This episode I’m chatting with Claire.   As we were online, you might hear a bit of a delay or the ghost of a question, so don’t be scared!

We chatted about the link between French and English, the pronunciation of ‘the’ and the idea of a ‘sound bath’, but first, I asked Claire to tell me a little bit about herself…

INTERVIEW

Claire’s idea of a sound bath is so inviting!  Listen to an English radio station, or a podcast like this one, as often as possible … and just like the lovely warm water of a bath, let the sounds of people speaking English wash over you…  :o)

So this episode’s Pronunciation tip is about the two different ‘th’ sounds.. θ (air) and ð (buzz) … tricky, aren’t they?  

Well, the best thing to do is to practice the difference in an exaggerated way – you might feel a bit silly doing this but, I promise you, it’ll help!

First - find a mirror!  Have a look at what you’re doing.  

Next - put the tip of your tongue between your teeth.  You should only be able to see a little bit of tongue in front of your teeth.  Not all of your tongue!   

For sound 1 – try to blow air through your teeth but don’t try to produce a sound, just air = θ  Gentle blowing. This is bigger than is necessary but it’s good to understand the sensation.  

From this position, try saying = Thanks!

Bigger than normal but we're just practicing!

For sound 2 – stay in the same tongue position, with your tongue between your teeth, but this time try and make a buzzing sound = ð .  Notice – do you need more air or less air?  If you’re using less air = great!  If you’re using more, try reducing the amount of air. 

To practice this sound, try saying = There!

Finally – Let's practice the two sounds in one sentence:  We'll say the sentence slowly first to emphasise the two differences: 

“That - thing - there - thanks - this - thing - here!”

This sentence helps you to change between the θ (air) and ð (buzz) = try not to move your tongue too much – the trick is the amount of air… more for θ (air), less for ð (buzz).


When you're ready, we can do it a little bit faster:

“That thing there thanks this thing here!"


Over to you to practice!

So there we are!  The transcript of this episode is available to read on the podcast’s website, so take a look!  

Join me next time for more pronunciation tips, more advice and, most importantly, more chatting!

My thanks again to Claire and, for her music, a massive thanks to the wonderful Mara Carlyle.  Bye for now!https://emaileng.com/chat-eng