Minimal Pairs for Pronunciation - January 15, 2025

معنی واژه با لمس

1. 0:00This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Doraemon in Japan.
2. 0:09Here is Doraemon's question.
3. 0:13Hi, VOA. For me, as an English learner, words like clash, crash, and crush sound like the same word.
4. 0:23Can you help me to tell one word from others?
5. 0:26Thank you. I'm happy to answer this question, Doraemon.
6. 0:32When a foreign language contains sounds that do not exist in a person's native language,
7. 0:40it can be difficult for learners to hear those sounds.
8. 0:46The reason you have difficulty hearing the difference between crash
9. 0:52and clash is because Because the Japanese language does not have the consonant
10. 1:00sounds R or L,
11. 1:04and when English speakers are talking quickly,
12. 1:09the difference between the sounds of R and L becomes very small.
13. 1:16As a result, those two consonants can sound the same to a native Japanese speaker.
14. 1:24Some vowel sounds can also be difficult to hear or pronounce depending
15. 1:32on the vowels a person's native language has.
16. 1:37For example, consider the difference between the following two words.
17. 1:45hit heat The Spanish language has the vowel sound in the word heat.
18. 1:54but it does not have the vowel sound in the word hit.
19. 1:59As a result, Spanish speakers will sometimes pronounce words like hit, bit,
20. 2:08and little with an e sound.
21. 2:13For example, the two words hit and heat will both sound like heat
22. 2:20when spoken with a Spanish accent.
23. 2:25You can learn to hear the difference between sounds
24. 2:28in a foreign language by careful practice using minimal pairs.
25. 2:36Minimal pairs are two words that differ from each other by only one sound.
26. 2:44For example, the two words hit and heat differ from each other by only one sound.
27. 2:54Here are some tips for using minimal pairs.
28. 2:59Find lists and recordings of minimal pairs through a Google search or on YouTube.
29. 3:08For Japanese speakers,
30. 3:11find minimal pairs that differ between the sounds of R and L.
31. 3:19Be sure to include minimal pairs that place the two sounds at the beginning, middle,
32. 3:26and end of words.
33. 3:29Here are examples.
34. 3:33rake lake correct collect
35. 3:37hair hail
36. 3:40Carefully listen to the pronunciation of the minimal pairs.
37. 3:46At first, it might be difficult for you to hear the difference between them,
38. 3:53but over time, you will start hearing the difference.
39. 3:59Also, practice pronouncing these sounds.
40. 4:03Learning to pronounce them can help you hear them.
41. 4:08To pronounce them, you need to practice putting your tongue in the correct position.
42. 4:15The tongue is a muscle.
43. 4:18Just as we can train our muscles to play a sport,
44. 4:23we can train our tongue to move to the correct positions for pronouncing a foreign language.
45. 4:31This How to Pronounce video from VOA Learning English shows the tongue positions you need
46. 4:40to pronounce the letters R and L correctly.
47. 4:45For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
48. 4:52We want to hear from you.
49. 4:55Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews .com.
50. 5:00And please let us know where you are from, too.
51. 5:05And that's Ask a Teacher.
52. 5:07I'm Andrew Smith.