How to Pronounce: Games with Vowel Sounds, Part 6

Hello! I’m John Russell. Let’s continue our exploration of vowel sounds. These sounds are very important in American English. If you want to reduce your accent or sound more like an American, it is worth paying careful attention to the differences between these sounds. So, let’s do an activity with two sounds we have explored in recent videos. In International Phonetic Alphabet (or IPA), they are written like this: / eɪ/ and /ɛ/ / eɪ/ appears in words such as “day” /ɛ/ appears in words like “read.” So, we have our two vowel sounds: / eɪ/ and /ɛ/. You will hear me say two words. Listen to what I say, think carefully about the vowel sounds you hear, then say the words. Let’s start. Listen: taste test Now think carefully about the vowel sounds you heard. Which word had which vowel sound? Now say the words “taste test” So, you said the words “taste test.” The first word, taste ,involves / eɪ/ The second word, test, involves /ɛ/ What is a taste test? It is when you taste a small amount of something to judge the quality of a food or drink. But the expression is also interesting because it involves two vowel sounds that can be easy to mix up: / eɪ/ and /ɛ/ That’s all for today! Keep up the good work.