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I'm so glad you like it. Listening and repeating is great practice for accent reduction. I just checked out your channel; it's not possible to post comments there! I like the American English vs British English vocabulary comparison. With regard to pronunciation - can you hear the different way Americans and Brits pronounce the word CLASS? Americans give the letter A the AA as in BLACK CAT sound while British people give it the AH as in OLIVE SOCK sound. :) Let me know if you ever have any questions.

Glad you like it! I just checked out your channel. Very cool!

Glad you like them! Thank you for watching.

You're welcome 😊

No, though I'm unsure what you mean by "usual." The Held (or Stop) T sound is characteristic of the American Accent. If you think of the word CAT, an American would hold that final T so that no air is released at the end of the word, while a British person would likely release air/breath - creating a "True T" sound. There would be no difference in the length of the vowel sound. I hope that answers your question.

Glad you like it. That’s an interesting thought about these diphthongs. My first reaction is that, in my experience, non-native speakers tend NOT to produce the movement of sound in diphthongs, particularly the OH sound. The non-native OH sound tends to be much more short and static. However, I can imagine that, when instructed on the nature of diphthongs, the issue you’ve described could occur. I will listen for it in my students. Thank you! 😊

@@VividEnglishUS Cool. I was wondering if you had the time to look at my request for doing some other videos for minimal pairs? I can send them again if you don't have them.

I have a Minimal Pair To Do list that has been haunting me for two months! The reality is that I won't likely have time to work on new videos until after Labor Day. Sorry about that. I will alert you when they are up!

@@VividEnglishUS Thanks, appreciated🙂

Thanks for watching!

@@VividEnglishUS you're welcome

Google Translation from Arabic: Well done, may God bless you Thank you very much. Thank you for watching.

I'm not sure what this means....but thank you for watching!

Hi Jissmol. Thanks for watching.

When I can find the time, yes! Are there any particular vowel pairs (or consonant sounds) you'd like to have practice videos for? Suggestions are always welcome.

@@VividEnglishUS There are some other tricky vowel pairs. It will be great if you can videos for these: /ə/ vs /ʊ/ /ʊ/ vs /oʊ/, especially when the vowel is followed by a Dark L, like in pull vs pole /ə/ vs /ɑ/

Thank you for the suggestions. I will work on the first two. Here's a link to the last one: MUSTARD vs OLIVE th-cam.com/video/ryigxSSh5u4/w-d-xo.html

And here's a link to the whole Minimal Pair Playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLoclTe0Pm4Fpv3tMMYwCepe108He9SmDX.html

@@VividEnglishUS Thank you so much!

Glad you like it. Thank you for watching!

I’m glad you are finding my channel useful. Thank you for your question. You are the second viewer to ask about the cot-caught merger. I am from the East Coast and I don’t merge these vowel sounds. On this channel, the vowel sound in COT is the same vowel sound in the first syllable of the words OLIVE and FATHER. The vowel sound in the word CAUGHT is the same vowel sound in the first syllable of the words AUBURN and LAW. You can read more about this in the comment section of this video: /ɑ/ vs /ɔ/ Minimal Pairs th-cam.com/video/QFL-6u93LrM/w-d-xo.html

No it's not AI, it's me! My name is Maggie Hamble and I'm a real ESL instructor and Accent Reduction coach. You can learn more about me by clicking the links at the top of the homepage. I'm glad you found this minimal pair video helpful and I encourage you to check out additional videos on the Vivid English channel. You are also welcome to post questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Thanks for watching!

P.S. Be sure to read the Video Descriptions for pronunciation tips.

@@VividEnglishUS Thanks! Will it be possible to make other minimal pairs videos? For example I find this one quite tricky: /ʌ/ vs /ʊ/

Also, another tricky pair, especially when the vowel is followed by a Dark L is /ʊ/ vs /oʊ/, like in pull vs pole

Thank you for the suggestion; I’ll look into that. Note that this channel uses the same symbol (/ə/ - the schwa) to represent both the stressed and unstressed versions of the UH sound - as the phrase A CUP OF MUSTARD contains both versions of the UH sound. In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the unstressed UH sound is represented by /ə/ while the stressed UH sound is represented by /ʌ/.

Not sure what this emoji means …. thanks for watching!

@@VividEnglishUS just found your channel and it is the exact one I need

@protin2627 So happy to hear that! I also have a sister channel called @VividLyrics - which is devoted to practicing listening and pronunciation skills with lyric videos. If you check that out, be sure to read the video descriptions. Enjoy!

You are very welcome. Thank you for watching!

It’s tricky for sure - but not impossible! Feel free to ask any questions you have.

Per day?!?!

Thank you for your enthusiasm. I plan to continue posting a Word of the Week on Wednesdays. I would like to start creating and posting new and different videos as well.

Thank you for watching!

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@@judyhyldmar6158 it's hard

Yep! The word of the day has a Greek origin once again.

@@VividEnglishUS I think most medical words....also...!!💝

Google translates this as: Athlete...!!!athlete Sport Do sports Are you requesting the word SPORTS as a word of the day? Do you think this is a difficult word to pronounce in English?

@@VividEnglishUS no,it's not difficult..and we pronounce it the same We use the term sports for all athletic activities....

Google Translation of this comment from Greek: Phenomenon.....!!! Freddie Mercury was a real PHENOMENON in rock music...!!! Another Greek word.....!!❤🇬🇷 You look great..!! My response: I love that you are so excited about these shorts. Since you are studying English vocabulary, I highly encourage you to post your comments in English. There is no better way to learn English than to use English. :) Thank you again for watching and for your enthusiasm. (Enthusiasm....from the Greek enthousiasmos) :)

Thank you for watching and thank you for this question. Yes, this video represents the standard pronunciation of these words in General American English; however, you are correct to point out that there are areas of the US in which the /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ sounds merge in certain words, like cot and caught. If a speaker were to merge the sounds in the pairs ODD/AWED or FOND/FAWNED, I would consider that person to have a strong regional accent. Marisa Tomei's character in the film "My Cousin Vinny" comes to mind, as does the Mike Meyers "Coffee Talk" character, Linda Richman. In fact "Coffee" is great word to think about in relation to your question. The standard American accent gives the first syllable in this word the AH as in OLIVE SOCK sound. If the first syllable of coffee were to be pronounced with the AW as in AUBURN DOG sound - that would undoubtedly be considered a regional accent. Here's an excerpt from a Wikipedia page on this topic referencing resistance to the merger. According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg,[17] the merger in North America is most strongly resisted in three regions: The "South", somewhat excluding Texas and Florida. The "Inland North", encompassing the eastern and central Great Lakes region (on the U.S. side of the border) The "Northeast Corridor" along the Atlantic coast, ranging from Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City to Providence. However, the merger is common in Boston and further northern New England. Here's a link to the full Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger Note --- I'm from New Jersey -- so count me in as someone who is resistant to the merger!

Glad you enjoy these words of the day! Here's the Google Translation from Greek to English: Exaggeration...! Undue..! Greek too..... I am very overreacting... THE Don't be exaggerated..!!❤🤗 It's a word we use a lot....the new thing for me is that it also exists in the English vocabulary...❤🤗

Glad you are enjoying these words of the day. English words come from lots of other languages...but certainly a lot of Greek and Latin! Here's a translation of your comments from Greek to English: You'll teach me English and I'll tell you which words are Greek...I hope I'm not annoying!! "Emphasis".....so ..another very beautiful word ...with a Greek accent too...! Thank you very much my friend.....❤🤗 That's why I also have to emphasize the pronunciation of English words...!

Interesting! According to Google Translate this comment is Greek for: Greek word. Damn it! (and the phonetic spelling for Ανάθεμα is ANATHEMA!

@@VividEnglishUS θέλω πολύ να μάθω αγγλικά...όταν όμως συναντώ Ελληνικές λέξεις...νιώθω πολύ περήφανη.... Πάντως κάνετε εξαιρετική δουλειά και σας ευχαριστούμε πολύ...φιλιά από Ελλάδα...!!!💝🇬🇷

Google translates this comment from Greek as follows: I really want to learn English...but when I come across Greek words...I feel very proud....Anyway, you are doing an excellent job and thank you very much...kisses from Greece...!!! My response in English: Thank you very much for your kind words and thank you for watching. Keeping listening and repeating what you hear and your English will improve....just like you learned Greek as a child listening to the sounds around you and repeating what you heard. My response translated into Greek by Google: Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ για τα καλά σας λόγια και σας ευχαριστώ που παρακολουθήσατε. Συνεχίζοντας να ακούτε και να επαναλαμβάνετε αυτά που ακούτε και τα Αγγλικά σας θα βελτιωθούν....όπως ακριβώς μάθατε ελληνικά ως παιδί ακούγοντας τους ήχους γύρω σας και επαναλαμβάνοντας αυτά που ακούσατε.

@@VividEnglishUS 💝💝💝

Glad you like the Word of the Day shorts. Be sure to check out the weekly compilation videos. I’ve already made tomorrow’s video but I will add HUMAN and HUMOROUS to my list and I’ll do one of them for Friday 3/8. It may be helpful to think of the phonetic spelling for the first syllable in both as HYOO - with the BLUE MOON vowel sound. When practicing, it can be helpful to slow down the video speed to listen for reductions and linkages (particularly when imitating the Sample Sentences.)

@judithirizarry2256 I made a video for HUMONGOUS.

Glad you like it. Thanks for watching!

C2 meaning Advanced Level Vocabulary? I don’t think so. It’s a very common word in the US. That said, I’ve watched the Great British Bake-off and have noticed the use of some different terminology….maybe it’s not as common in other English-speaking countries? I really don’t know.

Glad you like it. Thanks for watching.

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I'm glad you found this video useful. Thank you for watching. As for your minimal pair request, is it safe to assume that you are having trouble with these sounds in the initial position of a word - such as THERE / LAIR and THEY / LAY?

Yes, exactly. And I have found many people from my country- East Asian confuse “l“ and “th”.

OK --- When I have time to make this video, I will and I will post on this thread to let you know it's up. Thank you for the suggestion.

⁠@@VividEnglishUSand I have found that the most misleading sound could be “ther” such as mother, father, together, other, another. East Asian just simply pronounce them as “le”

Interesting. In that case, a Minimal Pairs video wouldn't work as well since words like moller, faller, and oller don't exist. Hmmm.....I will need to give some thought to this. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

I’m glad you find my videos helpful. I recently had a question from a viewer about the IPA symbols /ə/ (the schwa) and /ʌ/ and explained that this channel uses the schwa symbol for both the stressed and unstressed version of the UH sound - represented by the color MUSTARD and contained in each word of the phrase A CUP OF MUSTARD. That said….check out this video: th-cam.com/video/J8OMSBhhco0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=rwtgdjQ71GkfJKbw I will create a WOODEN HOOK vs A CUP OF MUSTARD minimal pairs video and will post again here when it’s up. Thank you for the suggestion and thanks for watching!

Great question. Some consider the IPA symbols /ə/ and /ʌ/ as representations of, respectively, the unstressed and stressed versions of the sound UH. Others (like "Mastering the American Accent" author Lisa Mojsin) use the same symbol, /ə/, for both the stressed and unstressed version of the UH sound. The Color Vowel Chart uses the phrase “A CUP OF MUSTARD” for the sound - capturing both the unstressed and stressed versions. The words within the phrase containing the unstressed UH sound are A and OF. The words within the phrase containing the stressed UH sound are CUP and MUSTARD (in the 1st syllable).

It's an important poem. Thank you for watching/listening.

Glad you think so! Thank you for watching.

Yes, when these sounds are at the end of words, the level of energy in the sound drops off. Listening to these words in isolation (for example LEDGE/LETCH) it seems I’ve given the /ʤ/ ending sound more vocal energy and the /tʃ/ sound more breath than would typically occur when these words appear in sentences. You are inspiring to make videos with full sentences! Thank you for your great observation.

@@VividEnglishUS Thank you for your reply! Does it mean in sentences, LEDGE/LETCH can be pronounced same sound (voiceless)? As I know, voiced sound uses more energy and time to vibrate vocal cords and native English speaker lazy vibrate vocal cords for sounds 'ʤ' and 'd' when they are at the end of words, so we hear them similar 'ʧ' and 't'. Is is right?

My original response has been edited in an attempt to clarify. While the two words may be very difficult for a non-native speaker to distinguish in sentences, the ending sounds are different. The following video link from Rachel's English explains that voiced ending sounds can sometimes be so weak the voice is taken out of them and they end up sounding like weak unvoiced sounds. She uses the word FLOWERS as an example of a word that has neither a strong Zzzzzz nor Ssssss sound. HOWEVER, when the word that follows "flowers" begins with a vowel sound, the voiced /z/ ending sound is much more distinct. For example in the sentence, "Put the flowers on the table" the words "flowers on" sound like "flowerzon." A word pair in the video that correlates with LEDGE and LETCH is BADGE and BATCH. Hope you find this helpful! th-cam.com/video/IG95Nc_KV5g/w-d-xo.htmlsi=LVzAYZu039Qc4cCd

​@@VividEnglishUS Thank you so much for your comment and link! It is clear now, the voiced ending consonants are usually pronounced as weak unvoiced sounds.

....depending on the sound that follows! :)

Glad you like it. Thanks for watching!

Thank you!

Glad it is helpful. Thanks for watching!