The Half L ("dark L") Hack | Understand American Native Speakers More Easily

[@John2corner]

We're lucky to have this guy in the world of youtube. This guy teaches the most efficient way.

[@jimcachapero1249]

I have a lot of difficulty in producing that sound. Than you for this video.

[@alexandrvinokurov2358]

Thank you a lot.

[@englishchannel59]

Good Job. Thank you for all the videos that you have posted in this wonderful channel. I want to ask you for a video about the 44 Phonemes or the 44 Sounds of American English, it could be a short video (10 minutes, because I would like to practice those sound everyday), it could shows the IPA symbol for each sound and an example word of the sound e.g. SAW /ɑ/

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Hmmm.. Well, I could definitely do something like that, though I really hate the IPA when it comes to English. I could probably include the symbols for reference, but I'd definitely be using the English Hacks Phonetic Transcription method. Of course, you can find all the sounds of American English in the Pronunciation and Ear Training course playlist, but I understand that it's also useful to have one big master class lesson that has all of them in one place, so I'll add that to the list of lessons :)

[@englishchannel59]

@@NativeEnglishHacks thank you! A short video, less than 10 minutes would be great, something that everybody could watch everyday to keep in mind all the american sounds, at the end of the video you could say something like for more details check my other videos 👍

[@english5892]

Hey there, which is the difference of the tongue position of the AH /ɑ/ vs dark L (only in the part 1, not in the part 2 that is when you up the tongue tip), in both the tongue is lower in the back presses down and I the front touching the bottom front teeth? The only difference I feel is that the jaw drops more on the /ɑ/, but I feel that the position of the tongue does not change. Thanks

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Contrary to what many teachers say, the jaw doesn't have to move much as long as it's open enough for American English to begin with. Much more important is the overall space in the mouth created by how high or low the tongue is held in the mouth. That being said, yes, the jaw certainly can open a bit more for AW (as in "saw/dog/father") compared to dark L. The placement of the sound on the tongue (what I think you're referring to as position of the tongue) does change, otherwise the sound wouldn't change. The main difference between these sounds is exactly where you place them. Watch my lesson on the Half-L vowel (dark L). As for the front of the tongue, due to mouth posture, any sound that doesn't use the front of the tongue will have the front of the tongue low (I don't have any videos on this detail yet). It technically should be pulled back from the bottom teeth, but touching is ok.

[@tillysaway]

i have a question, what exactly happens to vowels in words like fun, that, but, put, not (and maybe could)? sometimes when people are not speaking fast they sound almost like a diphthong (kinda like tha uh t)

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

That's an interesting question and an interesting list. Particularly because those words have almost nothing in common except that they're all extremely common words (which is probably an important detail). Fun, put, and not are content words, meaning they're stressed because they're only one syllable, and that, but, and could are function words, meaning they're not stressed because they're only one syllable (and we know that one syllable function words often have possible reductions, as well). So we know it can't be because of the stress or lack thereof. In addition, there are four different vowel sounds between these words, meaning that it's probably not because of a certain vowel. After playing with these words a bit, I see what you mean. This is something I didn't consciously notice before (except maybe in "that" and "but"). The schwa is a very central and "neutral position" sound in the mouth and is more or less an English speaker's "resting" position, which is part of why we say, "uh" or "um" as fillers. Remember that real speech is messy, and that American English in particular can be quite lazy (which is one reason why clearly enunciating all the time will make you sound less natural). Probably what's happening here is that there's some unintentional shifting into that neutral position in the flow of messy, real speech since all the other vowels (and consonants) are around it. It's something that you can completely ignore. It's good that you noticed it because it means that your English ears are working, but it's definitely not something that you have to reproduce. In fact, I would strongly advise against trying to. If your pronunciation is good and flows well and one day you notice that you unintentionally do the same thing, cool. But trying to intentionally mimic something that natives do unintentionally will probably just make you sound weird (not saying that you would try that, but I have to give my warning regardless). I hope that helps :)

[@Mr.S65]

Kids who are starting to read DO enunciate the L. They even put their tongues through their teeth sometimes

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

I don't see how this is at all relevant