying them, if you see an R, don't forget to use strong R sounds. And if you see an L, don't forget to use strong L sounds with your tongue tip rising up in the front, right behind your teeth. Like that. Okay. You'll notice that there's a line under the syllable in each state which receives the most stress to make it a little bit easier for you to pronounce. Okay, let's go. These states are in alphabetical order. Repeat after me. Alabama. Alaska. Arizona. Arkansas. The final S is silent. California. Colorado. Connecticut. Delaware. Florida. Georgia. Hawaii. Idaho. Illinois. The final S is silent. Indiana. Iowa. Kansas. Kentucky. Louisiana. Maine. Maryland. Massachusetts. Michigan. Minnesota. Mississippi. Missouri. Montana. Nebraska. Nevada. New Hampshire. New Jersey. New Mexico. New York. North Carolina. North Dakota. Ohio. Oklahoma. Oregon. Pennsylvania. Rhode Island. South Carolina. South Dakota. Tennessee. Texas. Utah. Vermont. Virginia. Washington. West Virginia. Wisconsin. And Wyoming. Very good. Now, as you know, the United States is a large country, and each state is unique and has a lot to offer. If you haven't done much traveling yet in the United States, I hope someday you get to see how beautiful this country really is. Well, that's it for today. Now go and practice, and please feel free to review today's session again if you like. Thank you for watching. I'm Paul Gruber for the Pronunciation Workshop, and I'll see you at our next session. Goodbye. you