Diphthong Sounds

Diphthongs are a type of vowel sound where two single vowel sounds/monophthongs are combined within a single syllable. This video gives a detailed look at how to produce each sound as well as demonstrating each sound in isolation and in example words.

This video is part of our series on phonetics and pronunciation for learners of English as a foreign language.

Phonetics is the science of pronunciation. It can be helpful for people learning English because one of the most difficult things about the language is the spelling and pronunciation. English is not very phonetic and as a result the same letters are often pronounced in many different ways in different words.
The IPA helps by providing a way to write words as they are pronounced. The normal alphabet only has 26 characters but there are 44 different sounds that are used to pronounce words. As well as that, most word in English originate from other languages like Greek, Latin and French to name just a few and in many cases the the language of origin influences how the word is pronounced.
The IPA provides a symbol (phoneme) for each sound so the correct pronunciation can be written or printed in dictionaries.

This video along with the others in our pronunciation series helps language learners to hear the correct pronunciation and also to know how to produce the sound of each phoneme.

[Joseko_T]

I learned more in 7 minutes here than in an entire semester at my university, thanks a lot.

[florenciasena]

this was much useful than other videos I've seen, soon I'll have a phonetics exam and this helped me a lot, thank you!!!

[eugeniorebot]

Hi Colin, I just want to tell you thank you very much, you helped me a lot with phonetics, I hope you keep doing this because you're an excellent teacher, i'm from Argentina and i'm learning the language and i look your videos always thanks you !!

[zatzu]

Our teacher just showed us this video last week. It's great for us students

[hajarkhaled]

I have a final exam tomorrow and it's about phonetics and that was really helpful for me, Thank you very much 👍

[monodescarado]

In the word 'power', the first syllable contains the 'ow' diphthong (aʊ). The second syllable has the 'ə' sound. The 'əʊ' diphthong is better shown in words like 'tour', 'pure', and the British pronunciation of 'sure'.

[MubarekAyalew-mf]

I'm a teacher in Ethiopia, and I use this video to teach my students about glide sounds because it's very useful for them to learn pronunciation.

[nadishaperera]

Hi, i'm from Sri lanka n thank you very much for this vedio cause this is the greatest explernation on IPA i ever had out of thousands.i found it very usefull and also short n to the point.wish u all the best sir !!!

[payalchoursiya]

It's really helpful class for me in learning diphthongs. You explained it in splendid way. Thank you so much sir

[dheanabila]

This video is 6 years old, yet it still being used until now by my professor 😂. Thankyou sir! Really helpful👍

[PedroSantos-mkpm]

All native students should learn these; this is a top tool to speak like a native. Diphthong is everything listen to the vowels sound!!!....You know diphthongs so you know the "native vowels sound"; otherwise we don't know anything!!! GREAT, Teacher!!!!

[bookmns]

i was studying this in class and i was so lost. now i'm getting the hang of it and understand it a lot better. thank you!!

[carlcastro]

Very Helpful Sir!! You Saved me from having Low grades in our class.. Thank you Sir!

[ranao]

thank u so much for these videos as a second language learner these videos made it a lot easier for me to learn phonetics and how to pronounce words correctly.

[guidofaria]

You are fantastic! A superb teacher who can put it in a clear way. Thanks for making it available for the ones who can not afford to pay it.

[rohanmp-rtsi]

Really,
How perfectly he pronounced every diphthong and monofthong.
Thank you so much, sir🙏🙏

[Evhano]

Thank you very much Collin. I ask my students to watch your videos as part of their Phonetics classes. Very useful!

[samiak]

I learned more with u than with my teacher, Thank u so muchhhh

[shanestapley]

This is really good - clear, no info dump. Thanks much! (10+year ESL vet)

[saidfarid]

Hello dear teacher
Thank you so much for your help and advice, i do appreciate your job.I wish you peace and happness under the sky of prosperity. Take care and have a good time.
All the best.
Your Student from Algeria.