How to Pronounce: Could I Have a Menu, Please?

Hello! I’m John Russell.
Imagine you are in a restaurant. You want to order some food, but you do not know what kinds of food are available.
How might you ask for more information?
You might ask this:
Could I have a menu, please?
When we make food, we use raw ingredients. We combine these ingredients to make a dish.
Language is similar. We take raw ingredients - sounds - and combine them into words.
So, how might we think about the words in this question:
Could I have a menu, please?
There are a few ways to answer the question. For our lesson, I’d like to draw your attention to three words: could, menu, and please.
Why these three words?
“Could” suggests politeness. So does the word “please.” When you use the two words, the listener will know that you are a respectful person.
Beyond being polite words, “could” and “please” have something in common. They both have only one vowel sound:
Could has this vowel sound:
Please has this vowel sound:
And finally, we have the noun “menu.” It has two vowel sounds:
Menu
We can think of the vowel sounds as a raw ingredient. “Could” and “please” each have one vowel sound. “Menu” has two vowel sounds.
Now listen and repeat after me:
Could I have a menu, please?
Could I have a menu, please?
That’s all for today! Keep up the good work.
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