Daily English - Day 25

Begins with an L, your mouth should be wide open and your jaw should be down, like this. That's an easy one. Number two, your tongue should rise up and push just behind your top teeth, like this. Oh, notice my mouth is open. Oh. Number three, and this is the important part, you produce the L sound by dropping and relaxing your tongue. Like that. Now, again, you'll notice that my mouth and jaw are open. This is key. What I don't want you to do is to be moving your jaw along with your tongue. I don't want you to be doing this. Your jaw should not be moving at all. Keep it open. Here's a trick that may help you. Take your finger and put it in your mouth and pull down hard on your lower teeth and force your mouth open and your jaw down, like this. Now, while your jaw is down, bring your tongue tip all the way up behind your teeth and do this. La, la, la. My tongue is coming up, but my jaw is staying down. What you're doing is you're forcing your mouth and your lower jaw to stay open while you raise your tongue up. And that's what I want. I want your jaw to stay down, your mouth to stay open, and your tongue to rise up independently of your jaw. La, la, la. Like that. And that's how you produce a beautiful and clear L. Okay, let's do some practice. Repeat these words, beginning with the letter L. Here we go. Lunch. Lunch. Local. Local. London. London. Learn. Learn. Large. Life. Lobby. Library. Lucky. Lift. Laugh. Long. Very good. Here are some words with L in the middle of them. When you say these words, focus on the L sound and really push them out. Inflation. Believe. Volume. Glue. Elevator. Solve. Pulling. Flood. Delete. Elect. Alive. Color. Okay, let's talk about when L falls at the end of a word. This is a big problem for many foreign speakers, so pay close attention to this. To produce an L sound at the end of a word, keep in mind that the sound of the L comes from the movement of the tongue rising. It does not come from the placement of the tongue, but from the actual movement. Watch me as I say this word. Hell. The L comes from the movement of my tongue. You may want to use that finger trick again. Put your finger in your mouth, pull down on your lower teeth, and slowly say the word. The only thing that should be moving is your tongue should be coming up. Hell. Your jaw should not be moving at all. Let your tongue rise up. Hell. If you're having difficulty, practice this in front of a mirror and watch your jaw and your tongue, and be sure you don't produce the L sound by closing your mouth, which many foreign speakers do. Hell. Hell. See how my mouth is closing? Hell. You don't want to do that. That produces a weak L, and to an American listener, it is not clear, and you may not be understood. Let's start and practice these words ending with L's. Here we go. Will. Ball. Tall. Call. Control. Financial. People. Notice in this last word, people, it's not pronounced peep-ball with your tongue not moving. It's peep-ball with your tongue slowly moving up and your jaw remaining down. Stretch out that L sound. Peep-ball. Like that. Here are some sentences that have many L's in them. Listen careful to my example and then repeat. Don't forget to push your tongue behind your upper teeth and to use strong L sounds. Here we go. The lollipop fell into the cool water. Her driver's license was pulled out of the blue golf bag. Blake's bowling ball fell under his tools. Carl could not locate the lemons or the lime. The school was a mile away. Locate the lemons or the limes. The school was a mile away from the hill. The golf club was made of steel. Al's goal was to play baseball with Carol. A certified letter was delivered for the enrollment list. It was revealed a certified letter was delivered for the enrollment list. It was revealing to look at the smiling lawyer. Very good. Now let's try reciting this poem with FL blends. Here we are combining two sounds that we have already covered. The F sound and now the L sound. Don't forget to first bite your lip for that F like that and then quickly push your tongue up and against your teeth for the L to create the FL blend. Fly like that. Okay let's try this slowly. A flea and a fly flew up in a flu. Said the flea let us fly. Said the fly let us flee. So they flew through a flaw in the flu. Okay let's do that one more time this time a little bit faster. A flea and a fly flew up in a flu. Said the flea let us fly. Said the fly let us flee. So they flew through a flaw in the flu. Very good. Said the flea let us fly. Said the fly let us flee. So they flew through a flaw in the flu. Very good. Okay these next sentences all have the word will in them. The word will may be difficult for you because it has that final L sound. Remember try to keep your mouth open, your jaw down as your tongue rises up. By doing this you will produce a good final L sound. Again if you're having difficulty try looking in a mirror. Use your finger and push down on your bottom teeth as you say the word will like that. This will force you to keep your bottom jaw down as your tongue moves up. Here we go. Will you empty the garbage? This will force you to keep your bottom jaw down as your tongue moves up. Here we go. Will you empty the garbage? Will you ask her to clean the kitchen? Will you prepare a meal for the children? When will you begin your studies at college? When will she purchase the dress for her wedding? Why will he ask them to stay late at work? Why will she bring her baby to the meeting? How will they know if our flight is delayed? Where will the child be going next year? Where will they put all of the pillows? What will she do with the millions of dollars she won of the pillows? Where will they put all of the pillows? What will she do with the millions of dollars she won of the pillows? What will she do with the millions of dollars she won? Very good. Now some Japanese and Chinese speakers in particular she do with the millions of dollars she won. Very good. Now some Japanese and Chinese speakers in particular have difficulty distinguishing between the L sound and the R sound. Now that we have covered both of these sounds I would like to go over some paired words containing these sounds. Keep in mind when you produce an L your tongue moves forward and up behind your teeth. When you produce an R sound your lips move forward but your tongue moves all the way back. Basically the L and the R are completely opposite sounds. Listen carefully and repeat Free, flee. Very good. Okay I call these next words L-R combinations. These words and phrases have an L sound and an R sound right next to each other. This forces you to make a clear L and then roll it right into a strong R. Here we go. Repeat after me. Seal, ring. Toll, road. Already. Civil rights. Railroad. Rivalry. Coral reef. Jewelry. School room. Gravel road. Very good. As you can see L's are a very important sound when it comes to speaking understandable English. You should review this material a few times for practice. Have fun and I'll see you next time. I'm Paul Gruber with the Pronunciation Workshop.