2 tricky vowel sounds in British and American English - AH and UH
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- We made a video a while ago on how we say can and can't in British and American English. You can see it here: • How to say CAN and CAN...
It was very popular but many of you wrote saying you were worried about saying the right the vowel sound in the word can't. If you get it wrong you could say a rude word in English!
Some of you said you say cannot instead. That's clear, but it will sound a little strange. Cannot is more frequent in written English than spoken.
The way to solve the problem is to work on the vowel sounds so you can say AH and UH - the ɑː and ʌ vowel sounds.
We'll show you how to do that in this video and demonstrate some ah uh minimal pairs. We'll also show you how we pronounce words differently in British and American English.
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You are the best of the best English teacher i ever seen, thank you for the lessons Jay and Vicki. ♥️
Thank you so much for the kind words. Much appreciated Habibi. :-)
I love "gosh", pronounced in a British way! I do prefer the British English, but of course I like the American accent as well! This is why I appreciate your channel, as no-one has to search for their preference of an accent, you simply got both here! Your channel assures to never miss out on something!
Hi Sarah, Vicki here. It's great that you like both accents and of course I'm secretly pleased that you prefer my accent. Don't tell Jay. :-)
@@SimpleEnglishVideos No, I won't tell anyone :)
@@sarahpanda3252 lol :3
This is the most important English feature(this tricky one) that all the English teacher in Indonesia should notice. I've share this to my closest English teacher and tutor I know very well.
Hadi, this is Jay writing back to you. You are correct, it is important. We're glad you could share it with your teacher. Thanks for writing to us and thanks for watching.
@@SimpleEnglishVideos Thanks back Mr. Jay 😁 I hope all the English material on your channel can help all the English teacher (as foreign language).
If there’s one thing I love, it’s Simple English.
Thanks so much Mollie. And if there's one this we love, it's seeing you here. :-)
It's my privilege to learn two different accents with such an experienced teachers.
Precisely, ej.
I really enjoy Vickie. She is a real master of the British way of the English language. I can listen to her speak all day!
Thanks so much for the kind words John. :-)
@@SimpleEnglishVideos You're welcome, Vicki!
♥ Yeay! ♥ What others do on Friday nights: going out dancing, to the cinema, meet friends and party hard...
What I do on Friday nights: Waiting for a new video by Vicki and Jay 😍😂
Last week you've talked about prototype semantics and today about phonetics and phonology differences in AE and BE ♥
I just LOVE you for sharing and reminding me of all these fascinating information, which is still somewhere in a corner of my brain as a former linguistic student! ♥
I think the best way to learn the correct pronunciation is to listen in English and talk in English! When you're by yourself: TALK IN ENGLISH! When I am watching a series in English, which is emotionally moving, I yell and blabber in English 🙈😂
In Germany we actually have five vowels in the alphabet, but we are even worse in spoken German with around 23 different vowel sounds (thanks wikipedia :D)
If you're interested: I was googling a bit after watching your video and found this interesting list, where European languages are compared according to the amount of vowel sounds in their spoken language. 😮
The more your listen to English, the more you get aware of small differences in AE and BE or the distinctions of the vowel sounds. What would recommend? 😮
I hope Philly is defrosted finally and you're able to hold your noses into some pre-springlike sunshine ♥
Lots of love from Germany
Steffi
Hi Steffi, Vicki here. I thought of you when I was positing this. I meant to do it at 3 pm our time and I got distracted writing a script. When I realised, my first thought was oh no, I hope I haven't kept Steffi up in Germany! Ha!
So glad you liked all the phonology stuff. It was a bit of a puzzle working out what words would work, because of course Jay says ah in different words to me. I'm still learning all the differences between British and American pronunciation.
23 different vowel sounds in German? No wonder my German students have had such good pronunciation!
It's warming up here and but still thick coat and scarf weather.
Hello there dear Vicki ♥
I’m so glad to hear that Philly finally warming up. You’re such a cordial person! Actually, I was a bit worried, when I was waiting for your video and it got a little later. I thought: “Oh no! Hopefully Vicki and Jay are alright over there!” There was nothing new on German news about the cold snap in America (aside a few comments during the biathlon world cup in Canada).
But don’t worry! Your videos are always worth staying awake 😍
I can imagine that’s often hard to get accustomed to American pronunciation even after all the years you’ve already lived in the US.
In Germany we really have so many ways of pronouncing a single vowel. Like “u”.
“Sucht” (addiction) [ˈu] and “er sucht” [ˈuː] (he searches) or “rund” (round) [ˈʊ] - in these words the “u” is always pronounced differently.
Additionally we use “Umlaute” like “ä”, “ö” and “ü”.
English and German also have a lot of diphthongs and triphthongs, haven’t we? 😮
I remember a Japanese friend of mine struggling with the pronunciation of those.
I hope you both will enjoy a wonderful weekend and I’m sending you rays of sunshine from Erfurt to Philly ♥ Always take care of you ♥
You two are amazing and that is why I am subscribing. You bounce off each other. I was laughing so much when she put the blindfold on and he said I can't see and then see when to say let me put on-again.
Hi Abby, welcome to our channel. It's great to have you with us. :-)
Wonderful humour that cheers me up, and the bonus learning English!
Glad it's working for you Engin.
I'm English but I still love watching this as you are the cutest
Aw Tillzy, that so nice of you to say. Thank you and thank so much for watching. We have lots of native English speakers like you watching our videos. We're thrilled about that. :-)
A big discussion on Toronto transit is the pronunciation of avenue by the electronic voice announcing street stops. Passengers were complaining about the American pronunciation. In Canada, we say, "a-ven-YUE." I'm not sure what the American pronunciation is. "A-VEE-noo?"
Hi Michael. In my experience ( as an American) I've heard both. I seem to remember that an older generation in New York City pronounced it a-ven-noo. But in checking an online dictionary (www.macmillandictionary.com/us/pronunciation/american/avenue) they say a-ven-noo is the proper American pronunciation. Maybe I've been hanging around Vicki too long :-)
2:20 I'm Polish and in Polish we pronounce EVERY LETTER in EVERY WORD the same way. Of course there are some exceptions, but only a few ;)
Thanks for sharing Antoni Jaros. English spelling is can be so illogical! :-)
Your sons and daughters should be proud to have such parents like you!
That's so kind of you to say Sierra.
I’m a native american english speaker, and love to hear the differences, keep up the good work guys!
Thanks so much Richard. We're delighted to have you with us.
Hilarious introduction, especially with the bleeped out naughty bit!
Hi Terry, Vicki here. It came naturally to me. :-)
@@SimpleEnglishVideos : As a native English speaker, it never crossed my mind that such a word could be a problem for non-natives.
@@SimpleEnglishVideos : And in Geordie, 'can't' is said very differently to 'c##t', so maybe non-natives should all learn the Geordie accent. What do you think, Vicki? 😉
LOL! How can you not like Vickie!
@@detroitjack0325 : Vicki is amazing.
I am polish and I LOVE your lessons, they are very good and you are helping me in English 🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️ xoxo
We're so pleased we can help, Lenorek. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching.
Very clear explanation of the difference between short and long "a", for the first time I can say I understand it perfectly, of course, now it is a question of practice.
So glad it was useful Loreno. Thanks for writing.
Best video I've seen on this difficult topic for us native Spanish speakers. Thank you!
Hi Alter Ego. We're very pleased you found this video useful. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching.
You are amazing!! I just subscribed to your channel and I love it!! Thank you soooo much for your incredible videos!! I've been learning English for a long time and never could learn how to pronounce those vowels properly until now. Thank you and please don't stop making videos!! Regards from Peru!
Hi Luis! Greetings to you in Peru and welcome to our channel! So glad you like it.
Is anyone going to talk about how funny it was when Vicki accidentally dropped the c bomb at 0:56 and 3:08 when she was trying to explain people are worried that “can’t” sounds similar to it in British English? I showed my stepdad that part and he thought it was hilarious! Sorry if it was too embarrassing to mention.
I love them. Both are perfect teachers. I appreciate your help
Thanks so much for the kind words Cynthia. :-)
That's interesting now i can understand the difference between /ɑ/ & /ʌ/
Excellent! That's great to hear. Thanks for writing, asian drama. :-)
I could listen to you pronouncing uh and ah with that perfect english for hours
Thanks so much Luftwaffle! :-)
You're Great!! Awesome class! you both explain little details of language that no other teacher has ever taught,Thank you Very Much,you Both Rock!!
So glad you liked it Marco. Thanks for writing.
I love you guys! Thanks for your lessons!
Thanks so much Legend Sparki. :-)
Thanks guys!
I always enjoy watching your videos. 🙂
Hey Alexx. We're so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching this one. :-)
you are amazing guys!! I really enjoy yous lessons !! the best teachers ever !!!
Thanks so much toninho toninho, both for the kind words and also for watching. :-)
Great lesson! You are the best teacher
Thanks so much Sena.
You don’t only teach me new things, you always put a smile on my face 😊
Oh that's very nice to know. Thanks so much Claudia. :-)
You two people are simply awesome
Thanks so much Andy H.D.C. :-)
It is a case to say we learn everyday, we do not know everything, it was worth following these tricks.
Hi Sergio. Vicki here. I'm still learning things about English too. It never stops. :-) Thanks for writing.
Omg i love you guys 😍😍you have helped me so much with pronouncing english as in school we only have learnt the grammar and not how to pronounce the words. Our teachers never correct us when we make mistakes. A friend of mine once pronouced 'prison' as 'prysohn' and the teacher didnt even say anything. I showed him this channel and now he watches it regularly too 😂
Thanks so much for the kind words Ju Mei and thanks for sharing our videos too. We love it when that happens.
Oh thank you guys! You are great!! My every friday night favorite program!!
It's great to have you with us Rodrigo. Thanks for watching! :-)
Really love your videos
That's great to hear. Thanks Thu. :-)
A month ago I discovered your channel on oh my... it's truly awesome. I really appreciate the effort you put in the videos you make. They are really educating and your attitude makes me want to smile. By the way, in one of your older videos I have found a dictionary on a shelf in the background. The interesting thing about it is that it had Słownik Podręczny written on it. And that's a Polish term for a pocket dicitonary. I'm Polish and I'd like to know who in your family is polish because i was really surprised and curious :D. I'm glad we have something in common :).
NieMaszPleców. my father was raised in a part of Poland that is now Ukraine, near the city of Lvov (now Lviv). But the dictionary isn't from that family history. I suspect the book was in a stock photo image we stuck on the background. If you let me know what video you saw it in, I can answer more affirmatively. Thanks so much for watching our videos. We really appreciate it.
Thanks Jay and Vicki.
Hi Roberson. Good to hear from you again. You are very welcome, and as always, thanks for watching.
Hello professor
Thank you so much for your priceless advice and interesting guidance. I love your way of teaching and excellent explication. I really appreciate your job. I wish you peace and happiness under the sky of prosperity.
Your Student from Algeria.
Said, thank you so much your kind words and good wishes. We wish the very same for you. Be well and be safe. Jay & Vicki.
You are the best English online teachers
Keep up the great work
😉😉😉
🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺
Thank you Samuel! 😃 Much appreciated.
What a great video. I really enjoyed it from the beginning till the end :-)
That's great to hear Maximiliano! So glad you liked it and thanks for writing.
Awesome. Thanks for the video, its so useful.
Estefany Molano Castillo, so sorry for the late response. We're very pleased you sound this video useful. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching.
I love you! You are the best teachers ever!
What a lovely compliment, Paul. Thank you!!! And thanks for watching.
Yeah, that is tricky and I'm going to practice these and other vowel sounds. Thank you!))
You're very welcome Robert. So glad you liked it. :-)
I loved it! Have a lovely weekend Vicki and Jay! Xoxoxo from Brazil. ;-)
Thanks so much Lucy. Love right back at you in Brazil. :-)
Thanks Vicki and Jake, I'm studying for being a English teacher, and you help me a lot with my pronunciation. My L1 is Spanish. Please i would like to know about word formation, because most people get confused with the pronunciation. Like use, used, abuse, abused, or mountain, mountaineer...
I love you... I'll share this video with my fellows
Hi Johanna. Great to meet you and so glad our videos are useful. It sounds like you're interested in the pronunciation of some word endings here. Is that right? We have a set of videos on prefixes and suffixes and in the suffix videos I sometimes mention pronunciation. Here's the link: ua-cam.com/play/PLwrM2Wcy_MsDXAyBxhc6iUutf_DUdpoXn.html. We haven't made a video on -ed endings yet, but it's on my list.
Ohh I love you both. Thank you!!
You are very welcome Ivanna. Thanks for watching our video.
I like your videos! They're so useful!
Thanks!
ball GLOBAL, thank you so much for letting us know you like our videos. We're pleased they are useful for you and we're very happy you're participating in our community. Thanks for watching.
Wow! I love your videos! Thanks for sharing your knowledge 👏👏👏 I've learnt a lot from this video 👍
That's great to hear Eduardo. Thanks for writing and telling us. :-)
I really enjoy your videos. 🌹❤️
That's great to hear. Thanks Diego. :-)
Hey Jay and Vicky, I had a bad fall and I fractured my left wrist at the joint. I loved this video! Please keep up the fantastic and great work!
-Flip Tech
Oh no Flip Tech! Hope it gets better soon! Thanks for writing.
Simple English Videos thank you and you’re welcome
Thanks for your hard work! I want to improve my accent and this helps a lot
Hi Madahi. We are so pleased to know we are helping with your accent. And thank you so much for watching our videos.
Thanks a lot for the amazing video again. Though I knew most of the facts before, I just CAN'T stop watching your video.
So glad it was useful. Thanks for writing wgr 1206.
Could this couple be more lovely. Greetings from Peru.
Thank you so much Jairo. Greetings right back at you in Peru. :-)
I love these guys!
Thanks so much Hazel. Lovely to meet you! :-)
Hello ! I am from Slovakia and I learn English language at school and your videos are very helpful for me,thank you ! :-)
Hello and greetings to you in Slovakia Patricia. So glad you like our videos.Good luck with your studies. :-)
It's so much fun and useful, thanks a lot :)
Glad you like it!
I loooove it thank you ❤
dayane, thanks so much for letting us know you liked this. I wanted to mention that we are starting a new live course with Tom. It focuses on improving your English speaking skills. It's a 5 hour course, spread out over every Monday morning in April, starting April 1. The total for all 5 sessions is only 74.95 Euros. If you think you need to improve your speaking skills, get started by clicking this link. www.simpleenglishvideos.com/assessment-form/. And thanks for watching our videos. - Jay
Excellent!!!! 😍😍😍
So glad you liked it Cin GM. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching.
This is so helpful! Can you pls make of video explaining every vowel sound?
I loved watch this video, I speak British English sometimes I struggling to get to understand by amsrucans and Canadians
We're so glad you enjoyed it, Rebecca
Great video you two, really funny and helpfull
So glad you liked it OlliemilianMus.
Thank you so much for sharing
You're very welcome Stefany. :-)
So cute and interesting :))) Thank you for the lessons, I love you guys so much!
We're really pleased you liked this one, Hoàng. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching.
Oh, I am grateful for this video. I liked it so much👍
That's great to hear! Thanks for writing, Bodybuilding. :-)
You make me smile, thanks ❤
@Ilovenature12.3, you are most welcome! Thanks for watching.
You're great, I was a member of your channel with another Gmail but I created this new specifically to learn English.
A ton of shout-out for both of you from Kurdistan.
At 5:05 I hear Jay saying [kɛːnt] and [ɛːnt].
At 8:00 the differences are very small, especially since the [ɑː] does not seem to be much longer than the [ʌ].
Well spotted Hans. This is Jay writing back to you. It is hard, even for American English native speaker to often tell the difference between can and can't when spoken by an American.
i love this channel , i am from Brazil :)
Thanks so much Rayssa. Greetings to you in Brazil. :-)
I really love them! Greetings from Costa Rica🇨🇷
Greeting to you Lefranck Jimenez, from Philadelphia. Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching our videos.
Thankyou so much😊👍❤
You're welcome 😊
Hi Vicki Hi Jay as always it's a pleasure to watch your videos
You're amazing thanks a lot and have a lovely weekend 😉
Thanks so much Aparecido. Always great to see you. :-)
Your videos is very helpful for me, thank you so much
So glad you like them. Thanks for writing. :-)
@@SimpleEnglishVideos
EXCELLENT TEACHERS!
Thanks so much Carlos. :-)
Excellent work. I learned a lot here more than my lessons of pronunciation
We're so glad you found this video useful Raquel. Thanks for letting us and thanks for watching.
Thank you , it is very useful
That's great to hear. Thanks Arkan.
OMG such a nice video! You both are so charming and lovely! Love you!
Barbara, thank you so much for the kind words. Much appreciated, and thank you for watching our video.
I've read somewhere that in American English the specific lengthening of a vowel /:/ doesn't make any difference. Of course there are long vowels, but they might be shorter than the British ones (?)
Hi N N. I don't know much about this, but it cane up when we were making this video. I'll have to research it and please let me know if you discover anything too.
Awesome video!
So glad you liked it Jordana. Thanks for writing.
Thanks for this helpful video, you both are so lovely! You show us the difference perfectly. I'll have to practice a lot! 🙄
So glad you liked it M.Sesca Asmo. Thanks for writing and telling us an good luck with your studies.
Impressive...
I'll add this to my saved videos list
So glad you found it useful Jaime emiaJ. :-)
I Enjoyed class so much!!
That's great to hear. Thanks Marco.
You are the best!
Thanks so much Achil. :-)
You two are so lovely & interesting
Thanks so much for the kind words, Arki. :-)
You are both such good teachers!!
Thanks so much Dimos.
You're right
23 February 2019, Palermo, Sicily.
Shame that most schools around the world fail to teach that British English has 12 vowel sounds and American English has 11! Who knew? Thank you very much Vicky and Jay!
I wondered if I might be delivering unnecessary info there so I'm so glad you liked it, Benedetto. Thanks for writing.
@@SimpleEnglishVideos 23 February 2019, Palermo, Sicily.
Unnecessary? No! Quite the contrary!
In my personal experience most teachers don't go beyond saying that English has 5 vowels, a, e, i, o, u (probably because they themselves have been trained this way). And what happens next is that when they teach students how to read English words it all inevitably becomes a blurry chaos.
It would be very useful if right from the outset they made it crystal clear that English has 5 WRITTEN vowels BUT BUT BUT 12 SOUND vowels in British English and 11 SOUND vowels in American English precisely as you, Vicky and Jay, have done for all of us here. Thank you.
@@SimpleEnglishVideos
23 February 2019, Palermo, Sicily.
Unnecessary? No! Quite the contrary!
In my personal experience most teachers don't go beyond explaining that English has 5 vowels, a, e, i, o, u (probably because they themselves have been trained this way). And what happens next is that when they teach students how to read English words it all inevitably becomes a blurry chaos.
It would be very useful if right from the outset they made it crystal clear that English has 5 WRITTEN vowels BUT BUT BUT 12 SOUND vowels in British English and 11 SOUND vowels in American English, precisely as you, Vicky and Jay, have done for all of us here. Thank you.
I was born in the UK and I speak English fluentlc but I love your videos.
That's great to hear. Thanks Antek. :-)
Its ok
@@SimpleEnglishVideos It`s ok
thank you for video,it was very interesting
That's great to hear. Thanks for writing and telling us David.
such a great video! could you please make more videos about phrasal verbs?? i really love your way of teaching them.
Thanks for this suggestion. We'll see what we can do. :-)
When I was younger I remembered that it was so difficult the pronunciation because I'm from spain and I didn't know how to do the correct sounds😂
It sounds like it has got easier with time Marta. That's great and well done you for sticking at it. :-)
Hello, hello. Wow, what a tricky video. It is really hard and I have to practice a lot. There is so many words to practice. Well, I have to say I am really wonder for your brilliant video. I love it so much.
So glad you liked it Paul. Thanks for writing.
Useful vedio, thank you
So glad you liked it Rasha. Thanks for writing.
love the videos as always. But here you have left out the fact that the Americans also don't use the Ɔ : (open o) sound. (door, horse, etc)
Thanks so much Share your English. I haven't noticed Jay not saying Ɔ : , but you're right that we do say horse and door a little differently. I think that's because I'm not pronouncing the /r/ at the end though and he is. That could be affecting the vowel. Is that what you're thinking of?
Thanks!
You're very welcome Christian. :-)
In conclusion: We say: "Ah" when we are at the dentist's and are ready and willing to get our teeth done. We say: "Uh" still being at the dentist's, but afraid of what he/she is planning to do with us.
Ha! A lovely description Galina. :-)
Interesting!!!!
Thanks Stone Face.
I like how brits say the word got. It sounds more correct. It is pronounced very differently in america where the o has an a-sound to it. But is easier to say. You dlnt have to move your tungue as much.
Hi Axell, this is Jay writing back to you. I'm not sure one pronunciation is better than the other, but it is always interesting to learn the different, right?
Love you both from Myanmar...
Thanks so much Nay Thant Aung. :-)
How you distinguish Ah and Uh in songs when the note is long and you have to prolong the sound at this note. How to say Come and Calm in this case to distinguish them? For example Be my lo-o-ve for ever and Be my la-ar-ve for ever
Great question and examples, Vicky. I guess we have to rely on the vowel quality without the length, but yes, it makes it harder to distinguish them.
You guys are so sweet!
Thanks so much Johnny. :-)
Wow, i love u guy.
Thanks so much Tiny Cebits. :-)
I am from just north of London too and found that although I have lots of London language traits I also have picked up some American language styles for certain words. Drives my family nuts sometimes but I'm curious if if both of you have picked up on each others language over the years?
Hi Autumn. Great to meet you and interesting question. I think the world's got much more connected over the years and now if you live in the UK, you're almost bound to be influenced by American English. And in the US, I meet a lot more folks who are watching British TV shows and films, and I often hear what used to be Britishisms popping up here. I'm sure Jay and I must have influenced one another's English in all sorts of ways, though it's hard to keep track of course. I'm sometimes a bit surprised to find I still doin't speak 'merican. :-)