English Pronunciation Training for 2025
A2
get ready to speak clear confident
English in
2025 in today's lesson you are going to
learn how to boost your pronunciation
skills so that you can speak clearly and
confidently anytime that you have an
English conversation hi I'm Vanessa from
speak englishwith vanessa. comom and
like always I have created a free pdf
worksheet with all of today's
pronunciation tips samples sentences and
everything that you need to boost your
pronunciation skills in
2025 Plus at the bottom of the worksheet
you can answer Vanessa's challenge
question so that you never forget what
you've learned you can click on the link
in the description to download this free
pdf worksheet today all right let's get
started with our first pronunciation tip
so that you can boost your pronunciation
skills in 2025 my first pronunciation
tip to help you speak clearly and
naturally in English is with this word
take a look at this word it is a very
simple word listen to the
pronunciation
water
water what's happening to that t in the
middle of this word
water it sounds just like a D sound and
in American English which is what I
speak because I'm from the US we change
T's to D sounds when they're surrounded
with vowels so what I'm going to do is
I'm going to read a few sentences that
include lots of T changing to D sounds
I'm going to read it one time and then
we're going to look at some of the words
and then I want you to practice
pronouncing those same sentences out
loud with me this is called shadowing
and it is the number one pronunciation
technique to help you actually be able
to improve and speak clearly in English
listen carefully to the key wordss as I
read the next few
sentences yesterday I left my water
bottle and computer in the car so I put
on my sweater to go outside I always
feel better when I'm warm later I think
I will go into this city to see my
friend I'm excited to see her you heard
me say
water
botle
computer can you say those first three
words with me
water
bottle
computer and then the next T changing to
a d is a little bit tricky it's actually
two words but the T still changes to a d
I said I put on put on becomes put on do
you see the same rule here still applies
there's a vowel on either side of that t
even though it's two separate words put
on becomes put on and when you can learn
pronunciation tips like this it will
help your pronunciation of course but it
will also help your listening skills
because you'll be able to hear when
people use this in Daily conversation
the next two words I said were
sweater and
better it just sounds like a D sound can
you say all three of those with me put
on
sweater better great work and the final
three words that have the T that changes
to a d are
later
cityy
excited this last word just sounds like
did
excited let's say all three of those
together
later
City
excited all right now we're going to put
it all together I'm going to read the
entire section out loud and I want you
to try to say it exactly with me at the
same time let's do it yesterday I left
my water bottle and my computer in the
car so I put on my sweater to go outside
I always feel better when I'm warm later
I think I will go into the city to see
my friend I'm excited to see her great
work let's go on to the second
pronunciation point that will help you
to level up your speaking skills the
second pronunciation tip that will help
you to level up your speaking skills in
2025 is with this word you will becomes
you will but in regular fast
conversational speed we say Yol Yol
you're almost swallowing the end of this
word Yol and we're going to practice
several contractions this is what this
means two words put together with an
apostrophe with the word will let's
practice a few of them I'm going to read
a few sentences and then we'll go back
and practice them together let's make a
plan for the surprise party next weekend
if you'll bring the dessert we'll bring
the wine and they'll bring the rest of
the food It'll be such a fun time he'll
be so surprised to see everyone there
all right let's go back word by word and
practice this pronunciation and I want
you to try to say it with me the first
two are you will and we will let's
practice the first contraction y Yol Yol
the next one we will becomes
wool notice how you're almost swallowing
that sound it is not clear wheel it's
not clear like that it's Wool Wool and
this is what happens when you're
speaking in a regular a regular speed
relatively fast American English
pronunciation Wool Wool the next three
are they will it will and he will so
let's start with the first contraction
they will becomes the
you could say this very clearly
ve but really when we're speaking in a
conversation we just say th
th th then the next one it will becomes
it it notice here this is similar to our
first tip that t changes to a D sound e
e you might be wondering Vanessa you
said that the T changes to a d when it
is surrounded by vowels What's Happening
Here There is an L afterwards well
listen to the sound that's being
used we're adding here a little schah
sound which is a vowel so even though we
don't see the vowel we're still
pronouncing a vowel and it's making that
t change to a
d wonderful right so let's say it will
as itle
it itle and the last one is he will
which becomes Hull Hull he'll be so
surprised to see the party Hull Hull you
could say heal heal that's very clear
but when we're speaking quickly we're
more likely to just link it together and
say he'll be so excited he'll be so
excited all right let's say this full
thing all together and I want you to try
to repeat exactly with me you can do it
let's make a plan for the surprise party
next weekend if you'll bring the wine
we'll bring the dessert and they'll
bring the rest of the food It'll be such
a fun time he'll be so surprised to see
everyone there great work the third
pronunciation tip that will help you to
speak clearly and confidently in English
in 2025 is related to this word Gana
gunana what is
gunana you will probably not find this
in a regular dictionary because it is a
reduction Ghana is actually going to
going to and then when we speak we just
say GNA so there are many reductions
that we use in English I'm going to put
them most of the most common ones at
least in a couple sentences I'll read
them out loud loud and then we'll
practice them together I'm going to
write a book this year I know it's going
to be a lot of work but it's something
that I want to accomplish in my life I
know I have to do a little bit every day
to reach this goal I got to sit down
every day with my pencil and paper I'm
trying to write a chapter every week all
right we had a bunch of wonderful
reductions here let's go through them
one by one the first one we just talked
about
gonna is going to I'm going to write a
book this year unfortunately this is not
true I am not going to write a book this
year at least as far as I know it is
only the beginning of the year who knows
but when you're talking about the future
you don't need to say I am going to
write a book this year you can use this
lovely reduction and just say I'm going
to write a book this year do you hear
how smooth and fluid and fluent that say
sounds you're going to hear tons of
people using this in conversations in
movies and TV shows and once you know it
you're going to hear it even more
because all of a sudden your ears will
be open to knowing more you know that
Gunna is going to I guarantee you're
going to hear this a lot the next
reduction is wna it's something I want
to accomplish in my life this is want to
I want to accomplish this in my life
life but instead I reduced this and said
I W to accomplish it in my life I W to
what's something that you want to do in
2025 the next reduction is haa haa and
haa is have to notice that in the full
word there is a v but in the reduction
we pronounce it with an F have to have
to I know I have to do a little bit
every every day this is something that's
a necessity I have to do a little bit
every day for you what is something that
you have to do every day maybe that is
make your breakfast maybe that is go to
work what's something that you have to
do every day before we go to the next
reductions let's review the first three
and I want you to try to say them out
loud with me so use your pronunciation
muscles let's say them together Gana w
haa GNA wna have great work let's go on
to the last two to reach this goal I got
to sit down got oh we have two rules
coming together here notice the
pronunciation of the t's G G oh it is
not g instead the t is changing to a d
why because there are vowels on either
side got up and what does this mean this
is a pretty big reduction reduced to
something just small it is I have got to
becomes I got sometimes in spoken
English we might say I got or I have got
a or I got to there's many variations of
this but the most reduced version and I
would say the most commonly used version
is I got to I have a flight tomorrow at
700 a.m. so I got to wake up super early
this is a necessity I got to wake up
super early and our final reduction that
we're talking about today is Trina it's
sounds so weird when you say it by
itself but in a sentence it's no problem
I said I'm tryina I'm trying to I'm
trying to
I'm trying to write a chapter every week
but when I say this quickly it sounds
like I'm trying to write a chapter every
week I'm tryina write a chapter every
week I'm tryina can you say this with me
tryina let's say both of those that we
just practiced Gada Gada tryina Trina by
itself it's a little bit weird but let's
put it all together in the full
sentences this way it sounds more
natural and you can practice it as well
so speak out loud Shadow directly with
me as I'm speaking let's do it I'm going
to write a book this year I know it's
going to be a lot of work but it's
something that I want to accomplish in
my life I know I have to do a little bit
every day to reach this goal I got to
sit down with my pencil and paper I'm
trying to write a chapter every week
great work with these reductions let's
go on to the fourth important
pronunciation point that you need in
order to speak clearer better more
fluent English the fourth pronunciation
tip we're going to talk about today is
in this sentence I need to pick up some
things for dinner tonight I need to pick
up some things for dinner tonight listen
to that little word two I need to pick
up some things for dinner tonight the
word to is change to du du I need the
pick up some things for dinner tonight
it's common in English as you might have
guessed for te's to change in English so
here we're just reducing it instead of
having that puff of air I need to we're
saying I need I need it's going to make
our speech sound a little bit faster but
it will really help you to understand
fast English as well because you will
hear this all the time so let's let's
read a few sentences I want you to
listen to me say it and then we'll go
back and practice it together I've got
to go to the store later do you need
anything I need to pick up some things
for dinner tonight I should plan out my
meals for the week so that I don't have
to grocery shop dayt day it takes a
while to plan but it takes even longer
to go to the store every day all right
you heard two changing to duh a lot I
want to say these sentences a little bit
slower and I want you to repeat it with
me did you hear how reducing to to Du
makes the speech faster if you've ever
watched an English movie or TV show and
thought they just speak too fast I can't
understand it's because of tips like
this they are reducing to to Du and it's
going to make those words link together
a lot faster but you can do it too so
let's say this whole paragraph all
together I'm I want you to repeat it
with me and I want you to feel how it
feels in your mouth to reduce to to the
word du du let's say it together I've
got to go to the store later do you need
anything I need to pick up some things
for dinner tonight I should plan out my
meals for the week so that I don't have
to grocery shop day to day I like this
phrase day to day becomes day to day day
to day can you say that with me day to
day day to day what are some things that
you do day to day well there's a lot of
things I do day to day I make meals day
to day I plan out my day often just day
to day I don't know what's happening
tomorrow but I can plan today let's say
the last sentence it takes a while to
plan but it takes even longer to go to
the store every day great work let's go
on to our final pronunciation point to
help you level up your pronunciation and
speaking in 2025 the final pronunciation
point we can't miss it's a doozy do you
know what a doozy is a doozy means it's
a big one take a look at this word I
want to thank them can you guess what it
is yep it's the lovely th there are two
ways to pronounce th the first one is Vo
vo them I'm using my voice them and the
second way is with
air thanks thanks so we're going to
break these apart first we're going to
practice the voic them and then we will
practice unvoiced I want you to
challenge yourself if this is a tricky
sound for you put on your pronunciation
helmet arm yourself with some courage
you can do this take a look at this
sentence where we're going to use the
voice oist th there's a lot of vibration
happening in my throat when I say these
sentences they are going to that place
where they first met the first thing I
want you to notice is that my tongue is
between my
teeth they and the second thing is that
there's a lot of vibration in my throat
so let's isolate that sound and I want
you to repeat it with me
z z let's use a word they
they they listen to this in the second
sentence they will be another group
meeting there as well notice that a lot
of these voiced th words are not content
words they're words like their they them
another these are not words like
Thursday thanks the theater those are
considered more content words before we
go on to the aired unvoiced th I want
you to practice saying these sentences
with me are you ready you can put your
hand here on your throat to listen and
feel for that vibration your tongue
should be between your teeth and you can
say the correctly with me are you ready
they are going to that place where they
first met there will be another group
meeting there as well great work you did
it let's go on to the second way to
pronounce the th sound the second way to
pronounce the th sound is unvoiced or we
can also call it aired there's a lot of
air that comes out listen to me say the
word
Thursday
Thursday Thursday
it's just air I'm not
saying that's the first one that we just
practiced this has no voice there should
be not really any vibration happening
instead just a long lovely stream of air
coming out Thursday so if you want to
take a little piece of paper you can
practice this with me or you can just
use your hand Thursday my tongue is out
between my teeth in the exact same way
as before and there's a stream of air so
you should feel it on your hand or you
should see the paper move
Thursday Thursday all right let's say a
few sentences using this aired unvoiced
th we're going to emphasize each of the
th sounds so that you'll be able to feel
it on your hand or see your piece of
paper move I want you to listen to me
say it and then we'll repeat it together
I have to work on a theme for my thesis
today thankfully I am going to the
theater with him on Thursday oh lots of
lovely th Sounds here most of these are
those more colorful nouns theme thesis
Thursday they're not just pronouns like
them this those types of less colorful
nouns so we're going to say this
sentence all together I want you to
repeat with me you can use a piece of
paper or your hand and I better hear
that stream of air coming out of your
mouth I have magic teacher ears I can
hear you no matter where you are are you
ready let's say these sentences together
I have to work on a theme for my thesis
today thankfully I going to the theater
with him on
Thursday great work so how did you do
practicing all five of these important
pronunciation tips to help you level up
your speaking skills in 2025 before we
go I have a special little surprise
announcement that in a few months speak
English with Vanessa is going to be
opening the 30-day pronunciation
challenge we are working on it right now
and it is going to be an incredibly
exciting course it's not open yet but if
you want to be the first ones to get
information about how you can join this
course when it becomes available you can
simply download the free PDF for today's
lesson in today's free pdf you will get
all of today's pronunciation points all
of the sample sentences and Vanessa's
challenge question so that you never
forget these pronunciation tips and
you'll be on my email newsletter list so
that you'll be the first one to get
information when the 30-day
pronunciation challenge becomes
available I can't wait to share this new
course with you coming up in 2025 well
thank you so much for learning English
with me and I'll see you again next
Friday for a new lesson here on my
YouTube Channel bye but wait do you want
more I recommend watching this video
next where you will continue to learn
how to speak English clearly if I said I
took a stab at it would you think I was
an incredibly violent person I hope not
well you're going to learn this
expression in this wonderful lesson I'll
see you there
