The Story of a Pronunciation Video 230,000 hits in 5 years

A short history and a request to improve the system (with better layout, graphics, selection of words and additional special uses) By Steve McCrea This article is about a pronunciation system that I presented to my students in 1999. I worked on it for about two years, calling it at first Short and Long Sounds in English and then Beautiful and Ugly Sounds. Most of my students were Spanish speakers, so I could show that English has ugly sounds (words like sun, book, cat, pet, and fish sound ugly and short to many Spanish speakers). Structure of the system I recall learning Long A and Short A when I was in primary school. Words like Great and Plain and Plane and They were put in the same group for pronunciation, but in separate columns for spelling. Features of the system The structure of the pronunciation chart creates pairs of sounds, long and short. In reality, short o is often pronounced longer (the speaker spends more time, sometimes) than short e or short i. The names short and long are convenient for me but I remind Spanish speakers to spend more time, particularly with long O its really two sounds in English (oooo uuuu). In the IPA system, there are new symbols like upside down V and backwards C and a and e pushed together. I learned the system when I was trained to become a teacher of English language, but I could not impose this system on students. I asked myself, Is there an easier way? Cant we just say that This new word, enough, sounds like sun and stuff? For TH, there is a vibration TH (breathe, shown with a d that has a crossbar) and a novibration TH (breath, shown with the Greek letter theta). Why not just put a squiggly line like a wave over the TH (bathe) to show the vibration? Why not put an arrow over the no-vibration TH (bath)? Needed: layout, graphics and families of words Id like to see the chart improved in several ways. There could be stages, perhaps starting with the familiar long sounds, A E I O U, and then pairing them with the five short sounds: cat, pet, bit (or fish), hot (top, pot) and cut (or sun). Id like to see if other wellrecognized words (that most beginners use in their own language) can be placed on the

chart to say, It sounds like UP. That key word really needs to be something better than PET (which is fairly easy to pronounce, since it is like TEN and NET, but its meaning might be difficult for some students). What is the best way to display the final four sounds? I dont know. Should the HOUSE and BOOK (foot) sounds be next to each other? Should the final pair be BOY and DOG? (That has a nice pairing, a boy and his dog and we teachers hope to find books in a house.) What stick figures should be standard? I can draw a profile of a DOG but Id prefer to have a symbol for saw since that is more likely to create the AW sound. In general, the system needs better layout, graphics, selection of words and additional special uses. What special groups of words should be presented? I usually ask students to check their pronunciation by putting words from a family of words into the boxes for the 14 vowel sounds. Human Body has foot, hand, leg, thigh, etc. Car Parts has wheel, tire, hub, wiper. (Its nice if the words are one syllable, so skid is better than window, but window is easier to teach or might already be known by the beginner, while skid requires some fancy drawing.) Irregular Verbs is an easy distribution, so that we can show that write and written have different vowel sounds. Each of these could have a worksheet with the target words distributed in an answer sheet, showing that the DOG box contains jaw and ball (ball of the foot) as part of the Human Body family of words. Comments about the It Sounds Like system On 11 August 2012, I captured the comments that had been registered on the youtube channel youtube.com/mistermath. Most of the comments are positive and Im making these remarks available for the reader so that you can see how the system can be improved.

@elpelu123

A trashy language? I'll bet writing that comment in English was tough on you. Stick to synthetics.
fredericintx 1 month ago

s so sexy :) T Thanks for helping us with the language. I have to be honest, English is such a trashy language... crazy ass pronunciation and crazy ass sounding...

75pietro 2 months ago jesusprengel 3 months ago

elpelu123 4 months ago This has been flagged as spam show improvemyenglish 6 months ago

I don't get it .-.

( (I am British though)
lexygd 7 months ago

b but I like of british accent

Gadapaj 8 months ago in playlist PRONUNCIACION ENGLISH

M More ways to connect... (C) Accent reduction with my pronunciation videos youtube DOT com/watch?v=ESXa12DNCCs You can also send email messages to FreeEnglishLessons@gmail DOT com and I will pass your email address to some local volunteers who want to help people with pronunciation. I have three ways of helping people with free English Lessons: (A) Youtube dot com / FreeEnglishLessons has some videos that you can watch and repeat and repeat and review. ..... (B) Skype with Penpals (You can go to Youtube DOT com/bibpenpals and leave a message under the videos to ask English speakers to contact you) ..... T Thank you very much for that explanation, I'll suscribe your channel y you are very polite. Thank you I can imagine that this would help non-English-speakers learn to speak English. But as an English speaker, I'm completely confused by this, ahahahah. h hummburgguurrr.... ham berrrrrgirr!!! h hahahaha ham br gueguera P Press 5 over and over V Very helpful!!!! Thanks a lot. s shut up you american twat. w wanker AMAZING w wut the fuck! The i sound he mentions at 1:34 in 'cute'and then again at the end in 'new' is actually called a i 'semivowel' in phonetics. Good point. In order to make it a simple system, to keep the system easy for students to use, t the distinction that you point out is not labeled. It's nice to know that there is a name for that little "iii" sound in "u" L LMAO, stick to math, is my advice :P (5 songs? not sounds? funny!) G Good point, that is a misstatement at 1:16 of the video... It should be "sounds" I am not sure if I say "th" the right way. However th in "that" or "they" makes me more problems than in "think" or "throat". The voiced one is harder. jajajajja dicen que es mas sencillo aprender ingles que espaol, pero en espaol solo t tenemos 5, en lugar de 15 vocales... y en realidad es mas sencilla la pronunciacion g good job go ahead we need your help to improve our classes I I'm high and this is pretty mind blowing. T Type PRIZE before youtube and hit enter V Very nice and beautiful hands ! ;-)

AGuideOnTheSide 9 months ago

AGuideOnTheSide 9 months ago Nahum Correa Ruvalcaba 10 months ago AGuideOnTheSide in reply to Nahum Correa Ruvalcaba (Show the comment) 9 months ago

ihateyouaol2011 1 year ago 3 MrVictory15 1 year ago Nahum Correa Ruvalcaba in reply to MrVictory15 (Show the comment) 10 months ago Renegade30 1 year ago GoSTy91 1 year ago platypusy10 1 year ago ticketyboooo 1 year ago anatnavarro 1 year ago omgitskayleigh14 1 year ago

julestags 1 year ago

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JanaSklibova 1 year ago

dianitaleja28 1 year ago MsAnarosita 1 year ago wtfudimbo 1 year ago Kinvalor77 1 year ago

Kunichiro 1 year ago

An extremely nice tool to improve your English pronunciation:

Iphone App "Pronounce It L1" You can get it from Iphone, Ipod-touch, or Ipad. T This allows you to record your own voice, listen to native speaker, grade your pronunciation and come back for repeats.
hilbert1862 1 year ago FrenchDayana 1 year ago This has been flagged as spam show avillafafila 1 year ago avillafafila 1 year ago maiteska48 1 year ago

t thank you for the lesson !

g good for help students I think that this video is very useful I don't like how people teach the english vowels

there are actually 9 basic vowel sounds ah eh ee oh oo ae ih uh and eu which can be heard in in their basic forms in... c cot, bet, eat, mote, food, mat, kid, mud, and look I think it should be taught phonetically
bryarworship 1 year ago joeeyson 1 year ago Tsukiko330 in reply to joeeyson (Show the comment) 1 year ago

i dont know why im watching this L Lol. xD A Actually, I agree with mistermath. My wife is Chinese and in teaching her the "th" sound we've had better results with her having the tongue protrude THROUGH the teeth rather than resting against. @4tomoconnor, a "th" sound can be achieved by protruding the tongue, but the sound won't b be as pure. Therefore, I don't recommend her to fall into this bad habit. Apart from the sound effect, it LOOKS ugly to stick one's tongue out while speaking. I suppose this aspect depends on your upbringing. I have noticed that the Spanish (particularly in the south of Spain) pronounce the Spanish "C" or "Z" with the tongue sticking out. To the English, this looks awful, and it's unnecessary too. H Haven't you ever watched Mighty Mouse? y yo estoy aprendiando a hablar ingles y le a gradeco qu eeste subiendo esta informacion.

4tomoconnor in reply to sandbergnz (Show the comment) 1 year ago

psandbergnz in reply to 4tomoconnor (Show the comment) 1 year ago joereedster in reply to psandbergnz (Show the comment) 1 year ago

jydanlla 1 year ago

pff, i'm american. tried teaching english the other day. why the hell do we have such a hard l language? i mean, in spanish we have to learn all the conjugations and all the genders for every friggin word, but at least a letter always has the same sound. english does not make sense, man!!! L Learn Esperanto! I thought english was easy to learn, but hey maybe that's just me :) O Oh, this is a fanTAStic video. Thank you so much

RoguishBlonde 2 years ago 3 montibbalt in reply to RoguishBlonde (Show the comment) 2 years ago ettlemontree in reply to RoguishBlonde (Show the comment) 1 year ago TheMrberta93 2 years ago

 This has been flagged as spam show bobcooper31 2 years ago

I find it amazing that Sandbergnz should quibble over such an insignificant issue. Teaching English to ESL students is a huge task and needs to involve compromise unless you want it to take 12 years as it does in primary/high school environments.

I see nothing wrong with the technique and the outcome in any case. Unless you are extremely a arrogant there is a diversity of pronunciations of English speakers around the English speaking world which to most people is completely acceptable .
bobcooper31 2 years ago mydarlingsona 2 years ago pablogrifter 2 years ago TheFowlyetti1 in reply to pablogrifter (Show the comment) 2 years ago pablogrifter in reply to TheFowlyetti1 (Show the comment) 2 years ago dcninga in reply to pablogrifter (Show the comment) 2 years ago CrystalMoonLady 2 years ago LoveFromTurkey 2 years ago

g good V Very helpful & I'm English & I speak the queens english. Y You mean Samuel Johnson's English? D Don't be pedantic you know as well as i do that its a saying. d do u mean u speak english, hahaha V Very helpful and funny, too. :-) I It's AmE pronunciation.. i its better dude :D

daha iyi iste :D

mczr00 in reply to LoveFromTurkey (Show the comment) 2 years ago

yi de am scin briti pronnsiaeyn..

S Sevgiyle kal..
LoveFromTurkey in reply to mczr00 (Show the comment) 2 years ago

He's showing linguistics. Breaking down certain sounds in a language. The sounds are most important in learning ANY language. Like the French "R" sound is different from the English " "R" sound in many respects. If you do not know how to pronounce a soft "R", then your French will be laughable to French speakers. u ur REALLY attractive. i lold at that g good w watch?v=G7srUhAlePc

StabbyMcButterPants 2 years ago Jelloxox 2 years ago 3 AstRoNamorANdy in reply to dude8nihon (Show the comment) 2 years ago armaable 2 years ago c477681 2 years ago This comment has received too many negative votes show TheSmooshster 3 years ago

I think the point of this video is more helping people to improve their pronounciation. That is, if they wanna go for an AE accent.

It can be really helpful if you are not a native. For beginners this video is of no use, I agree.
HolyShitImGerman in reply to TheSmooshster (Show the comment) 2 years ago 3

D Diarrhea of the mouth. Constipation of the brain. Mistermath never said this was for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS.

Here is a thought for you: English is my second language and I think I speak and write ok. However, I have trouble pronouncing some vowels still. Sooo, this might be a good video for myself or someone in my position, huh? BTW, when learning a foreign language, it is best to leave out all of your native language.

Mistermath realizes this. Hope my words helped. :)

diego4020 in reply to TheSmooshster (Show the comment) 2 years ago 3 SquishTheBug in reply to TheSmooshster (Show the comment) 2 years ago

i agree This video was perfect. And it is not teaching English come one. He is teaching how to p pronounce. First you learn English after, you search for getting better in your accent!

Regards from Brazil!

c477681 in reply to TheSmooshster (Show the comment) 2 years ago 7

Great Job!! it's really helpful to understand some differences between AE. & BE. Is any d differences for " ing" prononucation? I heard that "G" vowlel isn't exist so clear in both languages e excellent job C Can you re-shoot in a bit better quality and do it slower? It would be great for ESL, but is goes a bit fast and the lighting is poor...but thatks. Thank you!

123xxrobertx 3 years ago 2 IronPrivate 3 years ago

tjmorton11 3 years ago

You are helping many students! y you are a good person! Excellent videos!!!! Good job!
Zackholiday 3 years ago 21 d4rk4ng3lk 3 years ago Mautita 3 years ago This comment has received too many negative votes show polgiu 3 years ago

h hey , man. is that you? I liked your video a lot. please, upload another one . e excelent job! you forgot in long I sond: die, by, wild, mind, kind. Thank you a million

E Excellent video!!! Are you a teacher of phonetics??? because behind you have the phonetics symbols! oK really nice vide!! your pronunciation is great! Thank you for the videos.

islamacros 3 years ago

Y You are helping many students with these tips. Good job!
nathalypinheiro 3 years ago

T That's Cool!!!!

Do some more videos!!!

vbplayer18 4 years ago Hussain Alsarrar 4 years ago

t thanks alot, that's very nice. It sees from Japan.

I want to become good early ..writing.. English by using the English translation.
jan6ko 4 years ago LoonyBird27 in reply to overratedmule (Show the comment) 4 years ago DRHOUSE922 4 years ago earthmagekl7 4 years ago 72

o other people do so don't watch it if you don't care t thhhh rooo utt lol i idk why im watching this S Same here. I really spent a minute watching this?

Demonmack0 in reply to earthmagekl7 (Show the comment) 1 year ago calaberarumbera 4 years ago

e excellent!! iuuuu

xD t thank u my pronuntiation is quite bad.. .

XFaGgYX 4 years ago FanDeAshley369 4 years ago Destinatious in reply to sandbergnz (Show the comment) 4 years ago

H His "th" is correct here. Gracias, mil gracias, thanks, Obligado..!

G Good teacher.
MARACUCHA2000 4 years ago

Great! It does really seem like learning English is not that hard. I think that the most difficult t thing about learning another language is pronuntiation. This video is a great help. Thanks you Mistermath. By the way why have you chosen this nick, Mistermath? you should've chosen something like Misterenglish lol....... i in Arabic its much simple.. its 6 sounds only. a /aa e/ee u/oo .. thats it.. and i dont know why its considered as a most difficult language. I It isn't. Y You're talking about only monopthongs. The list here includes dipthongs (combinations of 2 vowels)...so if you consider Arabic that way you will see there are many more than 6. "family's" in proper english is the family owning something, like an example, The family's cat is black. 's shows that the cat belongs to the family.

WagnerPrA 4 years ago

MiddleEastinfol 4 years ago Destinatious in reply to MiddleEastinfol (Show the comment) 4 years ago

hultonclint in reply to MiddleEastinfol (Show the comment) 4 years ago

(In improper english, "family's" can also be for "family is". My family's out of town. = My family is out of town.) ' 'families' is plurual form of family. More than one. Many families are at the park.
NeccoWecco in reply to MrBBQ4u (Show the comment) 4 years ago annisxen102 4 years ago HoldingOn2DaMemories 4 years ago

w we need more!!! thk t thankx prof lol!

R R*
joteixa 4 years ago Maddy88cr 4 years ago sofire134 4 years ago SweetAssoul 4 years ago

n niiiiiew lol e estupendo profesor... gracias por la ayuda :) T THANK U !! loved it I've tried to pronounce a sound following your instructions. It was... awkward. YOU should take a Phonetic class. You will learn how to produce "th": tongue tip between teeth. If it's voiceless is pronounced like "thing" and if you will put your hand on your throat you won't feel a any vibration. If you pronounced voiced, like "the", you have vibrations into your throat. A Another one please. This is a good one.

stefisor2003 in reply to sandbergnz (Show the comment) 4 years ago

YahoooAnswers 4 years ago 4

t thank you so much , i would to see more video of you explain the english lesson if you know about a web site which can help me with my pronunciation please welcome thank you again thank you for your feedback. when I say bath or bathe, I can bite my tongue.... so that tells me t that the tongue is not on the back of the teeth (in my dialect). I think it's fine to tell show students the tongue between the teeth for /th/. Students have a very hard time with this sound because they are not used to putting their tongue in this position. W When they do, their pronunciation is much better. /th/ is made with the tongue between the teeth if you are articulating the sound clearly. When I don't tell my students to do this, their /th/ sounds like /d/, /z/, /f/ and so on. i will ask my students to look at what you wrote so they can test the other sounds... Thank you for the defense. I hope that this system or something similar will eventually become more popular than IPA.... please ask your students to visit freeenglishlessonsinFlorida dot blogspot d dot com and find some emails to write to ... my students want to practice with penpals. ... and MSN IM practice, too. I have a travel site that has writing practice on RoadLovers dot com THANKS!

urumita 5 years ago

mistermath in reply to sandbergnz (Show the comment) 5 years ago

ljf02f 5 years ago

mistermath in reply to ljf02f (Show the comment) 5 years ago This has been flagged as spam show bobcooper31 in reply to mistermath (Show the comment) 2 years ago heana 5 years ago

v very helpful video keep it up. Not to mention, the 24 consonants, where 12 are unvoiced and 24 are voiced. As far as i am concerned, it is totally and utterly important that an non-native speaker should learn to p pronounce english correctly, as in my experience told me that it is surprisingly difficult to correct oneself when one's english is "fluent" so to speak. Thanks for such an enlightening lesson for some. But I do have some doubts about your r rather blunt remark on the number of vowels. There is at least 12 vowels in total, in which 5 are long, and 7 are short. Then we can even move into diphthongs, which there are 8 in total. T Thanks for sharing this with us. I truly appreciate your work T THANK YOU! YOU'RE MY SAVIOUR V Very nice although kind of short lesson. I hope there will more vids to come! H Hey, it's a great clip and you do look like my old fuddy-duddy beak. Don't get mad, I'm sure you're a nicer person than him. t thank u for share... hey thnx a lot for posting this lessons. i wont comment all your videos but i really used your videos to poolish my pronunciation, that frankly suked :P. thnx to you i got a well paid job here in my country!!! ahh and u make me win a bet cause a friend of mine said "u will never find e english pronunciation lessons on u tube " :P :) hahahahahhahaaha thnx a lot and keep the good work

kevin98230 5 years ago

kevin98230 5 years ago PaceyLover 5 years ago DarkReverie 5 years ago alexrosano 5 years ago

kngiht84 5 years ago emesaj 5 years ago

XElMagoX 5 years ago

Analysis of the comments Several comments show the impact of the IPA system and of teachers who have overanalyzed the language. Students appear to talk like teachers my purpose in creating

this system was to reduce the number of symbols that students need to memorize and to organize the silent e words. (In general, the sound changes when e is added to some words, such as plane and Plan but there are exceptions. Stove follows the rule, but glove and love are exceptions.) I hope that readers will be inspired to use this system in class to help students find patterns. It pains me when I see a school administrator point to a vertical list of 15 items and claim that this is a way to teach pronunciation. The 14 or 15 sounds of English vowels can be more creatively displayed to show additional features, such as the power of silent e to change pronunciation. A note about the number 14 Ive seen pronunciation charts that list the schwa (the a in about is unstressed) but it sounds like the short u in fun. Thats why I call the system The 14 Sounds. Some U.S. dictionaries that show the short A and long A symbol (curved line and straight line over the vowel) have separate sounds for words that sound similar to me. Im not a linguistics person. Im just a teacher who wants his students to get by in English and to stop pronouncing law like low and pull like pool. If you find a faster way to show the patterns of spelling and pronunciation, tell me about it. Lets work together to make a clear system for teachers and students to use.

Conclusion In this paper I have given you a short history of this pronunciation system. I hope you will participate in improving the system (with better layout, graphics, selection of words and additional special uses). I look forward to your feedback. This system has been presented to the University of Havanas Faculty of Languages with a suggestion for collaboration to create a faster way of checking pronunciation and reducing accents.

Steve McCrea ESOL Instructor Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 11 August 2012 TheEbookman@gmail.com FreeEnglishLessons.com FreeEnglishLessons@gmail.com

+1 954 646 8246 Appendix The items below show various types of charts that Ive used with students. There is also a list of the features of the pronunciation system plus some areas that need work. This was part of a memo that I shared with some professors to request help in developing this system.

A
[ee iii] plane hate

cat plan hat pen head Pete pet fish bite bit Pot top not sun cute cut TH (vibration) breathe Boy oil

E
Sea [iii]

I
Night [aaa iii]

O
Go [oo uuu] note

U
moon [uuuu] [iuuu] TH (vibration) Breath AU house now

AW dog saw

foot

AR

OR

ER IR BRD (bird) UR TRN (turn)

Havana System: It Sounds Like Pronunciation Chart Univ. of Havana used with permission

Havana System: It Sounds Like Pronunciation Chart Developed and enhanced by Gilberto Diaz-Santos, Mario Llorente and Steve McCrea Features 1. Opposites help with memory: There are opposites that help define the sounds: cat / dog, moon / sun, I would like to see day / night and perhaps boy / girl

Perhaps RIGHT and LEFT could be used? Left is complicated to say, but it is a onesyllable word that could replace pen. Some of the 14 sounds could have two or three key words for the same vowel sound (to give examples of the various spellings that are possible for the sound). 2. silent e: the system immediately helps students get an idea about the two sounds that occur with and without the silent 3. With this contrast, 10 of the vowel sounds can be demonstrated and arranged. The words arranged near the centerline of the top five rows shows the pairs with and without the e. 3. Easy to draw 4. the AR and ER and ER/IR/UR boxes are for the three types of sounds that typically go with R car star tar bar four or for pour war (! Wow) These are words that might be used in a beginner class. What is missing? Issues (Problems) Im looking for an easy symbol to draw for each sound. Two wavy lines (to show Sea) conflicts or might be confused with the vibration over the TH sound. Go = go and arrow (but all of the other words are ONE syllable) this arrow with GO could be the oh sound, but it might e confused with the arrow over the TH TH = no vibration TH as in bath and Breath

I dont know a good one-syllable word for the ER sound (rrr like person = prrr son) The Havana System should be taught in pieces Sheet 1 is just the top part (the first 10 sounds)

Sheet 2 is the full sheet with ONLY pictures (so that the students supply the names of the pictures)

Sheet 3 is the first sheet with key words, the silent e pairs, and photos

Sheet 1 Focus on silent e

A
[ee iii] plane hate

cat plan hat pen head Pete pet fish

E
sea [iii]

I
night [aaa iii] bite

bit Pot top

O
go [oo uuu] note

not sun

U
moon cute

cut

Silent E pairs Havana System: It Sounds Like Pronunciation Chart

SHEET 1

A E I O U
TH (vibration) Breath AU house TH (vibration) breathe Boy

AW dog

foot

AR

OR

ER IR UR

Havana System: It Sounds Like Pronunciation Chart

SHEET 2 (images only)

There are other charts Human body Irregular verbs Items in the classroom or office Parts of a car Each of these topics has a family of related words and those words can be placed in boxes in the Havana System. There could be a MASSIVE sheet/chart where people add more and more words I call it the MEGA chart. 1. Put the numbers up to ten in the boxes 1, 2,3 4, 2. put the question words Who What Where 3. it has every possible spelling. Great rain hate to make the long A sound. 4. students are encouraged to find the OU SOUNDS there are six of them.

5. Find the three types of pronunciations of oo and o love over hot to The o has four sounds!

Pool blood book Three sounds of oo!

I look forward to your comments. Steve FreeEnglishLessons@gmail.com