1 00:00:00,370 --> 00:00:06,029 It’s December. A time of year when many people make New Year’s resolutions for the 2 00:00:06,029 --> 00:00:13,790 next year. What’s your New Year’s Resolution for 2016? Does it include gaining more fluency 3 00:00:13,790 --> 00:00:16,030 in your spoken English? 4 00:00:16,030 --> 00:00:20,710 How long have you been studying English? And how happy are you with your pronunciation? 5 00:00:20,710 --> 00:00:28,260 It’s a new year, and a new opportunity to get fluency in spoken American English. The 6 00:00:28,260 --> 00:00:34,600 Sounds of American English, and how they relate to stress, are the building blocks of American 7 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:43,730 English. So I’ve made a new set of 36 videos, totaling nearly 3 hours, that is truly special 8 00:00:43,730 --> 00:00:49,339 for the way integrates understanding stress into learning sounds. 9 00:00:49,339 --> 00:00:56,379 Most of the materials you'll find elsewhere just teach the sounds on their own, in isolation. 10 00:00:56,379 --> 00:01:02,649 It's a mistake to learn this way -- we learn sounds to speak words and sentences, not 11 00:01:02,649 --> 00:01:08,209 just sounds! For beginners, you can focus on the different sounds, and how they’re 12 00:01:08,209 --> 00:01:09,820 made. 13 00:01:09,830 --> 00:01:16,250 More advanced learners can focus on the subtleties of how sounds are affected by stress to put 14 00:01:16,250 --> 00:01:23,720 the finishing touches on their American accent. Every vowel and diphthong video teaches the 15 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:29,080 sounds in the context of stress, so you’re working on the overall character of American 16 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,140 English, which is so important. 17 00:01:33,140 --> 00:01:40,890 These videos have a mix of explanations, images, and slow motion speech study. I recommend 18 00:01:40,890 --> 00:01:47,660 watching all of the videos at once, several times. It’s a lot of information. Give your 19 00:01:47,660 --> 00:01:55,000 mind the time to take it all in and get the bigger picture. Then go back and study individual 20 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,670 sounds. Imitate and practice the example words out loud. 21 00:02:00,670 --> 00:02:08,110 This set of videos can be purchased as a download on January 12 for just $27. That’s less 22 00:02:08,110 --> 00:02:14,620 than a dollar per video. You can download the videos to your device or simply stream 23 00:02:14,620 --> 00:02:23,310 them. But, if you order now, during the prelaunch sale, that is, any time before January 12, you can 24 00:02:23,310 --> 00:02:27,070 get all 36 videos for just $19. 25 00:02:27,070 --> 00:02:33,280 Go to RachelsEnglish.com/sounds to purchase, and you’ll get access to the 26 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:40,209 videos as soon as they’re released in January. If a DVD is more your style, I’ve got you 27 00:02:40,209 --> 00:02:45,530 covered. The set is available as a DVD as well. 28 00:02:45,530 --> 00:02:51,150 If you can’t afford to purchase, you’ll still get access to the videos. The videos 29 00:02:51,150 --> 00:02:57,889 in this collection will be released on YouTube twice a month, every first and third Thursday 30 00:02:57,889 --> 00:03:06,439 until May 2017. But why wait? Get the whole set now, study the sounds as a unit, and get 31 00:03:06,439 --> 00:03:16,359 fluency in your spoken English. Make 2016 YOUR year. Welcome to 2016, welcome to your 32 00:03:16,359 --> 00:03:18,379 new accent. 33 00:03:18,380 --> 00:03:25,480 Here’s the first video in the series, General Information on the Sounds of American English. 34 00:03:25,489 --> 00:03:32,219 And look for another sneak peak of the videos, as the AA as in BAT vowel will be coming out 35 00:03:32,219 --> 00:03:34,329 in January. 36 00:03:34,329 --> 00:03:40,650 In this American English Pronunciation video, we’re going to go over a few general concepts 37 00:03:40,650 --> 00:03:43,990 concerning the sounds of American English. 38 00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:56,359 Before you study the Sounds of American English specifically, let’s go over a few general 39 00:03:56,359 --> 00:03:58,319 concepts. 40 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:07,260 First, voiced vs. unvoiced sounds. A voiced sound is a sound that uses the voice, uh. 41 00:04:07,269 --> 00:04:20,030 An unvoiced sound is a sound that only uses air, hh. Uh, hh. Every vowel and diphthong 42 00:04:20,030 --> 00:04:30,910 in American English is voiced; we engage the vocal cords to make a sound: aa, ur, oy. 43 00:04:30,910 --> 00:04:35,290 Consonants can either be voiced or unvoiced. 44 00:04:35,290 --> 00:04:39,520 There is a set of consonants—paired consonants—where 45 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:45,280 both sounds in each pair have the same mouth position. What makes them different is one 46 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:57,199 is voiced and one is unvoiced. For example, pp and bb. Can you tell which one is voiced? 47 00:04:57,199 --> 00:05:10,110 Which has the vocal sound in it, uh? It’s the B consonant, bb. Pp, bb. 48 00:05:10,110 --> 00:05:15,960 The rest of the consonants are not paired. They have a unique mouth position. Out of 49 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:25,810 these consonants, only one is unvoiced, the H consonant. Hh. The rest are all voiced, 50 00:05:25,810 --> 00:05:33,900 for example, mm, ww, ll. 51 00:05:33,900 --> 00:05:41,080 Second, let’s talk about nasal sounds. A sound is nasal when the soft palate is lowered, 52 00:05:41,090 --> 00:05:48,419 allowing air to pass through the nasal passages. Some languages have nasal vowels. English 53 00:05:48,419 --> 00:05:59,800 has none. English has just three nasal consonants: nn, mm, and ng. If your native language has 54 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:06,039 a lot of nasal vowels, you’ll have to be careful when speaking English. 55 00:06:06,039 --> 00:06:11,759 When you’re working on the nasal consonants, I encourage you not to worry about lowering 56 00:06:11,759 --> 00:06:17,509 the soft palate. I’ve been working with students many years and I’ve never found 57 00:06:17,509 --> 00:06:24,659 someone unable to do this. It happens naturally. The main concern is making sure the rest of 58 00:06:24,659 --> 00:06:32,059 the sounds in American English don’t have a nasal quality, have a closed soft palate. 59 00:06:32,060 --> 00:06:39,320 You’ll notice in my videos, that I use symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. This 60 00:06:39,330 --> 00:06:46,319 system was developed to write the sounds of spoken languages. In American English, certain 61 00:06:46,319 --> 00:06:53,750 sounds are spelled lots of different ways. So having one symbol to represent one sound 62 00:06:53,750 --> 00:07:01,539 is very helpful. I suggest using the International Phonetic Alphabet any time you’re studying 63 00:07:01,539 --> 00:07:07,860 the pronunciation of a foreign language. In this set of videos, you’ll get acquainted 64 00:07:07,860 --> 00:07:12,159 with the symbols of the sounds of American English. 65 00:07:13,780 --> 00:07:21,020 Finally, a note on stress. The stress of a syllable affects everything about the syllable, 66 00:07:21,020 --> 00:07:27,990 including the sounds. Most of the length in syllables comes from the vowel and diphthongs, 67 00:07:27,990 --> 00:07:34,349 so as you learn these, you’ll learn how to make them sound both stressed and unstressed. 68 00:07:34,349 --> 00:07:42,000 It’s important to get used to the idea of making some syllables longer and clearer, 69 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:48,669 and other syllables shorter and less clear. This concept is one of the foundations of 70 00:07:48,669 --> 00:07:50,840 American English. 71 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:55,569 Now you’re ready to dive in and study the Sounds of American English.