Say It In English...!

When do we pronounce plural nouns with an /ɪz/ sound?Hi. My name is Enrique and I am the creator of Say it in English...!Thanks for listening to our weekly podcasts. They are available for free on iTunes store. So, download them when you’ve got the chance.In today’s program we will talk about sibilants and affricates and how these consonants affect the pronunciation of plural nouns in English. Let’s start from the beginning. First, we have to check basic phonetic concepts in order to help you understand how both sibilants and affricates work in the production of the plural form of certain nouns.What is a sibilant?A sibilant can be either a voiceless  or  a voiced consonant sound. It means that its articulation can be made without or with vibration of the vocal cords. Let’s take, for example the voiceless consonant sound /s/ and the voiced consonant sound /z/.Put gently your fingers on your throat and repeat the next sound three times after me:s…, s…, s…You can feel clearly the lack of vibration when

When do we pronounce plural nouns with a /z/ sound?Hi. My name is Enrique and I am the creator of  Say it in English...!  This is the fifth podcast of a series that will discuss topics related to American English Pronunciation. Our weekly podcasts are available on iTunes store for free. So check them out and download them when you got the chance.In today's podcast we will talk about the /s/ sound and its correct pronunciation in plural nouns.If you remember what it was said on our last episode about the /z/ sound, you should easily pronounce the next words correctly. Check carefully the singular form of every single word in the next list. Do they end in a voiced or in a voiceless sound? How do you pronounce the plural form of nouns that end in a voiced sound?Listen and repeat after me:eye      eyesarm     armsshoulder      shoulderscar        carsbar       bars1.     The

When do we pronounce plural nouns with an /s/ sound?Hi. My name is Enrique and I am the creator of  Say it in English...! Say it in English...!  This is the fourth podcast of a series that will discuss topics related to American English Pronunciation. Our weekly podcasts are available at iTunes store for free. So check them out and download them when you got the chance. In today’s podcast, we will cover the pronunciation of plural nouns with the consonant sound  /z/.A very common pronunciation mistake that EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students make is pronouncing the plural forms of certain nouns with the consonant sound /s/ instead of the consonant sound /z/. Most of the plural forms that are spelled in English with (s) should be pronounced with a /z/ sound, but EFL students usually ignore this fact and they tend to pronounce all plural nouns with the consonant sound /s/.There are phonetical reasons to pronounce the plural form of certain nouns with the consonan

    Learn to recognize and pronounce the SCHWA SOUND.Hi. My name is Enrique and I am the creator of Say it in English...! This is the second podcast of a series that will discuss topics related to American English Pronunciation. Our weekly podcasts are available at iTunes store for free. So check them out and download them when you got the chance.  In today's podcast, we will talk about one of the most important vowel sounds in English: the schwa sound.When it comes the time to pronounce words in English, it is a very common fact that non-native speakers of English tend to omit sistematically the use of an importarnt sound in English phonology: the schwa vowel. It is incredibly fascinating to find out that most EFL (English as Foreign Language Students) are not aware about this sound. The natural consequence is that it is never used, but replaced by non standard vowels coming from the native speaker's mother tongue.Believe it or not, this ignored sound is the most common vowel sound

Standard dialects of English and other dialects around the world. Hi. My name is Enrique Guerra Medina. I am the creator of Say it in English...! This is the first podcast of a series that will discuss topics related to American English Pronunciation. Today’s podcast is about accents. Many students of English believe that the standard form of American English learned in the classrooms is the only form of American English they can learn, so they usually ask: “Why do I not understand some American native speakers? What’s wrong with me?”The truth is that the formal English that we learn in the classrooms is most of the time so different from the way native speakers talk. Among other reasons, it is due to the existence of what it is called dialects.A dialect is not a minor form of language. It is the way certain community uses the official language, the standard language. Communities from different regions can speak the same language, but differently. The difference can be based on pronunciation