(Video Transcript)
How to Pronounce the Most Common Words in English
Hello again! I’m Julie with San Diego Voice and Accent, and welcome to the fifth and final video of my five-video series called how to pronounce the one hundred most common words in American English. And today, you’ll learn how to pronounce words 81-100, and we’re going to get right down to the practice.
If you haven’t watched the other videos in this series yet, where I teach you how to pronounce words one through eighty, then check out these links to watch the earlier videos: Video #1: Words 1-20; Video #2: Words 21-40; Video #3: Words 41-60; Video #4: Words 61-80.
And just a quick reminder: here’s how the video will go. I’ll introduce each word, and I’ll pronounce it with the full, dictionary pronunciation.
Then I’ll say the word in a sentence using a more natural pronunciation, and I’ll say it three times. Sometimes it will be reduced or linked up with another word, or it could even be stressed, depending on the sentence. Your job is to pay attention to the rhythm, intonation, and linking, and to imitate what you hear, not how the word is spelled or how you think the word is pronounced. And to help you with this, I’m not going to bog down these videos with explanations of what’s happening to the pronunciation. I want you to become comfortable with listening to something and immediately imitating it without much thought or direct instruction.
My one piece of advice? Close your eyes and rely on only your ears to guide you. Don’t read the sentence or the captions.
Get ready to improve your pronunciation, rhythm, and fluency - right now!
Word number eighty one: mean
What do you mean?
Word number eighty two: been
I’ve been there before.
Word number eighty three: very
That’s very interesting.
Word number eighty four: make
I’ll make dinner tonight.
Word number eighty five: okay
Okay, let’s start.
Word number eighty six: way
That’s the way it goes.
Word number eighty seven: yes
Yes, please.
Word number eighty eight: work
Does this work for you?
Word number eighty nine: well, yeah
Well, yeah, I guess so.
Word number ninety: down
Write it down.
Word number ninety one: little
That’s a little strange.
Word number ninety two: where
Where is the bus stop?
Word number ninety three: too
I’m hungry, too.
Word number ninety four: never
I’ve never seen that before.
Word number ninety five: around
Let’s walk around the park.
Word number ninety six: thing
That’s my favorite thing.
Word number ninety seven: need
I need more time.
Word number ninety eight: hey
Hey, what’s going on?
Word number ninety nine: why
Why are you upset?
Word number one hundred: tell
Tell me the truth.
Woo-hoo, you did it! Thank you for sticking with me till the bitter end! If you’ve watched all five videos in this series, then you’ve just learned how to pronounce the top one hundred most common words in American English. I’m so proud of you for all of your hard work!
I want to circle back to the same sentence I said at the very beginning of video number one. Here’s the slow, fully pronounced version:
“What are you going to do if it is not ready right now?”
Each of these words is one of the top 100 most common words in English. But now you know that these words are rarely pronounced with their full pronunciation.
Here’s the more natural version of this sentence, pronounced with reductions, linking, and rhythm:
“Whaddya gonna do if it’s not ready right now?”
That’s the power of the one hundred most common words.
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Thanks again for watching, and happy practicing!
