Hi! Yes I do provide 1:1 instruction. My email is [email protected] if you would like to discuss that further. I'd love to hear from you! 🙂

Yes, the only difference in "taught" and "thought" is the beginning sound. The word "taught" is pronounced /tot/ and the word "thought" is pronounced /thot/ (your tongue needs to start between your teeth on this one, and you must be blowing air on this /th/ sound--you can't block the airflow with any part of your tongue, or you will get /tot/).

@@pronunciationsnippets Thank you for your swift reply! You are a very dedicated teacher who truly cares about your students. Please recommend me more of your videos especially important ones for newcomers to Canada where mostly Americal English is used.

@@yalewtefera6836 Thank you so much! I really appreciate those kind words. I think any of my videos would be very appropriate for a newcomer to Canada, but since you mentioned that you struggle with "taught" vs. "thought", probably the one from about a year ago, "Help for the TH sound", would be a good next step. If you can tell me what your native language is, I would probably have more specific suggestions for you. 🙂

Thanks for letting me know that! I hope you find my other videos helpful as well. 🙂

Wow, you just made my day, Megan. Thanks for letting me know that! 🙂

I'm very happy to hear that! Thanks for watching my video. 🙂

No, the American R is made with no part of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth.

Yes! It's surprising how often those silent consonants show up!

Thank you so much--and I'm very happy that you found it valuable! 🙂

I'm glad you found it helpful! Yes, we're all about making things easier to pronounce as Americans!😉

I will put that on my list. Any particular situations of assimilation that would be most helpful?

Thank you so much for that high compliment, and thank you for supporting my channel! 🙂

Hi! Thanks for watching my video. :-)

Wow, I really appreciate that. Thank you for watching my videos! 🙂

I agree--that's a tough combination! On the /n/ sound keep your tongue a little further back on that bony ridge, and then slide it toward your teeth for the /l/.

Thanks for letting me know it helped you! 🙂

@pronunciationsnippets our native languages don't allow us to roll or twist tongue in a manner native English speakers do. So it's a challenge for us. We have to unlearn to learn again . It's hard, fun all at the same time

Yes, I understand that! I have the same problem when I try to "trill" the /r/, as is heard in many other languages. We don't do that in American English, so it's very hard for me, but I can learn to move my tongue in a different way--it just takes time and consistent practice. Don't give up! 🙂

I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling with this sound. If I was able to work with you in a live Zoom lesson, I think I could help you with that, but otherwise all I can do is give you the examples that I have provided in the video. This is the limitation of KZbin videos--they can't replace live instruction. However, I will tell you that your listener will still understand you if you use a light L instead of a dark L. You may not sound like a native speaker, but you will be clearly understood.

Just lightly. It's simply an anchor point, to keep the tip of the tongue low in the mouth.

@@pronunciationsnippets thanks 😊

Thank you so much for that! Be sure to check out my other videos on contractions--there's a playlist for that topic on my channel. 🙂

I appreciate that, and am so glad it was helpful! 🙂

Thanks for your suggestion. I will take it into consideration. 🙂

I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you for letting me know! 🙂

That's also a possible placement for the light L (not the dark L, though).

It makes me happy to hear that--thanks for telling me (and thanks for watching my video)! 🙂

That's the kindest thing ever--thank you! 🙂

I'll put those on my list to cover in a future video!

Thanks so much, and thanks for your comments! 🙂

You're very welcome--glad you found it helpful! 🙂

Thank you so much for watching my video--I appreciate you! 🙂

I will put that on my list! 🙂

Thanks, I will! 🙂

Yes, it sure is, because that L is occurring after a vowel sound.

Thanks for the question! I have to ask a clarifying question, though. Are you asking about the glottal stop used before vowel sounds at the beginning of a word, like "egg" or "over"? Or are you talking about a different situation? Can you give me an example?

Thanks for the question! In this case, the contraction, "what'd", stands for "what did."

Thanks for watching my video. I'm glad to know it was helpful! 🙂

I'm really glad you found it helpful. Thanks for taking the time to let me know! 🙂

@@pronunciationsnippets 🙏

Yes, when you are saying the name of the letter, it's pronounced /el/, so that means that a vowel sound is occurring before that L, and that would make it a dark L.

Thanks for the question! "Latter" and "ladder" will sound the same, but that first vowel is different on "letter"--it's the short 'e' instead of the short 'a'. It would be similar to the difference between "bad" and "bed."

Thanks for taking the time to let me know that it helped you--that's great to hear! 🙂

Thanks for watching! 🙂

I'm you found it helpful--thanks for watching! 🙂

I appreciate that. It's my goal, so thanks for letting me know that it's working! 🙂

You're very welcome! In the near future I'll be redoing the Dark L video, because I want to give more examples and further explanation. So be watching for that in the upcoming weeks! 🙂

Thank you very much--I'm thankful for your support of my channel! 🙂