Pronunciation mistakes you can avoid

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I wanted to highlight some of the things I run into the most, que más me encuentro, I run into the most when it comes to pronunciation. I've taught a lot of different students over the years, and although each student is different, there are some mistakes that keep coming up over and over again. So much so that I can almost feel them happen before they happen. Sounds weird, but once you've taught as much as I have, I swear it's the case. So let's get into it.

You are listening to episode 138 of English with Dane. Hit it. Okay, we have officially started the show, so let's talk about pronunciation mistakes. Like I always say, don't stress out too much about pronunciation in general. It's okay to want to improve your pronunciation, of course. It's okay to want to sound more natural, more American, more English, more Irish, sure. Do your thing. But it's not okay to stop yourself from speaking because you are self-conscious about your pronunciation.

That's what I don't want you to do. If you're worried that you will sound stupid or too Spanish or too whatever, then you're not on the right track. That said, let's start with some specific examples of pronunciation mistakes. First, we'll talk about a few words in particular, and then we'll talk about broad concepts. The first word I want to talk about is one that I've mentioned before, but I'm sure I'll mention again. Interesting. Again, interesting.

Now, this word can be tricky to pronounce, and a lot of people read it and think, claro, interesting. No, that's not really it. What we need to do is ignore that first E. Pretend it's not there. What you want to say is interesting. The key is to emphasize that first syllable como si fuese sdrúhula and then say tresting. Interesting. Practice it right now. Ready? 3, 2, 1, 2. Nice. Remember, don't say interesting. Don't say inter, say intra. Not inter intra. Practice again. Out loud.

I don't care if you're in the metro or on the bus or walking down the street or cleaning your house. Ready? 3, 2, 1. Good. I think you got it. Let's move on. The next word I want to talk about is teenager. This one has come up, a surgido, ojo el phrasal verb, it has come up several times recently. A lot of my students say teenager or teenager. They place the emphasis on the second syllable. Instead, much like our previous word, interesting, it must be treated como una palabra esrujula.

In other words, the stress should be placed on the first of three syllables. Teenager. Teenager. I think it helps if you think of the first syllable as tea and not teen. Teenager. We're going to practice this one out loud too. Ready? 3, 2, 1. I hope you said it. I can't make you, but I feel like you said it. Next up is chocolate. I'm not going to say it in English yet because I want you to say it first out loud. 3, 2, 1. If you said chocolate or chocolate, then try again.

This time we are turning a three-syllable word into a two-syllable word. I want you to say choc lit. Nada de chocko, no, chalk, chalk, como tisa. Choc, lit. Lit as in the past tense of the verb to light. Here, listen to how Forrest says it.

And here it is in Batman Begins. Focus. The important thing is that we don't say oos or cuce, never focus, focus, focus. Say it out loud. Ready? Three, two, one. Good. Now I want to talk about something a bit more general. So in Spanish, which is the language most of you speak, we don't really have that many vowel sounds. I think Spanish has like five, one for each vowel, while English has more like twenty. Now you might want to check the exact numbers, but you know what I mean.

There's a huge difference. One of these differences is really apparent when we talk about long and short vowels. In Spanish, we don't make that distinction, while in English it's a really important one. Being able to replicate these long and short sounds is essential to improving your accent and your pronunciation. It's so important, I can't stress it enough. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, let's use an example. The word kiss beso. Listen to it. Kiss, is, is. It's not guis, it's is.

It rhymes with this kiss this. I'm not saying quis, I'm saying kiss. Kiss is a short vowel sound. A lot of Spanish speakers would pronounce that guis. That would be a long vowel sound. This is the reason why some Spanish speakers have a hard time separating the sounds of this, esto, and these estos. Try saying this and these, this and these. If they sound the same or are really similar, you might not be making the correct sound. Say e, so the long vowel sound, and notice where your tongue is.

It's close to the top of your mouth, right? E. Do it for a little bit and feel where your tongue is. Now relax your tongue a bit and bring it lower. Relaxatulengua y bahala. Make this sound. Practice that and then say kiss. A good one to practice these two different vowel sounds is this and these. This is my shoe. These are my shoes. Listen to the difference. This, these, this, these. Remember to pay attention to where your tongue is inside your mouth.

So much of pronunciation is tongue placement. Maybe I'll do a whole episode on it. We'll see. Now let's apply that to a word that we say way more. This is my phone. Is not eas. It's the same vowel sound. Kiss and is. What's different here is the s sound. In kiss, we have that pure s sound, while in is it's like a zzz sound, like the sound a mosquito makes. Try saying this is a kiss. This is a kiss. Or is this a kiss? Or whatever combination you want.

The key is to not only practice, but to train your ear to be able to hear the difference. For some people, these two words sound very similar and it makes it a bit more difficult, but with practice, you'll be able to not only differentiate between these two sounds, but you'll have the muscle memory to replicate them too. To finish, let's use the following sentence to make sure we practice the words I discussed in the first part of this episode.

The words were interesting, teenager, chocolate, and focus. So the sentence will be the teenager focused on making chocolate because it was interesting. Again, the teenager focused on making chocolate because it was interesting. I know it's a ridiculous sentence, but it'll help. Also, I want you to practice that short i sound and that long e sound. This and these. This and these is an ease. Practice. Don't just listen to this and think, ah, cool, good to know.

Practice this and be aware of long and short I sounds when you read and when you watch stuff. Alright, that's it for this episode of English with Dane. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed it, and more importantly, I hope you learned something. Don't forget to follow English with Dane on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen, and please share this podcast with a friend, co-worker, family member, or anyone who you think would enjoy it.

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