#159 English pronunciation practice - Di...

I’ll be honest with you—I don’t really enjoy going to the dentist. I think most people feel the same way. It can be a little scary, right? Now imagine you’re not speaking your native language. If you already feel nervous about the dentist, trying to explain everything in English ... Show More

Last time, we talked about false friends—words that look similar in English and your native language, but mean something very different. Get the text on my website: https://speakenglishpodcast.com/351-false-friends Example 1: Actual This one’s a classic false friend. In Spanish, ... Show More

Hi! I want to talk about something that can really help you understand English vocabulary better — especially if you speak a Romance language like Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, or Romanian. These languages all come from Latin — you know, the language spoken by the Romans ... Show More

Once I asked my students, “What are the most difficult English words for you to pronounce?” and I got a lot of great answers! Today we’re going to practice 15 words that English learners often find hard to say. I’ll say each one once slowly, once at normal speed, and then I’ll sa ... Show More

The English language has a lot of silent letters that cause difficulties for both native speakers and English learners, because they make the spelling of words different from their pronunciation. You don’t want to make embarrassing mistakes by saying these words wrong, so today l ... Show More

The pronunciation of many English words sounds different from the way they appear to be written. Some English words have "disappearing or dropped syllables" - reductions or eliminations of sounds in the middle of the word. One example is the word favorite - we don't pronounce it ... Show More

You probably know that an English word ends in -E, the -E is usually silent; we don’t pronounce it - like in the words date, cheese, fine, spoke, and rude. But there are a few exceptions! Many of these words came into English from other languages and so they don’t follow the typi ... Show More

In this lesson, you’re going to practice English words with very similar sounds. Many English learners have problems pronouncing these words correctly. If you can master the differences in pronunciation between these words, you’ll improve your pronunciation and be able to talk mo ... Show More

What are the hardest words to pronounce in English? Don’t take it from me! I asked this question to my students and here’s what they said. What English word is the hardest for you to pronounce? 

Today I'm going to teach you an exercise for practicing the pronunciation of long, difficult multi-syllable words. Our example words for this exercise will be particularly and individualistic. But you can use this exercise with ANY English word! I hope you’ll remember the tips in ... Show More