American English Vowel Sounds: /æ/, AA as in BLACK

hey guys I'm super excited to dive into this next series of lessons I've created for you because it's time to talk about vowels so American English vowels are tricky there's a lot of them and several of them sound really similar to make things tougher some of these sounds probably don't exist in your native language so it's quite possible that you're not even hearing these sounds so in this series of four lessons we're going to tackle four very American vowel sounds that are tricky for non-native speakers for each sound we'll practice how to articulate the sound will practice differentiating the sounds from common sounds that you may be substituting and will practice saying the sounds in words and sentences this will be a series of four lessons the first sound we'll cover will be the as in black then we'll move on to the it as in silver we'll talk about the aa as an olive and the Oh as in wood so let's dive in let's get started with that ah as in black sound so here's what you need to know about this sound this sound is a jaw-dropper meaning the jaw comes down as you make the sound ah ah ah the lips pull back a little bit at the corners here and ah this is a very American sound and probably one that you don't have in your native language bad last class add the tendency for a lot of non-native speakers is not to give this sound enough movement with that jaw dropping ah and what happens is it begins to sound more like the air as in red sound ah the air as in red is much more neutral there's not as much movement there with the mouth you don't see that jaw drop as much and the lips don't pull back at the corners as much ah ah let's do some minimal pair practice to help with differentiating between these two sounds alright so this minimal pair practice will be ear training I know it can be helpful to see the movements of the mouth a lot of times when you're learning vowel sounds but we don't always have that luxury so you have to train your ears to hear the difference between these two sounds so I have two words on the screen I'm gonna say one word you point to the word that you hear said said this one is said so let's go back and forth between this pair said sad said sad next pair which word do you hear gasps gasps this one is gasps let's go back and forth with this pair guess gasps guess gasps next pair which word do you hear bag bag this one is bag let's go back and forth bag bag bag bag next pair which word do you hear that but this one is bet let's go back and forth bet bat bet bat next pair which word do you hear Matt Matt this one is Matt let's go back and forth met Matt met Matt next pair which word do you hear set set this one is set let's go back and forth set Sat set sat next pair which word do you hear ladder ladder this one is ladder let's go back and forth letter ladder letter ladder next pair which word do you hear past past this one is past let's go back and forth pest past pest past next pair which word do you hear Pet pet this one is pet let's go back come forth pet pat pat pat last one which word do you hear bad bad this one is bad let's go back and forth bed bad bed bad awesome now let's practice some common words in short sentences here we go ask ask can I ask you something can I ask you something I forgot to ask I forgot to ask fast fast that was fast that was fast I need this done fast I need this done fast after after I'll call you after the meeting I'll call you after the meeting let's talk after lunch let's talk after lunch matter matter it doesn't matter it doesn't matter what's the matter what's the matter actually actually what actually happened what actually happened it was actually pretty amazing it was actually pretty amazing nicely done now something interesting to note the as in black takes on a different quality when it comes before the nasal consonants mm and mm or M and N listen close man can jam ham so what's happening here is the sound transitions from the mouth or oral cavity where the vowel sound is resonating up into the nose or nasal cavity cavity where that mm and mm are resonating there's a little teeny schwa sound that happens man Jam do you hear that teeny little uh sound man jam ham can now you most likely don't need to worry a lot about making this extra little sound happen it will naturally occur as you perfect the a sound as you're moving into those nasal consonants but it definitely gives this sound a little bit of a different quality so let's try a few words with the mm and mm sounds following the ass here we go family family she has a big family she has a big family land land what time do you land what time do you land damage damage there's a lot of damage there's a lot of damage sample sample can I try a sample can I try a sample handle handle I can handle it I can handle it nicely done one final thing to share about this sound a really funny thing happens when it comes right before the in G or a sound another nasal consonant that impacts the way this sound is pronounced if you're looking at a transcription in a dictionary you'll see the as in black symbol before the ink but what you're gonna hear is more of an a as in gray sound listen closely and see if you can hear what I mean Bank say okay it's not back Bank instead you're really hearing more of the a vowel sound rolling into the bank think I need to stop by the bank I need to stop by the bank thanks so much thanks so much hang-hang can you hang on a minute can you hang on a minute so there you have it that is what you really need to know about the at as in black sound now if you feel like you're ready for a little more practice with this sound don't worry you know I've got you covered you can download a list of 50 super common as in black words by clicking on the link in the video description and if you're ready to make some real changes in your English pronunciation but you're just not sure where to start be sure to grab my ultimate accent training starter guide I share five keys to making real changes in the way you speak and a roadmap of steps to take to get you from where you are now to where you want to be again I'll share a link to that in the video description I hope you enjoyed the lesson and found it helpful if you did please be sure to share it with friends as always thanks so much for tuning in and I'll see you next time

Channel: Clear English Corner with Keenyn Rhodes

Views: 197,343

Keywords: American English vowel sounds, English vowel sounds, English vowels, American vowels, vowel sounds, american english, american english accent, american english pronunciation, pronunciation american english, american accent, american accent training, american pronunciation, accent reduction, how to speak american accent, clear english, clear english corner, keenyn

Id: QJd5c1T1t-w

Length: 12min 21sec (741 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 12 2019