Let’s break down the word “vacation” into its sounds and stress patterns to confidently use it in American English conversation.
YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video.
Video Transcript:
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over the pronunciation of the word ‘vacation’.
This week’s word of the week is ‘vacation’. Vacation. It’s a three-syllable word with stress on the middle syllable. Va-ca-tion. Vacation. It begins with the V consonant sound, where the bottom lip comes up and touches the bottom of the top front teeth, vv, vv. Then it has the AY as in SAY diphthong. The jaw does need to drop for that first sound of the diphthong, va-, va-. Then we have the K consonant sound, where the back part of the tongue will reach up here, kk, touch the soft palate and pull away to make the K sound. The stressed syllable also has the AY as in SAY diphthong. Since this syllable is stressed, the jaw will probably drop a little bit more than it did in the unstressed syllable. Vaca-, -ca-. Vacation. The last syllable is the SH, schwa, N sound: -tion, -tion, -tion. You don’t need to worry about making the schwa. The N sort of takes over that sound, -tion, -tion. Since it’s unstressed, we do want it to be very fast. And, it will be lower in pitch and flatter than -ca-, the stressed syllable. Vacation, vacation.
Here’s a video from my summer vacation.
That’s it, your Word of the Week. Try it out yourself. Make up a sentence with the word, record it, and post it as a video response to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to watch it.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
Hear the difference immediately.
Get the Top 3 Ways to Master the American Accent course absolutely free. Sign up today to unlock your American voice.
