English Sound Building - British Pronunciation

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re reviewing all the sounds from season 5, and many others too, with ten tongue twisters.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram.  Interested in classes? Get in touch! I occasionally have availability for 1:1 students. Email [email protected] the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re looking at words with both ‘l’ and ‘r’.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram. Interested in classes or a one-off diagnosis session? Get in touch! I sometimes have availability for 1:1 students. Email [email protected] the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, reviewing a lot of sounds in tricky clusters with /l/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. You can also follow and contact me on Instagram, or email [email protected]  Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re reviewing /r/, and a lot of other consonant sounds besides, to look at clusters with /r/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re practising the diphthong /eɪ/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me about group classes [email protected]😊Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re following on from last week, and contrasting two sounds we’ve looked at before, but not in relation to each other: /ɜ:/ and /eə/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re contrasting two sounds we’ve looked at before, but not in relation to each other: /e/ and /eə/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re back with connected speech and another intrusive sound: intrusive /r/. Have fun! Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re continuing from last week’s look at the /r/ sound, thinking about places where we see the letter ‘r’ in writing, but do not pronounce it in a standard RP accent.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome to season 5 of English Sound Building! Today is the first of a few episodes this season looking at the /r/ sound. In particular, this episode considers words where the written letter ‘r’ is always pronounced, and practises the /r/ sound in minimal pairs with /l/ and /w/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re recapping the sounds from this season, as well as a few from others, by having fun with some tongue twisters, rhymes and a song. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re back with connected speech, this time looking at another 'intrusive' sound: /w/.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we’re picking back up on the /ɪ/ and /e/ sounds from last week, and seeing how they behave in two schwa diphthongs: /ɪə/ and /eə/. We’ll look at the sounds individually, in common words, and in sentences. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Contact me if there is no availability showing – I always try to make room for podcast listeners 😊Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! This week we're revisiting two short vowels we've looked at before: /e/ and /ɪ/, and contrasting them with each other.  Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? You can learn with me on italki! If my schedule shows no availability, please contact me anyway - I try to make room for podcast listeners :-)Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at "syncope" in pronunciation: otherwise known as words with disappearing syllables. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at word stress in two-syllable nouns and verbs. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we're picking back up on /b/ from last week, but contrasting it with the fricative /v/. We’ll look at the sounds individually, in common words, and in sentences. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at our last voiceless/ voiced consonant pair: /p/ and /b/. We’ll look at the sounds individually, in common words, and in sentences. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

Welcome back to season 4 of English Sound Building! Following on from last week's episode all about /h/, this week we're discussing when /h/ is dropped - both by most speakers, in the weak forms of grammar words, and by some speakers, much more often, in some regional English accents.   Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

Welcome back! To kick off season 4, we're practising the /h/ sound. Have fun!Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   If you use social media, come find me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! It's season 3 recap time already. We're having fun with the sounds we've focused on this season (as well as those from previous seasons) by working on some tongue twisters, a short rhyme, and two songs.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!    Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're contrasting two sounds we've looked at separately before: /ʃ/ and /s/.  We're looking at a lot of minimal pairs, and we're practising with some sentences and a famous tongue twister, too. Have fun!Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!Support the show

Welcome back to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at how /j/ is heard between sounds in connected speech.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're revisiting the /ʤ/ sound we looked at last season, and contrasting it with /j/. We’re looking at the sounds in words, minimal pairs, and sentences.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.    The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at just one sound, the nasal consonant /ŋ/. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!Support the show

Welcome back to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at another voiceless and voiced consonant pair: /k/ and /g/.  We'll practise the sounds in individual words, in some minimal pairs, and in sentences.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're picking up on the /ɒ/ sound from last week, and contrasting it with the diphthong /əʊ/. Have fun!Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.    The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know! Support the show

In this episode, we're practising the contrast between the British English vowel sounds /ɒ/ and /ʌ/. We're reviewing some common words with both sounds, before looking at some minimal pairs and sentences. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!  Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! Today, we're looking at an important feature of sentence-level pronunciation: the weak forms of some common grammar words, and how these can help your listening and speaking skills. We're doing this by looking back on some tongue twisters and rhymes, which will really help you see how these weak forms contribute to the rhythm of English, too.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! I'm officially fully booked at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners, so please let me know!Support the show

Welcome to season 3 of English Sound Building! To start season 3, we’re looking at a real classic: the difference between the short vowel /ɪ/ and the long vowel /i:/. We practise the sounds individually in words and sentences, in minimal pairs, and in some mixed sentences at the end.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? I teach on italki. I'm not officially taking on new students at the moment, but I may be able to make an exception for podcast listeners :-)Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re reviewing most of the sounds from Season 2, and some from Season 1, by looking at two tongue twisters and two rhymes. We're also revisiting some of the practice techniques we first spoke about in the S1 recap. Have fun!Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki!Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re picking back up on the /v/ sound from earlier in the season, and contrasting it with its voiceless pair /f/. There's practice with individual words, minimal pairs and sentences.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki! Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re learning about and practising the two 'l' sounds in English: clear 'l' and dark 'l'. We discuss where the sounds occur, and how connected speech can affect them. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki!Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re continuing from the last two weeks, thinking about how the /ʃ/, /ʧ/ , /ʒ/ and /ʤ/ sounds appear in faster speech. Sentence-level practice shows you how sounds interact with each other and encourages you to understand the changes made when listening, and, if you like, try them when speaking.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? I'm currently fully booked on italki, but message me and I'll let you know when I have availability.Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re continuing from last week, building on the /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ sounds to look at /ʧ/ and /ʤ/. There’s a lot of practice with individual words alone and in sentences, as well as some minimal pairs.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.  The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki!Support the show

In this episode we practise the /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ sounds in both individual words and sentences. Have fun!Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? I'm currently fully booked on italki, but message me and I'll let you know when I have avaialbility. Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re continuing with the /ʊ/ sound from last week, and adding on the long vowel /u:/ There’s a lot of practice with individual words, as well as a few minimal pairs and short sentences.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki!Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building we’re looking at a really interesting pair of vowels: /Ʌ/ and /ʊ/. There’s a lot of practice with individual words, as well as some minimal pairs and short sentences.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki!Support the show

This episode of English Sound Building follows on from last episode, this time looking at the /w/ and /v/ sounds in the middle or towards the end of words. As usual, we look at common words with both sounds separately, sentences with a lot of /w/ and /v/ words, and some words including both sounds.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.   The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Interested in classes? Learn with me on italki!Support the show

Welcome to season 2! Let's continue to flex those pronunciation muscles!In this episode, we look at the /w/ and /v/ sounds at the beginning of words.As usual, we'll practise the sounds in individual words and then in sentences. There are some minimal pairs this week, too.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.The Podcast script is available free on my Patreon (just scroll down on the main page). If you use social media, come and find me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

It's the last tongue twister revisit from season one. How will you get on? Have fun!Season two should be out in early May.  Make sure you're subscribed (if you're not already) so you don't miss it!The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a video bonus for this episode. There's more advanced English there, too. If you use social media, come follow me on Instagram (feed shared to Facebook and Twitter).Support the show

In our third Season 1 short bonus, we revisit the “Skirts and shirts” tongue twister.Practise with all episodes as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss season 2 (which all being well will be coming to you early May).  The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for most episodes. There's more free English there, too :-) Support the show

In our second Season 1 short bonus, we revisit the “Fred fed Ted” tongue twister, practising the /e/, /t/ and /d/ sounds in particular.  Have fun!Practise with all episodes as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss season 2 (which all being well will be coming to you late April or early May).  The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for most episodes. There's more free English there, too. Support the show

A deeper look at the "lesser leather" tongue twister, talking about all the sounds we've looked at so far in the tongue twister, and showing some different practice techniques.Have fun!Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for this episode. There's more free English there, too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

It's the final full episode from Season 1 of English Sound Building. We recap the sounds we've discussed in previous episodes by looking at some key words, and talk about different ways to vary the 'listen and repeat' practice. The episode was getting long, so I'll make a few short episodes (as well as video bonuses) for the next few weeks to recap some of the tongue-twisters as well.   Practise with all episodes as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss season 2 (which all being well will be coming to you at the beginning of May).The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for most episodes. There's more free English there, too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

This episode of English Sound Building is all about the /əʊ/ sound. We look at some common words with the /əʊ/ sound, as well as some fun and challenging sentences with a lot of /əʊ/ sounds. Try to listen to episode 4 about the schwa sound before this one, if you haven’t already.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for this episode. There's more free English there, too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

This episode of English Sound Building is all about the /ɒ/ sound. It’s shorter than the last two episodes, which have worked you hard! We look at some common words with the /ɒ/ sound, as well as some fun and challenging sentences with a lot of /ɒ/ sounds.As usual, I start with a brief introduction on how to make the sound. If you're happy with that, skip to the 2.30 mark to get started with the workout. Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one. The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for this episode. There's more free English there, too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building, we consider the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past tense. This picks up on the /t/ and /d/ sounds we discussed last week, and also thinks about where an extra syllable is and isn’t added to those past tense -ed endings.We look at verbs matching three pronunciation patterns, as well as some fun and challenging sentences with a mixture of sounds.Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for this episode. There's more free English there, too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

In this episode of English Sound Building, we practise the /t/ and /d/ sounds. This is another voiceless and voiced consonant pair, similar to /s/ and /z/ in episode one, or /θ/ and /ð/ in episode two. It’s not a pair which is likely to be essential in terms of understanding, but it is a pair which differs quite differently from accent to accent (including from English accent to English accents), so I hope you enjoy finding out more.In the first few minutes, I give some tips on making the sounds. There is more to this than meets the eye, but if you're happy with it, feel free to skip straight to around the 4.20 mark ready for the workout to begin. We look at some minimal pairs, common words containing each sound, as well as some fun and challenging sentences with a lot of each sound individually and combined.  Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for this episode. There's more free English there, too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show

Let's smash some language learning goals and flex those pronunciation muscles!  In this episode of English Sound Building, we practise the /ɜ:/ sound. This is a long version of the schwa sound we studied last week and, as the difference between long and short sounds is one of the factors which can affect understanding in English, is one worth spending some time on.  In the first few minutes, I give some tips on making the sound, and typical spelling patterns that occur with it. If you're happy with that, feel free to skip straight to around the 2.55 mark ready for the workout to begin. We look at some common words containing both sounds, as well as some fun and challenging sentences with a lot of the  /ɜ:/ sound.  Practise as often as you can to build muscle memory, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.The Podcast script is now available free on my Patreon, as is a free video bonus for this episode. There's more free English there, too. Just scroll down on the main page. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!Support the show