When I was in high school, I went to the United States for a little bit to study. And it was great. Well, actually right now, I can say that it was great. But to be honest, when I was there, it wasn't such a fantastic, comfortable, cool experience. There were many moments of uncomfortableness and embarrassment. Sometimes I offend that people because I mispronounced some words.

Some other times. They didn't understand me, and I could see them getting more and more impatient with me, because they could just not understand what I was trying to say. And well, the truth is that these cost many moments that like kind of blush when I think about them. One of my favorites was when I went to my girlfriend at the time, invited me to a Thanksgiving dinner with her family. And that was a time where I was going to meet her mom, her dad and the rest of her family. So, we arrived to her house.

I'm shaking, and I'm ready to meet the family. So we get together. They seem pretty nice. Her dad looks specially serious, like a serious man. He's a great guy, of course. But he was very serious.

And when we were having dinner, suddenly he asks me, so Gee, tell me a little bit about Mexico. How is it? And I remember I said, of course, sir. Mexico is amazing. We love I have delicious food. People aren't Amazing the places that are beautiful beaches are gorgeous.

And I remember he just stopped and blushed. And he said, Excuse me. And suddenly I realized that I have some mistakes pronouncing these word. So I said, I'm sorry, sorry. I'm sorry. I meant that the ocean the sea, the bitch is beautiful.

He's like, What? What do you mean is the beach right? And I said, Yes sir. I'm so sorry. I was feeling so nervous because I knew that I was saying a bad word. But I just couldn't pronounce Meech.

So he was telling me Of course You mean the Meech method? Yes, the beach is beautiful like Cancun or Bordeaux. Yeah, that all of these beaches are amazing. And it was you can imagine how uncomfortable I felt. Feeling all the family, tense and quiet listening to me trying to say that Beach. The truth is that for years before or after that experience, I just couldn't pronounce beach.

I didn't know why I tried everything. I asked for tips to all my friends from the United States from England, English teachers from my country, and I just couldn't find the way to pronounce beach. So, one day, one friend from Canada many years later, came to visit. And I'm talking to her, and I said something about the beach and she said, Oh, you mean the beach? Not the beach. Right?

And I said, Yeah, the bitch she's like, no, the beach. Look, the only thing you need to do to pronounce this sound correctly is smile. Look at my mouth. It's opening when I say beach, right? Also, can you hear how the sound is pronounced here or not here? b No, b b That's it.

Finally, the sound is kind of more musical it goes and comes. I'm not saying bit but B, ch, you get it. As simple as that. You can correct your pronunciation if you know these little details. For me, it took me years of practice and making mistakes and feeling ridiculous in many conversations. And one of these mistakes we have is in the bowels of English.

If you speak Spanish, you pronounce the vowels very differently than you do in English. So today, let's make sure that you learn to pronounce the vowels perfectly. I will show you some individual Bibles and some vowel combinations. And when we finish this lesson, you will be able to pronounce all of them perfectly clear without confusions and without all offending people without you wanting to offend them. Okay, so you're ready? Let's start with this word.

Maybe you now know how to say tried to say it again. That's right. He remember how we need to open the mouth and produce a sound here, not here. Now let's see another example with the same combination to say, seat seat. Good. Are you hearing now?

What I'm saying of the sound being produced here? See it? This sounds very different to sit. That's right, sit. Perfect. So that I can be a English sound.

Very different seat, seat and Sit, sit. Can you hear how in the letter I? I'm pronouncing the sound here and I'm not opening my mouth sit. Excellent. So let's take one final time I sit in my seat I sit in my seat Okay. Now take a look at this word.

Let me give you one tip, the double E, pronounce it the same as an A here and opening your mouth. So as you can see, we need to process word feet. I have to eat. Good. And if you exercise, you will be very fit Fit. So we have two feet.

And if we run with the two feet, we will be very fit. Very fit. Excellent. Okay, now, let's take a look at some individual vowels. Let's start with the letter O, of course. Now this was a problem I had, especially when I wanted to give my email address to people, because I would say, Yes, my email address is g@hotmail.com.

And people will say, gee, what I'm sorry, hotmail what hotmail what Hotmail, Can you spell it for me? And I was desperate because it was so easy to understand. Right? Well, the truth is that they Oh, I was pronouncing completely in Spanish and in English. So what's the secret here? Take a look at this word.

Hotmail to say it again with me. Hotmail. Good. So what's the difference? See how we pronounce it all in Spanish? With thousands of vowels in the mouse?

Oh, oh, in English. We need to pull it back down here again. Ha, ha, ha. Hotmail Come on, exaggerated with me. Don't be afraid to sound ridiculous. You actually need to start making new sounds that maybe you have never made before.

So don't worry about how you sound just try to pull the sound down your throat to say hot. Excellent. Now you can say words like hot Dog, hotmail and iPod, right? If you try to say iPhone to an American or a British person, they will be very confused and they will have no idea what you're saying. But if you say iPod, they will immediately catch what you're saying. Perfect.

So let's repeat the sentence. I check my hotmail on my iPod. I check my hotmail on my iPod. Excellent. Okay, now let's take a look at the letter A. And the letter A is basically the same situation as with the letter O.

If you speak Spanish, maybe you're pronouncing the A in your mouth, gap gap, that gap right Possibly people will understand you, but it doesn't help the clarity of your English speech. So what you should do is again, take it down. Instead of saying cat could say, Cat, cat. Got it? kept it simple, isn't it? Remember, don't be afraid to exaggerate the sound.

The more you practice, the more natural and comfortable it will feel. So, Kat and I had I pad excellent. Do you hear how different it sounds? You say I thought to iPad, right. Just that little difference will give them an opportunity to your English voice. Right.

Now let's take a look at one final combination of vowels. That will make your speech a lot clearer, but will also make it easier for you to understand many things that maybe you weren't understanding so clearly. So let me say one word. And tell me if you know what this word is. I'm talking about the word, pause, pause. So maybe you understand this word.

But if you don't, as soon as you save here, you will know what word This is. You see, these work every day of your life in many different places. Of course, pause is key. You know, if you have difficulty understanding this word, well, simply it is because you don't know that eight You sound like an adult. Right. Oh, Paul moss, as simple as that.

If you know that a you should sound like that all your pronunciation changes radically because instead of saying house, you're going to say pause. Instead of saying outdoor, you'll say offer. Good prep Say with me again, author, author poss as simple as that. When you see an au or by the way and a W, it will sound the same. That's why we say Awesome. Awesome.

There and a W or an eight you should sound like an Oh, good. So now you know how to pronounce the letter O The letter I, the letter A, the EA, the E, and the AU, N A W. This will really change the way you sound in English. So let's practice a little bit. Let me show you some sentences that you can repeat to make this EC unnatural. You're ready. So repeat with me.

Todd loves hot dogs. Again, Todd loves hot dogs. pod. Scott loves hot dogs to Scott. Excellent. Okay, now try to read this.

You go first right cats don't like bats. Nor bats, right cats don't like bats. Nor bats. Good. Now are you also recognizing the th and the t sound from the last lesson, back and bat. That should be very clear for you now to take one more time.

Cats don't like bats nor that. Excellent. Okay, now let's try this one. Chips are cheap. If you sit at the beach. That's a little bit more difficult, isn't it?

That's it again. Chips are cheap. If you sit at the beach you got it. Good when you can say these sentences again, try to save them a little bit faster. Remember, chips are cheap if you sit at the beach. Now let's work with one more.

Okay, take a look at this sentence to say it there. So let's say Kate and her cat Scott, listen to a podcast on her iPad. Let's say it again. Kate and her cats cut. listen to a podcast on her iPad. Good.

Excellent. I hope you are by now at least feeling or known. Discussing the differences between words like chip, and chip, sit and seat, beach. And the other word. Fantastic. Now that you know how the vowels in English should exactly sound, it's time to make sure that you implement these sounds so that you can naturally and comfortably speak with these sounds every time that you speak English.

So, first of all, you should download the PDF file that you will find on the website to have a list of these words, and some more example sentences that you can use for your pronunciation practices. Then, identify the most important to bow words or vowel combinations that you feel you should focus on, improve and practice and practice them in your practice. Like, for example, for me it would be the words seat and sit. So I would be in my car say, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. I sit on my seat. I sit on my seat.

I sit on my seat, I sit in my seat. You see, right to feel the rhythm as you're doing this practices. Before we close the session for today, I would like to introduce you to a tool that you will be using to check yourself and to test your pronunciation. I'm talking about speech to text software or dictation. Software. And these are simply programs or applications for your computer or your smartphone where you can speak, and the software will automatically type whatever you're saying.

Now, this is a great tool for us. Because once you're ready with your sounds once you practice your consonants and your vowels, what you should do is open this software or this application and speak to your example sentences. If the software understands you and types exactly what you're saying, congratulations, you implement this pronunciation correctly. However, if the software is having trouble understanding some of the words you're saying, that's also great news because that's giving you feedback. You should write those words that the software is telling difficulty understanding you. And watch the lessons again and keep practicing your sounds.

When you're ready, try again until the software can perfectly recognize the words and the sounds that you're making. Excellent. By the way, in the PDF file that you will download, you'll find some examples or some options of software for your smartphones and your computer that you can download to practice your pronunciation. Great. So now you know all the important sounds in English that you should learn to make correctly. In order for people to understand perfectly what you're saying every time you speak English.

So keep practicing your consonants and your vowels on to a few natural and easy. If you want, you can record yourself right now speaking whatever you want in English just a minute speaking about yourself or your job and save it in your cell phone or in your computer. A week, two weeks, three weeks later, when you feel satisfied with the results of your pronunciation practices, record yourself again for a minute or two. And then you can listen to both recordings, the old and the new one. And you will be amazed at the differences in the sounds you're making and the difference of the quality of your English voice. Fantastic.

So I hope you enjoyed the lesson. And I hope to see you again for our next lesson. Until then, I hope that you stay well. Bye bye