Sound more natural in English: Learn and practice 5 FRONT VOWELS

Do you want to improve your pronunciation? Do you want to sound more like a native speaker? You need to work on your vowels! In this video, I will teach you how to pronounce five vowels that are common in both British English and American English. These vowels are known as front vowels. I'll help you pronounce these vowels correctly by showing you what your mouth and lips should look like during pronunciation. We will practice the vowels together and compare them to each other. Watch my mouth as I pronounce different vowel sounds and make sure you're doing the same with yours. Many English learners have a hard time with pronunciation because English is not a phonetic language. So I will show you the different spellings of these sounds in English. You will also learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols for these vowels.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi there. My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to teach you about pronunciation, specifically how to pronounce front vowels. Okay? So, you might be wondering: "What is a vowel?" first question, and: "What is a front vowel?" So these are very good questions. So let me show you first what a vowel is. So we have here: "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", and "y". In English, these are our vowels. Okay? So, they're different from consonants. What a consonant is is a consonant is a sound such as: "t", "d", "r", "s". So, these are vowels in green, and what you see in purple, there's a lot more of them, they're consonants. So anything that is not one of these is called a consonant.

Okay, so first thing I want to look at is: Where are the vowels in these words, and which are the consonants? We have the word: "king", so where is the vowel here? If we look up here at our list, we have "i" here, "i" here. So this is the vowel, whereas "k", "n", and "g" are consonants. If we look at our next word: "cake", what is the vowel in this word? If you said the "a", you're correct. "Cake". Now, the "e" in "cake" we don't pronounce, so it's not a vowel because we don't actually pronounce the sound. We have here the word: "sheet". What's the vowel in "sheet"? You said an "e", you're correct. Okay? Whereas "s", "h", and "t" are all consonant sounds. Okay, we also have the word here: "ship". Here is the vowel, the "i". And again, "s", "h", and "p" are consonants. What about "happy"? What's the vowel in "happy"? If you said the "a" and the "y", you're correct. These are the vowels. Okay? Whereas "h", "p", and "p" are consonants.

So in English, we have: "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", and "y" are the way we spell vowels. But here's the problem or here's the thing that's really difficult for a lot of people: If you look at these two words, we have "a" here and "a" here, both vowels. These a's, even though they're spelt the same way, they have the same spelling, we pronounce them differently. Okay? So for example, this, I would say: "Mat", "mat", just like the word "at", "mat". Whereas this word is actually: "Mate", "mate". So, "mat" and "mate". So they have different sounds even though they have the same "a" in the spelling. So what does this mean? This means that for each of these symbols they have multiple sounds. There are different vowel sounds for each of these. Okay? So, this, for example, is an "a", it can be pronounced: "awh", it can be pronounced: "ah". There's different pronunciations for it. So, in today's lesson I'm going to explain some of these different pronunciations. Okay?

So before we begin, I want to talk about how to pronounce vowels. Okay? What you should be really thinking about when you're pronouncing these sounds. The first thing you really should be thinking about is what your lips are doing. Okay? So these are your lips. So when you make a sound, you need to think: Are your lips spread like this, are they very...? Like, for example: "e", you see it's very big and spread, or is it like this, round, like a circle? "O". Okay? "E", "o". Do you see the difference in what my lips are doing? So that's one thing to really think about when you're pronouncing vowels.

You also need to think about how big your mouth is. Is it very small, the hole in your mouth? For example: "Oo", there's not a big hole, there's a small hole. Or is it really big, like: "Ah"? Okay? So think about: How big is the opening of your mouth? Is it big or small? Okay, this... I don't know if you can tell what this is... These are your lips, your teeth, and your tongue. You need to know what your tongue is doing in order to pronounce vowels correctly. So is your tongue at the very front of your mouth, close to your teeth? Like, for example, in an "e" sound? Or is your tongue far away from your teeth, is it more towards the back of your mouth?

In today's lesson we are only going to be looking at front vowels, vowels which are close to the front... Where your tongue is close to the front of your mouth.

[jorgesoler]

so thanks you Emma for your help and work. I have been a student English since 2003. Before I started to see you videos I had a lot of mistakes in the pronunciation that I have fixed. Really I grateful with and share all your video with many students that they can find a great tools and every video.

[ahmadainia]

You're the best English teacher EVER Emma @Learn English with Emma [engVid]

[khalidanis]

Respectable Teacher Emma [ eng Vid ], While Learning Through YouTube About Vowels Sounds Pronunciations, I Automatically Got Your Lesson Of Vowels Pronunciations. To Be Honestly Saying About Lesson Regarding Pronunciations Of “ 5 Front Vowels Sound “ It Was Great Full Of Effort Work, Now One More Great Assets To My Learning Has Been Added. You People Are Great “ People “, I Acknowledge It From Bottom Of Heart That Without Any Stipend Or Fees You Are Providing Us Lot Of Help In Learning. God Bless You, May God Give You Great Rewards For Teaching Us And Improving Of Our Skills And Abilities Of Speaking Good English With Correct “ Americans “ And “ British “ Pronunciations.
Associate Electrical Engineer Khalid Anis, Ex Instructor Of Principles Of Electrical Engineering, Engineering Drawing, Business Management And Industrial Economic, Applied Mathematics, Utilisation Of Electrical Energy, Basic Electronics, Analogue Electronic Of Electrical Department, Y.M.C.A Polytechnic Institute, Karachi, Pakistan; Ex Instructor Of Technical English, Technical Mathematics, Of Y.M.C.A Technical Institute, Karachi, Pakistan; Ex Cambridge Mathematics Teacher Of Saint Michael’s Convent School, Karachi; Ex Cambridge/ Metric Sections Mathematics Teacher Of Saint Peter’s High School, Karachi; Ex Cambridge O-Level Mathematics Teacher Of Gulshan Cambridge School, Karachi; Ex Manager Administration Of Plastic And Melamine Product Manufacturing Factory, Korangi Industrial, Karachi; Ex Chief Engineer/ Administrator Shopping Mall Karachi; Practical Engineering Project Maker For Facilitating Engineering And Learner Of Engineering By An ID “ Khalid Anis Of Y.M.C.A Polytechnic Institute Karachi “.

[LeonDiary]

Emma, tremendous thanks for you. You are the best English lecturer whom I have been taught by regardless of real classes or cyber ones.

[nicolasfrebillot]

A very useful video lesson, thank you! You are a great teacher, keep going 🇨🇦🇫🇷

[tuhinsarkar]

Emma and Liz are the best English teacher I've ever seen! best wishes for them...

[christianrendon]

I love you! you're the prettiest and smartest teacher I've ever seen. greetings from Mexico, bye for now.

[iskaaashionlinemarketchann]

This way of teaching that Emma uses is very ammazing and I didn't see before now such like this way of interesting way of teaching skills. Really I have made mistakes about the pronounciation but after watching this vedeo I fix a lot of mistakes and I acquire alot of knowledge about pronounciation tips and skills. Thank you Emma how you helped me about this.

[elel]

U r The best one who teach 5 FRONT VOWELS ( 20:17 )

[evasuser]

Congrats for the video Emma. Though you are young it seems you are experienced in teaching foreign students.
One of the best and most helpful moments is the anatomical sketch of the mouth showing the position of the tong and teeth and the sound they produce.
Would it be practical for you to relate short and long vowels (like cut and hat) with duration in time, (e.g.) like drawing the long vowels wider?
Great and inspired video, thank you Emma.
I wish I could attend one of your classes.

[geophil]

The letter Y can be used to represent different sounds in different words, and can therefore fit either definition. In myth or hymn it's clearly a vowel, and also in words such as my, where it stands for a diphthong (a combination of two vowel sounds). On the other hand, in a word like beyond there is an obstacle to the breath which can be heard between two vowels, and the same sound begins words like young and yes. (Courtesy: Oxford Dictionaries)

[mateusbaporra]

Thank you, Emma. This was one of the best videos I have ever watched!

[freddycarrion]

I had never been having a great explanation about pronunciation. Thanks for post this video.

[ปีวราจีบเจือ]

Thank you very much, you spoke English clearly.

[rasouljavan]

Useful for me who is studying phonetics right now, thanks.

[khunsharr]

Thank you so much, teacher. Thanks from Myanmar.

[mostafares]

Hello .you are very you teach well .I always thank you .sincerely yours __Mustafa from Tehran Iran .

[jhonalbornoz]

I can understand you perfectly, you're the best, thanks you and greetings from Venezuela, beautiful teacher¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

[meleklopez]

You saved my life, teacher Emma <3

[rabahbansir]

Thank you very much Miss Emma for this lesson