4 – Pronunciation – Difficult Vowel Sounds

A. It can be difficult to tell the difference between the vowel sounds /i/ (as in “sit”), /e:/ (as in “seat”), and /e/ (as in “set”) in English, and even more difficult to pronounce them correctly. There are two things you need to pay attention to when saying words with these sounds in them. The first thing to pay attention to is the vowel sound. Listen and repeat each word in the list below. Pay attention to where the vowel sound is placed in the back of your mouth and how long the vowel sound is. In general, you say long vowel sounds for a slightly longer time than short vowel sounds.

B. The second thing to pay attention to is whether the final sound in the syllable is voiceless (f, k, p, s, t, x) or voiced (b, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, w, z). When the final sound is voiced, you say the vowel sound for a slightly longer time than when it is voiceless. Listen and repeat the following words.

C. Several of the new terms and expressions contain the above vowel sounds. Listen and repeat the following short sentences that include some of the terms and expressions.