The Schwa Sound | English Pronunciation Training
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- Discover why you should use the schwa sound and how in this English pronunciation training lesson.
The schwa sound in English is essential for natural-sounding speech and it can help you to better understand fast English speakers. Here’s why:
The schwa is used to convey the correct stress and rhythm of English. Without it, spoken English sounds robotic.
Moreover, as the most common vowel sound in English, the schwa can make someone sound like a fast speaker because the schwa sound reduces the time it takes to produce a vowel sound.
For natural-sounding pronunciation, the schwa is essential. In this Confident English lesson, you’ll get 2 clear rules for the schwa plus multiple uses so you can easily recognize and use it.
You can find the entire lesson with additional content on the Speak Confident English website. Visit speakconfidentenglish.com/the...
#SpeakConfidentEnglish #EnglishPronunciation #TheSchwa
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro to the schwa sound
02:40 - What is the schwa?
03:20 - Why the schwa is necessary for natural-sounding speech
03:40 - What the schwa sounds like
05:20 - How the schwa will help understand native English speakers
06:25 - Rule 1 for using the schwa in English
06:40 - Stressed vs. unstressed in English
08:27 - 5 ways to use Rule 1
16:10 - Rule 2 for using the schwa in English
16:15 - Examples of function words
17:30 - 2 ways to use Rule 2
22:10 - Challenge practice with the schwa
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Hi, I’m Annemarie - an English teacher whose expertise is in spoken communication, confidence-building, and fluency. Everything I do at Speak Confident English is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your life and work in English. On my RUclips channel, I share weekly lessons with strategies, skills, and resources to help you:
● Have English conversations that are fun
● Communicate clearly without getting stuck
● Interview and get the job you want
● Share your opinions in a business meeting
● Make friends easily and start a conversation with anyone in English
● Go to the grocery store, order a coffee, and live in English, without stress
● Feel comfortable and confident with your voice in English
Thank you for watching my videos and trusting me to support you on your English confidence journey.
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Answer: if you add all the schwa sounds to the challenge sentence at the end of the lesson, it would sound like this:
/ən/ /ɛləfənt/ walked /ɪntə/ /ðə/ room /ənd/ spilled /ðə/ /prəfɛsərz/ drink on /ðə/ /soʊfə/.
I am a native British English speaker. Just to say that I find your American accent and presentation very clear and understandable. Well done.
You speak accurately and clearly. Thank you.
Wonderfully informative video. Thank you!
You're welcome, Barbara.
I think this is the first time I really understand this. This is so helpful. Thanks
Now that I can listen to what native speakers are saying more clearly and naturally even if they speak faster.
Thank you for the lesson.
Great teaching, dear teacher. Thank you, 👍
Thank u very much💙
I've been struggling with knowing when to pronunce the schwa sound
All the videos I've watched say that I should listen and look for the schwa. you're the only one who gives rules for it. It's ten times more helpful. Thanks alot💙💙💙
You're welcome, yara aj! I’m thrilled to know my lesson is helpful to you! 🙂
Brilliant! Your pace and explanations are
wonderful.
Thank you
You're very welcome!
Fascinating, all about the shaw and how to perceive it and pronounce it. It’s a discovery for me.
Once a time as I am listend the first time your lesson, I was so surprized that I could understand english. Thank so much for your clearly speaking and Tips about english conversations.
HI, Maria. I'm thrilled you were able to clearly understand the lesson. Thank you for watching, I greatly appreciate it.
I really enjoy watching your videos and studying your lessons.
May I ask which tools you use to make videos (camera and editing tools) . Thank you!
Thanks teacher. I will study this class I Really need it
Hi Annemarie, thank you 🙏🏾 for this lesson so make more this lesson .
Of all the videos I've watched this one is the goat 🔥🔥🔥🔥
I'm glad you think so. 😀
Very good your lesson
I loved your analysis
Thanks for your helpful, it is the first time i have heard about the schwa sound and it is going to help me a lot on how to improve my listening
Great to hear! I'm glad it was helpful.
the best lesson over the RUclips...
Thank you!
Good job teacher. Thank you for this class. Help me a lot
Thank you. I'm so glad it was helpful.
Thank you for this lesson it's makes pronunciation more easier for me
You're very welcome!
Excellent!
Thank you so much Teacher!!! This lesson is really helpful, but on my way to work l need to repet it a less 2 more times, again, thank you and have a great week 😁
You're so welcome, Mary. I'm glad it was helpful. And the good news is you can come back to watch this any time. 😊
@@Speakconfidentenglish yeeaaa!!
Thanks very much
Thank you.
Bravo. Thanks
Many thanks!
Really helpful
I loved your pronunciation
Thank you
Thank you, teacher, always is helpful to remember how important is the pronunciation in order to understand fast English and also to be understood properly
Your grammar needs some work: “it is always helpful… how important the pronunciation is to understand…”
Interesting lesson.
Thank you madam.
Thank you dear
You're welcome.
Thanks a lot for helpful lesson and please make more lesson about schwa sound with more word examples.
My pleasure. I can certainly add that to my list of future lesson topics.
@@Speakconfidentenglish Thanks for your making decision. I've been watching your lesson from Bangladesh. Your topics make me inspired and help to teach English. Take love Annemarie 😘
Awesome
Your English is 100% accurate and very clear. Could you please make a video to teach us how to pronounce pin, tin, win, pen, ten, when? Only the words with in and en should be included . First letter by letter, p-i-n, then you say the word naturally, pin. Maybe we don't need rules.What we need is hear you say them. If we can hear their difference, certainly we can pronounce them correctly. I really appreciate your help.
Hi Yinqing Lan! I appreciate the lesson suggestion. I'll certainly look at adding a future lesson on this topic.
She explained schwa sound that is somehow incorrect.
Perfect Lesson ❤️ , i hope you make a Lessons about grammar , the 12 tenses
Thank you, Khaoula. I appreciate the lesson suggestion. You might like to check out the following lesson on present perfect/simple vs. continuous 👉 ruclips.net/video/C02C5O0V6uEv/видео.html
Regards to you❤❤❤❤❤
It's very important video 🖌🖌🖌
Special thanks madam 🙏❤🌹
Like of pronuncition the schwa
Oups, my mistake; it is schwa. Oh I wanted to say thank you for your incredible teachings and your character of kindness.
Thank you for the kind comment, Denise.
Can you make a video explaining what's the difference between Schwa (/ə/) and Wedge (/ʌ/)? Thank youuu!!!!!!
I can certainly add that to my list for future lesson topics.
We need this explanation .. good point
they sound exactly the same in most American accents
An other good one.
Great video, as always 🙏📚
Thank you so much.
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
İn the word 'person' we have 2 shwa sounds right? First one is on the e and second one is on the o.
Your effort is appreciated and I like your method from a psychological point of view.
I have a question. Doesn't getting into the details of the language so much put more sensitivity and pressure on the language learner? Doesn't the emphasis on grammar and correct pronunciation rules bother the learner? How do children learn the language without grammar and the prescriptive rules of "phonetic" pronunciation, and only by repeatedly listening and trial and error can they improve their language? Is there an indirect method without prescriptive rules to learn pronunciation and how to speak correctly instead of all the emphasis on fine and coarse rules of grammar and phonetics?
Thank you for the question and observations, Weis. Certainly in language learning, there are both direct and indirect learning methods in acquiring language. This particular lesson was in response to specific questions I received from students aiming to better understand the use of the schwa.
As a learner, who is very interested in the English language, I meant that if you add indirect methods to your teaching ( just as a suggestion), your program will become better. I have improved my pronunciation through listening to music and watching short films indirectly, frequently and in a relax, stress-free and unconscious state without any educational pressure on me. Of course, I also use grammar tips and correct pronunciation principles with a smaller percentage. Despite this, your educational program is very good and usable, and I appreciate your efforts. I like your teaching method that well implemented in terms of educational psychology.
Hello, can you explain the difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/?
Thank you for the question. /ʌ/ is the full vowel sound whereas the /ə/ is the reduced vowel sound.
Could you please explain the "Low back merger" (where /ɔ/ and maybe /ɒ/ become /ɑ/) and the "Weak vowel merger" (where unstressed /ɪ/ and maybe /ʊ/ become /ə/)?
I'm learning to pronounce words in American English (in general), so I focus on the most standard/common pronunciations, but it's very difficult to know what they are; various dictionaries differ from each other and I think the main conflicts are based on these two mergers, the rest is usually consistent.
So far my understanding is that in General American English (or Standard American English) people pronounce /ɑ/ instead of /ɔ/ (and they use /ɔ/ only in /ɔɪ/ and /ɔɹ/), and that /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ in unstressed syllables should be pronounced as /ə/, but I really don't know.
Thank you for the requests. I'll be sure to add this to future lesson topics.
1}Ambition
Wow It sounds to me like the spanish "A"
You don’t get it then, buddy.
I m trying hard to find schwa in following words
Omelette,approximate,hesitation
I've never pronounced helmet with a schwa. Both e sounds are /eh/, not /uh/. Unless it's the old German name, helmut.
Some of the transcriptions in this lession are faulty, like the "y" in the transcription of human. The letter "y", although in the IPA isn't used in RP or AE. Otherwise a great lesson!
Thanks Eileen. Our transcriptions are done automatically. We always appreciate knowing when there are errors so we can update them. We will be sure to review.
Hi again, Eileen, I wanted to follow up because I think I misunderstood your comment initially. I thought you were referring to the subtitles, which are automatically transcribed. However, in rethinking your comment, I realize you were referring to onscreen text. The use of /hyü-mən/ comes directly from an American English dictionary. I hope this helps.
The use of this sound allows for musicality in the English language. For us non-natives, it is extremely difficult.
You right, Margiti. It does contribute to the musicality and it is a challenging one. I hope this lesson is useful for getting comfortable with the schwa.
There's no difference between /ə/ & /ʌ/ in General American English. If you hit a C note on a piano quickly, it will last a short period of time. If you hold down the sustain pedal and hit the note harder, it will sound louder and last a long time but it is still the same sound. The same is true of /ə/ & /ʌ/.
The letter that represents this sound in our common alphabet is 'u' despite the fact that we're told that this letter represents two other sounds.
Imagination: 'U' = /u/ or /ʊ/ or /ju/.
Reality: mud, rug, fun, gun, pun, dud, shrug, lug, jug, hug, jump, shun, gut, bug, tug, bun, but, luck, nudge, etc. These words all use the same sound as 'about', data, amend, cobra, polka, where the letter 'a' is abused to represent that same sound.
@Speakconfidentenglish you're teaching somehow wron.
Please could you speak a little bit slowly
You can reduce the playback speed of RUclips videos - click the star symbol under the video picture.
I məst cənfess it, you cəght me in /ðə/ first ləsson. 😮