1、美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 1Pronunciation WorkshopThe American dream does not come to those who fall out quick.Session One1. Consonant R2. Consonant WHi, Im your instructor Paul Gruber and welcome to the Pronunciation Workshops-First Training Session.I am very excited that you have taken this
2、 first step to improve your English pronunciation and I do hope that you would enjoy this program and receive great benefits from it. Before we begin I wanna make sure that you have downloaded and printed out the training manual which accompanies this course. If you have not yet done so, please do i
3、t soon because youll definitely need it.Now you may be wondering how is it that I am going to help you change the way you speak. Well, basically, when you learned English as a second language, you kept many of the sounds and speech rules from your first language and you were continuing to use them w
4、hen you speak English. This is what gives you an accent. You were using the sounds and speech rules from your native language instead of the sounds and speech rules of English. And you know why? Well, because when you learned English, nobody ever showed you what the sounds and speech rules of Englis
5、h were until now.Thats why Im coming . Because I am going to show you and train you on how to use these sounds and speech rules correctly. Knowing in using these rules will help you reduce or possibly even eliminate your accent. Now throughout the program youre often going to see me point to my mout
6、h to show you how to produce a particular sound. I want you to pay close attention and try to copy exactly what it is I am doing. I would be showing you how to correctly form new sounds by changing the position of your tongue or changing the shape of your lips. These small changes are going to make
7、very big changes in your speech. Were going to practising and I recommend that you use the training manual and try to practise often. When you practise, I recommend that you start out speaking slowly out loud in a strong voice while exaggerating all the mouth movements. What would you be doing is re
8、training the muscles of your mouth in your tongue to move in new ways, which will produce a new pronunciation patterns. These new speech patterns will slowly and eventually involve into your own spontaneous fast 美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 2speech, but it is important that you start out going
9、very slow. If you can pronunce words and sentences correctly speaking slowly, well, then youll have no problem in saying them fast.I believe practising is important, but I do not believe its the only key towards success. Being aware of your errors. That s the key. Being aware and also recognizing mi
10、stakes when you hear them will probably be the most important factors towards your improvement.Another thing Id like you to keep in mind and Im sure you may have noticed this already is that when most Americans speak you will notice that we seem to open our mouth a lot and there is a great amount of
11、 mouth movements. Watch my mouth when I say something like “Wow, was there really raining on Wednesday!” Did you see how my mouth seemed to move? It wasnt with my lips flat. It wasnt “Wow, was there really raining on Wednesday.” There was a lot of movements. My mouth opened wide, but also my whole m
12、outh moved forward. Now I find many foreign speakers, maybe because of their language characteristics, they dont move their mouths much. There is very little facial movement. Because of this, to an American listener, the words often sound mumble, making it very very difficult for an American listene
13、r to understand what it is you said. One way to be better understood immediately is to become more aware of your speech and to really start opening and moving your mouth.Id like to try to observe what Im talking about. When you speak to native-borned Americans or watch TV or movies, notice how when
14、Americans speak, generally our mouths really open big and our lips come forward. These movements have a lot to do with the sound of American English.I also want to add that Ill often be asking you to repeat words and sentences on these videos. Try to think as if we were both sitting in the same room
15、 and I am directly right in front of you. Listen carefully to the words and sounds that I give you. Listen carefully to my pronunciation and watch my mouth, then repeat the words back to me in your own voice with the techniques that Im showing you as clearly as you can. Now at first you may feel a b
16、it of foolish talking to your computer screen, but really you shouldnt. Make believe youre speaking directly to me. Youll find this will to be extremely helpful and effective.During the course of this program, I will begin by addressing consonant sounds and then later on well work with vowel sounds.
17、 Now vowel sounds, as you know, are A E I O and U, like ahh, ohh, eee, ehh, ihh and ooo. And consonant sounds are basically all the other letters sounds, like b, ch, s, t, f, g, sh, w and of course, there are many many more sounds.The consonants that we are going to cover in this first session are t
18、he consonant R and the consonant W. Ok, are you ready? Here we go. Lets get started. Lets start with the American R.Rs are everywhere. Theyre probably the most commonly occurring consonant sound in English. One reason for this is that Rs affect vowel sounds, especially 美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjengl
19、ish 3when an R falls at the end of word or after a vowel sound as in the word CAR, or the word AIR, or the word TURN.After working with so many non-native English speakers from around the world, I believe the R sound is one of the main causes for being misunderstood in American English. Therefore, t
20、his is why Ive chosen to start out with this sound. Now when some languages, like our speaking Spanish, the R is produced by bringing the tongue forward in the front of the mouth behind the upper teeth and rolling or trilling the tongue, like that. Now when some other languages, like German and Fren
21、ch, the R is produced in the back of the throat, but this is not how we produce an R sound in the United States. In American English, in order to say a clear R sound, two distinct things hafta(have to) happen. The first thing is that our mouth and lips come tightly forward as if you would be saying
22、the OO sound. Do this with me, say OO and make sure you bringing your lips all the way forward. Say OO. Thats it. You see how your lips are forward? Thats what you wanna do. This is the position your mouth should be in when you producing an American R, like that, and Ill bet you know whenever I told
23、 you that. Now, the second thing is that your tongue moves back in your mouth. It doesnt come forward. Its pulled back. This is probably the opposite of what youre doing right now. So, for example, in the word Rock, notice how my lips are coming forward and my tongue moves back in my mouth and I pus
24、h out the R sound. Watch this: RRRock. Do with me and exaggerate the R: RRRock. Watch with my head turn:RRRock. You see that? See how the whole bottom of my face came forward. Dont be afraid to do this. This forward mouth movement is what is going to give you an American R sound. Its not and its not
25、 Rock with your lips flat. Your whole mouth really hasta( has to ) come forward. Now latter I recommend that you practise doing this in front of a mirror while watching your mouth. Really push out the R and remember to pull your tongue back. Now one way of checking if youre doing this correctly with
26、 your tongue is by actually putting your finger around an inch into your mouth while saying an R sound. Watch this, RRRock, like that. You should be able to take the tip of your finger and feel the tip of your tongue. If you do these two simple things-bringing your mouth forward and pulling your ton
27、gue back. Im telling you your speechs going to be clear and youre going to sound so much better.Ok, we re going to start out with Rs at the beginning of words. Here we go. Repeat after me.RockRipReachRoadRainRichRome美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 4RaiseRobeRiceVery good. Now repeat this sentence.
28、The round rooster rushed into the wrong road.Very good. Now pronuncing Rs like this may feel a little weird to you, but if you notice this is how most Americans talk.Ok. Now lets do Rs at the end of words or after a vowel. When a foreign speaker produces R which at the end of word of follows a vowel
29、, its usually very weak-gets not really heard and leaves the word opener unfinished, like in the word CAR. Now you may say CAR ending with the A vowel. But it s not CAR. Its CAR/r/. Your tongue hasta pull back. CAR. And also your lips close a little bit in the front. The R needs to be very strong an
30、d you need to close the word. CAR. Lets practise these words. Repeat after me.CarFarStarDoorBearFourAirYear( now has a high vowel sound EE.Year.)TurnPoorVery good. Ok. Now lets discuss Rs in the middle of words.In the word Very, for example, which is a frequently used word in English. The R occurs i
31、n the middle of the word. Its not a D sound. The word is not Vedi, or Vehi, its Very. Make sure that the R sound is strong and your lips are coming forward. Your tongue is back and you push out the R: Very, like that. Practise these sentences with me nice and slow. He is Very Very nice, like that. S
32、ee how my lips are coming all the way forward? Next one. She is Very Very tall. Here are some more practice words with R in the middle. Repeat after me.DirectionArrangeEraseCorrectMarryGarage美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 5OriginalHurryZeroMarineBerryOperationCaringArriveEveryoneOk. Very good. No
33、w, Rs are often combined with other consonants and form what we call R Blends. It is important to understand that the R sound is the stronggest sound of the blend and your lips often come forward before you even say the word. And example of this is the word Grape. Now notice how my mouth comes forwa
34、rd before I even say the word. Grape. Did you see that? And notice in the word Grape the R sound is strongger and you even hear it more than the G sound. Grape. Here are some practice words with R Blends. First at the beginning of words. Here we go.TrainingTrustTripGreatTropicalBringPrintPresidentPr
35、oductCrackerCrawlBreakOk. Now in the middle of words.SubtractWaitressNutritionAustraliaIntroduceCompress美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 6OppressionBetrayVery good. Ok now lets practise R sounds in sentences. These sentences are filled with Rs. Keep the R sound strong. Dont forget to bring your mou
36、th forward and pull your tongue back. Say these sentences with me. Here we go.The story he read on the radio was incorrect.Her career in the law firm is permanent.Richard and Brooke took a ride in their brand new Range Rover truck.Everyone will respect the Royal Family when they arrive at the airpor
37、t.(Be shorter close to the word Air. Its not airport. Its Air, Airport, like that with strong R sound.)The trip to the Rocky Mountains will be rescheduled on Friday.Very good. Ok now lets talk about W sounds. W sounds are very similar to R sounds. The major thing to keep in mind is that in English w
38、hen you see a W, it always has a W sound. Like in the word What. Again notice how my mouth moves forward. One way to make sure you were doing this correctly is to first say oooo with your whole mouth forward, oooo, like that, and then, open and close your lips to make the W sound, like this, ooooWaW
39、aWa. Thats how you produce a W. Wa, like that. Its never a V sound, /v/,or youre like biting down on your lower lip, never. Well be going over V sounds in the fourth session. The reason I mention this is because many foreign speakers, especially the German speakers say, for example, Vhat with V for
40、the word What. Instead of saying “What will we do?”, which is correct. They may say “Vhat vill ve do?” And that is not right and many people may not understand you. Bring your mouth forward on those W words. What will we do. Say with me. What will we do. Very good.Now as I said the W and the R are s
41、imilar, both of them are made with your mouth in the forward position and your tongue pulled back. Your mouth should be a little bit tighter when youre saying an R. Listen to the similarities and differences between these R and W words.Rick WickRight WhiteIts not Vhite with V. Its White with W.Very
42、good. Also be aware that the W sound occurs in some words beginning with the letter O, like in the words: One, Once. You might not be aware of this. Practise the W words with me. Well start out with W at the beginning of words. Dont forget to bring your mouth forward at the beginning of each word.Wh
43、yWhichWhenWhat美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 7WipeWishWeightWingVery good. Ok now W in the middle of words.AlwaysAwayBewareAwakeSomeoneRewindHalloweenHollywoodNow practise these W sentences.The wind from the west was very wet. (Remember Very starts with the V sound followed by a strong R. -Was ve
44、ry wet. Very good.)We woke up and washed the white washcloth.We waited for the waitress to give us water.We had a wonderful time in Washington and Wisconsin.Very good. Now while we are talking the W sounds, Id like to mention Q sounds. How are Q sounds related? Well, Q sounds are made with the K/k /
45、sound and the W sound/w/ put together. You may have known that. So, for example, the word Quick is pronunced with the K and the strong W sound. KWICK, like that. Repeat some of these words beginning with the Q sound.QuestionQuietQueenQualifyQuitQuebecQuiltAnd also in the CH word ChoirVery good. Ok,
46、here now is a paragraph which contains many R and W sounds. You may wanna practise reading this paragraph a few times . Notice how my lips come forward and all my Rs and Ws. Try to do the same thing and dont forget. Do not roll your R. Dont do that. Here we go.Ray was born in Russia. He dreamed of b
47、uilding the perfect roller coaster at the 美语发音视频教程文本 新浪微博美剧英语 微信号：mjenglish 8Grand Canyon in Arizona. He had a friend named Fred who lived in Norway. Freds profession was designing railroad tracks and his career involved traveling all around the world. Ray thought it would be perfect if Fred designe
48、d his roller coaster ride. Fred was creative, brilliant and worked well with railroad tracks. He would be the perfect engineer for the project. The ride took two years to construct and was painted red and white. Everyone really wanted to ride the brand-new roller coaster.Very good. Now if you strong
49、ly push out those Rs and Ws when you practise eventually your Rs and W sounds are going to be clear and your speech will be much easier to understand.If you have the time watch the session again and practise your pronunciation along with me, then take out your training manual and practise on your own. All the word lists and reading passages that are on these videos are in the munual as well. I hope you enjoy our first session together. Fell free to watch this session again. Im Paul Grube
