 All right, everyone, we are live on YouTube. How's it going? It's so great to be with you here today. This is my first ever YouTube live, actually. Of course, I'm Jennifer from J Forest English, and this video is all about improving your pronunciation. Now, I have these two words right here on the whiteboard. And this is what we're going to be talking about today. We're going to talk about your pronunciation of these two words, okay? Now, try, try just saying them out loud to yourself because I don't wanna see them yet. I wanna hear how you pronounce them before I give you the actual pronunciation. So try this one. Okay, you got it. Now try this one. Did you get it? Okay, well, we'll see. So hold on to that pronunciation, and then we'll compare to mine. Now, first, let me ask you, what is required for correct English pronunciation? So just what do you need? So list some of the characteristics that you need. Put it in the comments. What do you need for correct English pronunciation? Hmm, any ideas? Can you think of three things? Three things that you need to make sure you have correct pronunciation so you're understood the first time clearly without having any mispronunciation or without your accent getting in the way. What do you need? Any idea what those characteristics are? So put those in the comments, okay? Let me see if I can pull up my comments. I'm not sure if I can review your comments while we're doing this, but let's see. Okay. Okay, so for correct pronunciation in English, we need to think of your mouth position and how you produce the sounds. And there are two distinct sounds we need in English. Of course, there's the vowel sound, okay, and the consonant sound. Now both of those need to be correct in English and how you produce that sound really depends on your mouth position, including what your tongue is doing and what your teeth are doing and what your lips are doing, okay? So you need to think of this whole area and then we also have to think about where the sound is. Is it low in your throat? Is it up high? So there's a lot to consider when we're talking about producing the correct sound and it might sound a little overwhelming at first to think you need to pay attention to all of this different things at once while you're talking naturally, right? But of course, with anything, it's just that practice and repetition and you're definitely gonna have no problem with it. Just think the first time you learned to drive. It was probably so difficult to do different things at once while you were driving but now after practice, it's easy. So the same thing with producing correct mouth position, okay? Now, in addition to mouth position, we need to think about syllable stress, okay? Every single word that's more than one syllable has a stress pattern to it. And do you know, can you write in the comments, what is stressed? Is it vowel sounds, consonant sounds? Both can be stressed. What do you guys think? So put that in the comments. Vowels, consonants, both, what can you stress in English? Any ideas? Hmm. Well, it is the vowels, okay? We're talking about vowel sound when we're talking about syllable stress in English. That's why vowel pronunciation is so important. Hey, Raja, how's it going? Okay, so I can see some comments coming in. Hi, Manny, how are you doing? Hi, Asa. Okay, so Asa just said both. So hopefully you heard me, Asa. It's actually vowels. So you can't stress a consonant in English, which makes it maybe a little bit easy for you. Hi, Tiago from Brazil. Okay, so that might make it a little bit easy in the sense that we don't stress consonants. But that means because vowels are what's stressed in a sound, that means your vowel pronunciation has to be correct. Because that's what a native English speaker hears the most in pronunciation, okay? And we're going to talk a little bit about these two words because the difference between them is really about the vowel, like many words in English. Okay, so for correct pronunciation, we need correct mouth position, sounds of vowels and consonants, and we need the correct stress as well, remembering that it's the vowel sound that's stressed, okay? And then maybe a little more advanced of a topic, but you need to know how to say the individual sentence or the individual word, as well as this word in a sentence, because your pronunciation is going to change based on what's coming before or what's coming after. And that has to do with linking and reductions, okay? But as an advanced topic, we're not going to touch on that today, but just something to keep in mind. And if you're already at that advanced level, well, then you can listen in my speech, listen in the sentences I say for those reductions and that linking as well, okay? Plus, I have lots and lots of videos on my channel about linking and reductions. So you can definitely go check out those videos after this one. Okay, now what else? Okay, so we talked about correct pronunciation, what you need to have to produce the correct sound. Okay, so now let's talk about these two words specifically. Now, why did I choose these two words? Any idea? Well, because they're very difficult words to say, two words that I hear mistakes with quite often and also because these two words really are going to show us a lot about syllable stress, vowel sound, how vowel sounds change and how the incorrect vowel sound can cause the incorrect pronunciation. And we're going to see how spelling and pronunciation are very different as well, okay? So these are two great words to illustrate a lot of the different points we need when we're talking about pronunciation in general. Okay, so on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the hardest, one being the easiest, how difficult do you think these two words are to pronounce in English? From one to 10, 10 is the hardest, one is the easiest. What would you say? What about this one? On a scale of one to 10, what would you say? And how about this one? On a scale of one to 10, do you think one of them is easier to pronounce than the other? A four, three, okay, okay, awesome. Now we're using these two words because one of my students, Angeline, hi, Angeline, how's it going? So she was doing one of our speaking challenges that I do with the students in my Business English Academy, my premium online course. Now she is on day 20 of the 30 day speaking challenge which is just amazing, which means she's practicing her English, speaking English every day for 20 days so far and still has more to go. So day 20's topic, I asked her, the topic was of the speaking challenge. One possession you can't live without, okay? That was the topic of day 20 of the 30 day speaking challenge that my students do in the Business English Academy. So why don't you tell me, right in the comments, what is one possession that you can't live without? So take a second, think about that and then write down your possession in the comments, okay? One possession you can't live without, hmm. Now be a little bit creative, you know? I don't wanna hear 20 people say their cell phone. Really, let's be a little bit creative, guys. Oh, your cat, that is creative. I like that, my, or did you say car? It's gone now, I think it said cat. Okay, now, so that was the challenge. And Angeline being a mother, okay. So being a mother, that's not a possession. That's not something that you possess, being a mother. So possession, something you own, okay? So clarify what possession is. Possession is something you own. Now, I'll be honest, guys, we don't usually refer to people as possessions, okay? An animal, like the cat example, Daniel said cat, that's okay. I could refer to my cat, my dog, my fish as a possession, but I'm probably not going to refer to my best friend or my, you know, my father or whatever as a possession because people are not possessions. In fact, that's actually a pretty negative connotation to say like, she's your possession or he's your possession. We don't use that language in English. It's actually a little bit rude to refer to someone as your possession, okay? Because we're independent. We don't belong to anybody, that's freedom, right? So we don't refer to people, our children, our spouses, our friends, our parents. We don't refer to them as possessions, okay? So I've seen a lot of people, right? You know, they're people, you can't do that. So a possession is a thing, something. Remember, I even said, what's a possession? Something, not someone, something, okay? So if I wanted to know about a person, my question would be, who is one person? Who is the most important person in your life? Or who is one person in your life that you couldn't live without? Maybe that's how I would word it, but I would not use possession. Okay, so just to clarify that. So now, thinking about that, that a possession is a thing. So far, we've had some cars, money, that's pretty general. I can think of something a little more specific, I think. A cat, I like that, books. Okay, so what are some other possessions you can't live without? House, someone said house, all great possessions. Okay, so going back to my story, now, Angeline, day 20, 30-day speaking challenge. She's already improved her speaking skills so much, feeling really comfortable and confident speaking in English on a wide variety of topics. Problem is, when she started her video, I didn't really understand what she was talking about because I thought she said, position. And it wasn't until, because she did a little introduction before she mentioned what the possession was, okay? So it wasn't until she mentioned the possession that I understood, oh, she's not saying position, she's saying possession. So it did cause a misunderstanding on my part, simply because of pronunciation. And that's really common in English, especially when we have two sounds that are so similar, okay? So let's talk about these two words. Now, remember, let's see, can I do this? This upside down E, does anyone remember what this is called? There's a name for this. It's one of the letters in the international phonetic alphabet, okay? Does anyone remember what this is? Or why it's so important in English pronunciation? That is, what is the role of this? Okay, what is the role? What does this do? I got some answers coming in already. The correct answers, awesome job, virtual high five guys. So this is the schwa. Now, why should you care? Why should you care about the schwa? Why is this important? Why do you need it for pronunciation? Hmm, well, it's because this, the schwa is the unstressed vowel, okay? So the unstressed vowel, the pronunciation of that vowel changes and it becomes the schwa. Now, I want you guys to remember that the schwa is lazy, like super lazy, okay? That's important. The sound is uh, uh, just imagine a sound you would make when you're just like uh, uh, uh, like just really lazy. Uh, uh, uh, it's not even a sound really. It's just like a little uh, like a grunt in your throat, basically, so just be like so lazy, uh, okay, try that. Seriously, try it because you have to be relaxed. There can't be any tension in your throat or your jaw and the sound of the schwa, it needs to come from your throat, okay? Uh, uh, uh, uh. So that's the sound of the schwa, okay? This sound slightly changes from vowel to vowel. So there is slight variations, but it's all a very relaxed, lazy sound that comes from your throat and really your lips aren't engaged at all, uh, uh. So your lips are just in a neutral resting position, uh, uh. So try that, try it, get your whole body into it, uh, uh, okay? That is the schwa. And the fact that a native English speaker uses the schwa in almost every single word, but students do not is one of the ways that you have an accent, okay? Now, an accent generally doesn't impede understanding. Like, usually I can understand a student even if they have an accent, but it just is a sign that you're using your native pronunciation in English, okay? And if, if students could master the schwa, I would say that, you know, 80% of their accent would probably be gone. Yeah, at least 80%, maybe even higher. It's a big deal. And it's in almost every single word in English, as we'll see with this. Okay, so that's your schwa, uh, uh, lazy. Now, it's the unvoiced or unstressed vowel sound, okay, in a word. So let's take this one. There's a schwa in here and there's a schwa in here as well. Any ideas where the schwa is? So remember, the schwa has to be with a vowel, okay? So we have one, two, and these are together, okay? So three, one, two, oh, it's hard doing it backwards. One, two, three. So where's the schwa? Is the schwa at one, is the schwa at two, is the schwa at three? Let me know in the comments, one, two, or three, okay? And same with here, we have one, two, three, three, so where's the schwa? One, two, or three, hmm. Well, first you need to know where the stressed syllable is, okay? So let me say this word and you tell me where is the stressed sound, okay? Possession, possession, possession. Where's the stressed sound? Am I stressing the first, second, or third? Possession, possession. Now, here's how you can tell. You can exaggerate the stress on different points of the word and see how it changes. If I stress the first sound, it would be possession. So tell me, is that correct? Possession, possession, okay? If I stress the third, it would be possession, possession, possession, is that correct? And if I stress the middle one, it would be possession, possession, possession. So which one is it? Where's the stress? Hmm, what do you guys think? One, two, or three, where's the stress? The stress is possession, possession, possession, okay? So if we know where the stress is, now I know, okay, my schwa is not here. My schwa cannot be at number two because the schwa is always unstressed. Always, no exceptions. So if the schwa is unstressed, it cannot be where the stress is. Hmm, now, where's the schwa? Well, maybe a little bit of a trick because there's actually two schwas. Both of those sounds become the schwa. So you see this oh, right? And maybe you might say oh, oh, po, right? Po, possession, po, possession. But it's not, because look, when I say oh, po, my lips are engaged, right? Oh, po, but remember I told you that the schwa is relaxed, neutral. Your lips cannot form an oh shape if you're doing the schwa. So instead, I have to say po, uh, po, po, po, possession. Po, possession. Now notice for here, okay? Po, po, po, possession. So notice in the stress sound, you see my lips form the vowel. Po, po, possession, eh, shin, eh, in, shin. Okay, so this, I would say the pronunciation sounds like shin, shin, eh, eh. But it's still the schwa because look, eh, eh, eh, shin, shin, shin, eh, eh. My lips aren't moving, right? But it's a different sound than here. The vowel sound is slightly different. So it's a shin, shin, repeat? Shin, okay, good. So we have possession, possession, possession. Okay, try that, possession. Okay, awesome. Now, how about this one? Where is the stress? Is it one, two, or three? Okay, I'll say the word, position. Position, position. Is the stress one, two, or three? What do you think? One, two, or three, position. Hmm, any idea? We have the right answer already and a wrong answer, couple right answers. Yeah, okay, so again, if it was the first one, it would sound like position, position. Is that correct? Position, if it was this one, it would be position, position, position. Is that correct? If it's the middle one, it would be position, position, position. So which one is it? Is position? No, it's not position. That's probably a way a student would say it because they're not using the schwa sound, but it's position, okay, position. So this becomes our schwa. And this, I-O-N, and this C-I-O-N, it's the same pronunciation, okay? So it's also pronounced shin, in, in, in. Notice my lips are not moving. They're relaxed, they're just neutral, okay, shin. So what do you notice here? We have these O's are being pronounced as the schwa. And both of these last sounds, even though the spelling is different, that doesn't matter, right? Because English pronunciation is not based on spelling, it's based on sound. So even though the spelling is different, the pronunciation of this is both shin, shin, okay? So that means that these two words are identical in pronunciation except for one thing. And that's the sound of the stressed syllable, okay? That's the only thing that's different between these two words, the sound of the stressed syllable. And that stressed syllable is in the exact same location. So that means if you don't get that one sound correctly, you will be misunderstood, right? Because that's the most important sound, that stressed syllable. And this word sounds identical to this word except that one sound. And that's why knowing where the stress is and being able to pronounce that vowel sound correctly is so important. If you are going to do one thing and only one thing to improve your pronunciation, I would focus on the schwa, syllable stress and vowel sound. I know that sounds like three separate things, but they're one category of thing. I would do that one thing and your pronunciation would be improved by maybe 70%. Okay, so what's different here? Of course, one's an I and one's an E, okay? Now, again, spelling doesn't really matter. It's about the sound. So I want you to really pay attention to what's going on in that middle sound, okay? Pz, ih, ih, okay? Pz, shin. Oh no, sorry, sorry, sorry. Ignore that, that's this one. See, even I get confused with these because that one sound is different. That's pz, ih, pz, shin, okay? Pz, ih, ih, ih, pz, shin. So my sound, I'm doing this because that's where the sound is on my face. So look at what my mouth is doing. Pz, ih, and the sound is up here. Pz, shin, pz, shin, pz, shin, ih, ih. So try that sound, ih, pz, shin, pz, shin, okay? Now this, pz, ih, ih. Now look at the difference. Did you just see that? Like how noticeably different my mouth position was. I'll do this one. Pz, pz, pz, pz, pz, pz, pz, pz, shin, pz, ih, ih, okay? Eh, ih, eh, ih. So the sound, maybe you don't even hear much of a difference, okay? So don't worry if you don't hear it, but you can see it, right? You can see that ih and eh are different mouth positions, right? So obviously the sound is going to be different. So even if you can't distinguish between that sound too much, it sounds very similar. You can stand in front of a mirror and look at your mouth and make sure when you say position that you're saying ih. And when you say possession, you're saying eh, right? And you can see your mouth. You can see if you're matching the same mouth position. And if you are, well then chances are the sound is going to be pretty close, okay? So try that. Definitely after this is done, go into your bathroom or ladies, pull out your mirror and try the difference between these two. Okay, now we'll try this one again. Possession, possession, position, position, okay? Now I didn't talk about it too much because we are really focused on the schwa, the vowel sound, the syllable stress, but let's talk about the consonants a little bit, okay? So about, you know, we have a double S here and a single S here, but really spelling doesn't matter for either of these. And the sound is actually a Z, okay? A Z sound, it's a Z because if it was a S, the difference between an S and a Z, okay? Now, don't worry if I've already lost you with all of this. And now we're moving on to something else. So if this is a little too advanced, don't worry about it, okay? Just forget about it, focus on the schwa for now. Focus on just identifying the syllable stress for now. Take it slow, one step at a time. But if you've kept up with my explanation and you're ready to go on to a more advanced topic, we can look at a Z and a S, S, Z, S, okay? So the only difference between a Z and an S is the fact that one of them is voiced, which means your vocal cords are engaged and your vocal cords are vibrating when you say the sound. And one of them is unvoiced, which means the sound is coming from your lips and your vocal cords are actually not doing anything, okay? So it's really just air coming out of your lips, okay? So for example, let me say, okay, try that. Now is P, is that voiced or unvoiced? Are you using your vocal cords or is the sound coming from your lips? So it's unvoiced, the sound is coming from your lips. And you can even tell because you can go, P, P, try it, P, P, and you can feel the air, P, P, okay? Unvoiced. Now, so if I was going to say S, like snake, snake, okay? S, snake. I can feel air coming out and my vocal cords aren't doing anything, okay? So S is unvoiced, but then zzz, zzz. Feel your vocal cords, zzz, zzz. They're vibrating, possession, position, zzz, zzz. So you have that vibration in the sound, okay? So this double S for single S doesn't matter. Like look, possession is such a long word as position, but they're the exact same number of sounds. The length of the sounds are the same. How many letters is irrelevant? It doesn't matter. Okay, so I thought this was really cool. And again, this all came down to my student Angelene in our 30 day speaking challenge for my business English Academy. She was on day 20 and the question was, what one possession you can't live without? And then when she mispronounced it and said position, and then I wrote down those two words because I wanted to learn how to teach her the correct pronunciation, okay? And then as I was writing them down, I'm like, oh wow, no wonder why she pronounced them wrong. These are two really similar sounds in English. And then I thought, you know what, these two words really show a lot of the different elements that are required for correct pronunciation. And the last one, of course, is that spelling and pronunciation are totally different. So one more time before I sign off, possession, position. And now you can teach your friends all about correct English pronunciation. Teach them about the schwa. So when you're listening to native English speakers, really think about where the stress is, how they're changing their vowel sounds, things like that become a little bit of a pronunciation detective. It will be really useful for you to really improve your listening skills and the first step to improving your pronunciation is just to be able to hear these sounds and understand what all of this means for overall pronunciation. Now, before I go, if you haven't already, head on over to my website, make sure you check out this free guide, okay? It's all about providing you with some tips and advice to help improve your speaking skills, all right? So this is completely free. Just go on over to my website, jforceenglish.com and download your free guide. And one final thing before I go, so so many of my awesome students have already filled out my survey, but if you haven't yet and you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't know what this survey is. So I'm creating, right now, I'm creating this really awesome program where we're going to study native English speakers to learn all of the expressions, the idioms and the phrasal verbs that they use. So you can sound like a native English speaker, understand English on TV, movies and everywhere outside of the classroom. And so you can stop sounding like a textbook and start sounding like a native English speaker. And of course, correct pronunciation of these expressions is necessary, right? You can't know the expression, but then not pronounce it correctly. So correct pronunciation is absolutely necessary. Now, this is a program I'm developing and I'm developing it for you, for the students. I'm not developing it for me or my friends. We're native English speakers. I don't need it, right? It's for you. So I need your opinions. I need your advice and I need your feedback. So I make sure I create a program that you want, that teaches you exactly what you want to learn in the way you want to learn it, okay? So I have a very short 10 questions survey. It will take two to three minutes to fill out. I'll put the link in the comments as soon as I'm done this lesson. And for everybody who completes this survey, you're going to be entered into a draw for a chance to win a free membership into this new program once it's available. So three minutes of your time could definitely be worthwhile for you. And even if you don't win, you get to help me plan this program and that is just something you should be proud of. You get to be part of this. You get to know that your ideas and this program was created the way you wanted to, right? Because it's a program for students created with the help of students. And that's you. So I'll put the link in the comments. Just click that and fill in the survey and I would really love it. Thank you in advance to everyone. Okay, everyone have an awesome rest of the day and I will see you in my next video. Happy studying.