Master the American Accent! How to Pronounce the UH /ʊ/ Vowel

[@joszeb]

“Look Luke the pull pool is full of fools” is a nice exercise 🤣

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

This is a good tongue twister! Thanks for your comment, Jose! :)

[@ramzy-6566]

i like /ʊ/ Vowel also. Thank you.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks for your support, Ramzy! :)

[@francescofarina5331]

wow, your videos are sooo clear and helpful! Thank you a lot!

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks, Francesco! Reading your comment made my day! :)

[@ramzy-6566]

great video for /ʊ/ Vowel. Thank you.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks, Ramzy! :)

[@bantorio6525]

... excellent ... !!! ... you can't be any better ... !!! ... thanx ... !!! ... your pronunciation is awesome ... !!!

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Awesome! Thanks, Banto! I'm glad this helped! :)

[@NEWSANDVIEWS.1]

Excellent teacher

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment! :)

[@jackienguyen2140]

Thanks for doing wonderful job

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Your comment made my day, Jackie! Thank you :)

[@AntonioFernandez-hs6jc]

Congratulations, you are excellent. I have seen several videos and they are all very good. Could I ask you something, is it possible that you can make a section with stories that have text and audio with your voice? Your voice is perfect and very clear. Thanks.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi Antonio - Thanks so much for your comment - I'm so glad my videos have been helpful! And thank you for the suggestion - that might be something I could do sometime in the future :)

[@ramzy-6566]

Wishing you a Merry Christmas Mrs. Julie.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thank you Ramzy! Merry Christmas to you and your family, too :)

[@abedabiiid2597]

شكرا لكم من الجزائر

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi Abed - Thanks for your comment! I used Google Translate, and this is what it said: "Thank you from Algeria." You're welcome! I'm glad this video was helpful :)

[@hathemimessaoudi7129]

your are really the best🥰🥰👏👏👏👏

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks, Deutsch mit Hadhemi!! I'm glad you liked this video!

[@ngominh5272]

thank you so much. This pronunciation and the "L" are difficult for me, but, I can do it after your video

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks great to hear, Ngo! Thanks for your comment :)

[@ramzy-6566]

Great video, Thank you so much.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi! Thank you for watching - I'm glad you liked it! :)

[@ramzy-6566]

hello, is there any word start with /ʊ/ sound in english.

[@tricky_english]

This sound is NOT used in GA English

[@mojahidulislam5768]

excellent

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks! :)

[@margaritakochurova4849]

You are fantastic!

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi Margarita - Thanks! I'm so glad that you like my teaching style! :)

[@ramzy-6566]

Hello, please, are you say the exclamation ( oops ) /ʊps/ , /ups/ with /ʊ/ vowel or /u/.

[@raonarjasari9646]

It's 'u'.

[@ramzy-6566]

is the best way to pronounce ( S sound ) the tip of tongue goes down behind the teeth or behind upper the teeth or depend on the next letter , i know without touch the teeth, just the airflow. Thank you.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thank you for your question! It depends on your personal preference. I pronounce the S /s/ sound with my tongue tip down, or my tongue tip is slightly higher, almost neutral. I think keeping the tongue tip down results in a good S sound. I don't put my tongue tip up, behind the upper front teeth, because that feels very unnatural to me, and I feel that it distorts the airflow. It almost sounds like I'm trying to whistle! So if you have a choice between the two options, I'd recommend keeping your tongue tip down. But again, it's a personal preference, and you should do what feels comfortable and gives you the best S sound! I hope this helps!

[@ramzy-6566]

​@@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent I think your option more comfortable , for ST cluster for s sound the tongue tip goes down, and rather than raising your tongue tip up for the T, you can leave the tip down, then push the part of the tongue just behind the tip to the roof of the mouth, to cut off the air. To release the T, and let the air flow continue, just pull the tongue back down. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you so much

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

@@ramzy-6566 Thank you for your question! When I say the ST cluster, I always use my tongue tip for the T sound. If you use the part of the tongue that is behind the tip (called the blade), it will result in a "softer" T sound that is closer to a Spanish T sound. I hope this was helpful!

[@ramzy-6566]

@@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent Thank you so much. Very helpful.

[@ramzy-6566]

​@@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent Hello, are you also pronounce the Z /z/ sound with your tongue tip down, are you close your teeth , or almost touch. Thank you

[@sky-khanhnguyenngan1934]

Hi, your voice is awesome, did you train english pronunciation for people and how much, could you make more videos about pronunciation, stress, innotation, analyze sentence stress , rhythm... Thanks

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thank you! Yes, I do private one-on-one English pronunciation coaching, and I also have online classes and courses. Let's arrange a time to talk - here's my email: [e-mail].

[@thegioiaion2646]

Nice video. Thank you very much.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi The - Thanks so much for your comment! I'm glad my video was helpful :)

[@fayewu7505]

Great!

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Thanks, faye! Glad you liked this video! :)

[@alexsalychev9324]

Thanks a lot for the video! Could you tell me how many sounds are there in American English? I know it should be about 48 or 50.

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi! Thank you for your question! The answer can depend on who you ask, and where that person was trained (and by whom!). But from my training, I consider there to be 12 monophthong vowels, 5 diphthong vowels, and 24 consonants. There are also a few other sounds that occur in American English, but they aren't always shown on the IPA chart because they don't change the meaning of a word. An example of this is the flap /ɾ/ sound. This sound occurs in American English quite frequently, like in the word "water" in which the flap replaces the T /t/ sound, but the flap isn't shown on the IPA chart because it's an "allophone" of the T /t/ sound - it basically represents the T /t/ sound in words, so we hear it as a T /t/, not a flap /ɾ/. Another example is the glottal stop /ʔ/, which can represent the T /t/ sound, and the nasal flap /ɾ̃/, which can represent the NT /nt/ combination. The flap, nasal flap, and the glottal stop are not included in the 24 consonants. And not to make the answer even more confusing, but American English also has R-colored vowels, which I teach as a separate sound unit. So if you count the R-colored vowels, like OR /ɔɹ/ in the word "for", and EAR /ɪɹ/ in the word "beer", then you could add another 5 R-colored vowels. So that might make the total...46, not counting the flap, glottal stop, and other "allophones". But like I said, this number is debatable! Thanks for watching the video - I'm glad you liked it :)

[@alexsalychev9324]

@@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent Thank you so much! Are you going to make online course for Russian speakers in the future ?

[@daviddong9916]

I know how to pronounce ʊ vs u but dont know when to pronounce which like book, food, hood, mood, etc

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi David - Thanks so much for your comment! This is a great question, and I think other people might have the same question as you! My answer is too long to fit in a comment, but I'd be able to give you an in-depth answer at one of my live English classes at Julie's Conversation Club (courses.sandiegovoiceandaccent.com/courses/julies-conversation-club). If you join a class, I can answer your question in real-time. I hope to see you there! :)

[@CaoRehab]

Can I simply use /ə/ to substitute this sound?

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi Mike - Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, you can't substitute the schwa /ə/ vowel for the UH /ʊ/ vowel, at least not in words or syllables that are stressed. However, sometimes in unstressed/reduced syllables, the /ʊ/ vowel might reduce to the schwa /ə/ - it just depends on the stress pattern of that particular sentence. I hope this helps! :)

[@CaoRehab]

@@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent thanks

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

@@CaoRehab You're welcome, Mike!

[@tricky_english]

Yes, you can. The /ʊ/ is NOT used in GA English.

[@tricky_english]

@@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent I suggest you use the schwa instead. The /ʊ/ is disappearing because the long U as in blue is becoming less rounded and more centralized, it’s very close to the /ʉ/ symbol in the IPA.

[@richardfrangie3518]

👍

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Awesome! I'm glad you liked the video! :)

[@amdresmicett-pr2zj]

Vowel U doesn't belong to colored vowel?

[@SanDiegoVoiceandAccent]

Hi @amdresmicett-pr2zj - Thanks for your question! I can belong to an R-colored vowel, the /ʊɹ/ vowel, like in the word "pure". I hope this helps!