See what more Fluent American clases are like here: ruclips.net/p/PLlZ0dlSbrSXhxuga9nOujvx6FL9LU22h7 Get a free audio/mp3 version of videos at www.fluentamerican.com/podcast
Max sounds great and very natural IMHO... He's doing really really well... 👍👏👍 One comment about the schwa sound. To me /ə/ (schwa) and /ʌ/ are two completely different sounds. I've seen some books and teachers, teaching them as one and the same, but they are clearly not. The /ə/ is *always* UNstressed and the /ʌ/ is *always* stressed so in reality those are two different sounds and this is the reason there are two different IPA symbols. I also have a question about the placement. I've heard alot of native speakers, including teachers who speak in a higher pitch with higher voice and they sound quite natural. They still go lower and higher for intonation purposes but overall their base pitch is higher than, let's say yours. Just as Max said, for many of us eastern europeans if we lower our voice too much we don't sound natural. So which one is the lesser evil? Lowering our base pitch and not sounding natural or keeping the higher base pitch as it is the case with Max and sound natural? What do you think?
thanks for writing! you're right about the unstressed and stressed symbols for the schwa--the key variation for me isn't the sound itself but length (the stressed being slightly longer) and pitch (with the stressed in general being a bit higher, but that also is dependent about context I also think the distinction between the two may be sharper in British English than American--again, just my own perspective RE: placement, it's always going to be dependent on each individual person--what is low placement for one person may require someone else to use a higher placement (e.g., a male speaker trying to copy a female voice). We all have our own unique range In general, I focus more on breath/engagement of the diaphragm, as doing that successfully will help give us a natural placement for American English for our own body in my opinion If lowering placement causes you to strain/block breath/tighten too many muscles, that is not the goal
See what more Fluent American clases are like here: ruclips.net/p/PLlZ0dlSbrSXhxuga9nOujvx6FL9LU22h7
Get a free audio/mp3 version of videos at www.fluentamerican.com/podcast
Hello coach This is a fantastic video. I enjoyed it a lot, and as always, I learned a lot. These vowels sounds are great. Thanks.
Max sounds great and very natural IMHO... He's doing really really well... 👍👏👍
One comment about the schwa sound.
To me /ə/ (schwa) and /ʌ/ are two completely different sounds. I've seen some books and teachers, teaching them as one and the same, but they are clearly not.
The /ə/ is *always* UNstressed and the /ʌ/ is *always* stressed so in reality those are two different sounds and this is the reason there are two different IPA symbols.
I also have a question about the placement. I've heard alot of native speakers, including teachers who speak in a higher pitch with higher voice and they sound quite natural.
They still go lower and higher for intonation purposes but overall their base pitch is higher than, let's say yours.
Just as Max said, for many of us eastern europeans if we lower our voice too much we don't sound natural. So which one is the lesser evil? Lowering our base pitch and not sounding natural or keeping the higher base pitch as it is the case with Max and sound natural?
What do you think?
thanks for writing!
you're right about the unstressed and stressed symbols for the schwa--the key variation for me isn't the sound itself but length (the stressed being slightly longer) and pitch (with the stressed in general being a bit higher, but that also is dependent about context
I also think the distinction between the two may be sharper in British English than American--again, just my own perspective
RE: placement, it's always going to be dependent on each individual person--what is low placement for one person may require someone else to use a higher placement (e.g., a male speaker trying to copy a female voice). We all have our own unique range
In general, I focus more on breath/engagement of the diaphragm, as doing that successfully will help give us a natural placement for American English for our own body in my opinion
If lowering placement causes you to strain/block breath/tighten too many muscles, that is not the goal