Shadowing Practice: Why is English Pronunciation So CONFUSING? | Silent Letters - Learn English Speaking with Video
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From the creators of the curse of English spelling comes silent letters.
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Letters that are just there for no reason.
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You as a learner of all people know how confusing English spelling is.
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Why is it not consistent with how we pronounce words?
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For example, O-U-G-H can be pronounced in many different ways.
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Take a listen to how I pronounce these words.
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Bought, though, thorough, tough, drought, through, and cough.
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Weird right?
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And for many of you, silent letters are another nightmare of English pronunciation, and because of this, that's what we're focusing on today.
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This lesson is about letters we write in words, but don't actually pronounce.
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Take a look at this word and think which letter isn't pronounced.
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We don't say the P, it's empty.
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There's this hilarious meme about this actually, let's check it out.
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Here, we read this word as empty, not pronouncing the P.
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This still reads empty.
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This is still empty.
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Here, we just say the letters M and T.
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Here, there's nothing.
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It's empty.
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In this lesson, we'll take a look at some words with silent letters that you might be mispronouncing.
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Why should you know this?
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Well, as one of my non-native friends told me, speaking English is a lot easier when you don't need to pronounce a given letter in a word.
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And as you'll learn, some of these words are a lot easier to pronounce
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when you don't actually pronounce all of the letters or the letter that is supposed to be silent.
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But in case we are meeting for the first time, I'm Oli, your RealLife English Fluency Coach,
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and we guide you beyond the classroom so that you can understand fast speaking natives,
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be understood by anyone, and connect to the beautiful world we live in.
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In fact, Onhiki says that our channel has contributed to his English learning progress, And he has a notebook full of our ideas.
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So be like Onhike and learn with us.
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All you need to do is hit that subscribe button
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and the bell down below so you don't miss any of our new English tips.
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Okay, we're gonna start with some more common phrases where we don't pronounce B, K, L or W.
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For example, the silent B when it's after M, like in climb.
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The unnecessary K before N, like in no. The L, which we don't pronounce when it's before K and M in some words.
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Don't worry, we'll see these examples in just a moment.
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And one that often confuses learners, W, when it's before an R, like in wrong.
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Now the reason why we don't pronounce these letters in these words is because it is extremely awkward to do so.
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And by that I mean it takes extra effort to pronounce these letters.
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So that's why we don't say crumb, we simply say crumb.
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Other words with a silent B are bomb,
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comb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb,
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numb, thumb, If you're actually trying to pronounce the B in these words, you're not alone.
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Many upper intermediate learners still do this.
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Now here are some words when we don't pronounce the K.
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knee, knife, knight, knit, knob,
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knock, knot, no, and knuckle.
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What about the silent N now?
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Well, we don't pronounce it in chalk,
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talk, walk, calm, and palm.
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Other cases of a silent L are could, should, would, calf and half.
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And the other pattern I mentioned is that of words where W is before an R.
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For example, wrap, wrench, wrestle,
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wrinkle, wrist, right, wrong, wrath, wreck.
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Now that you know these rules, you might probably feel like my friend who told me that he knew about the silent K in these words,
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but he always pronounced, or at least tried to pronounce, the B in words like thumb or dumb, and the W in words like right or wrong.
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So you see how minor adjustments like these can have a huge impact on your confidence speaking English.
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A lot of people recommend that you first learn how to say a word and then how to spell it.
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The reason for this is because when you learn the spelling first, it tends to make you think that you need to pronounce every single letter.
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But if you first learn how to say it, you obviously won't pronounce a letter that you don't know is there in the spelling.
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Which leads on to my hot tip, trust your ear and not your eyes.
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And you'll be able to do a lot of that with our real life native immersion course.
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In this 41 week course you're going to be able to practice identifying silent letters in words.
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It's the next best thing to living in an English speaking country.
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You know what?
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The best thing is you can try it for free today with our three part power learning series.
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To try it out you can click up here or
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if you're on your mobile there is a link in the description below.
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Let's continue on.
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To illustrate this, here's a new word that you might not be familiar with.
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Colonel.
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Easy right?
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Say it after me.
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Colonel.
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Now it's said like Colonel and spelt like this.
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C O L O N E L.
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Colonel.
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Let's now look at three more common words with a silent B.
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debt, doubt and subtle.
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Now that you know that we don't pronounce the b in these words, try reading this sentence out loud.
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Listen to me, I never doubted you.
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As you see, the silent letter remains when you modify the base word by adding suffixes, doubted, doubtful.
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With that in mind, this one could be a bit trickier.
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How do you say this?
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Yeah, that's right.
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I am deeply indebted to him for his help.
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Now, if you know that the B is silent in subtle, how do you say this word in this sentence?
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You got it!
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Some of the subtleties of the language are lost in translation.
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Now if you want to learn why the T in can't in American English is sometimes not pronounced, then you need to check out this amazing lesson that Ethan made.
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To watch it next, I'll link it up here or down in the description below.
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Now let's move on to another silent letter.
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How do you say this?
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It's not handsome, it's handsome.
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Take a moment to pronounce the following words that also have a silent D.
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Did you say badge, edge, Wednesday and sandwich?
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Now repeat these sentences after me.
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On Wednesday, my handsome husband and I had a sandwich at a Subway restaurant.
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The soldier was awarded a badge of honour.
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The edge of the table.
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Let's move on to the letter G.
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And we don't pronounce this letter in words like campaign, Assign, design, sign, rain.
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Say it after me, campaign.
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Assign, design, sign, rain.
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He was assigned the design of an ad campaign.
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Another word that has a silent G is one that I've seen many learners trip up with.
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This word is pronounced foreign.
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Now, we do pronounce the G in kingdom, but in rapid speech it often gets dropped.
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So you'll hear, she reigns in a foreign kingdom.
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H is a big one and there are a lot of words with silent H letters.
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Ake, anchor, architect, chaos, charisma,
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choir, chord, echo, honest, school, stomach.
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Here are some examples.
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John's a charismatic and honest architect.
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By the way, the H in John is silent as well.
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John's vocal chords hurt, so he can't sing in the choir.
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Now let's take a look at a few words with a silent T.
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Butcher, castle, listen, mortgage, often which.
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There's also the words Christmas and match, which I often see my students trying to pronounce the T.
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Another one is often, however you can also pronounce the T and say often.
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Both options are used almost equally.
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Now we already talked about the W when it's in its initial position and before an R,
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but it can also be a tricky one in words like answer, to and sword.
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Okay, let's test your knowledge.
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Here's what we're going to do.
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First, I'll say a few words and you'll repeat after me.
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Write, and now you repeat.
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Chalk, say it.
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Answer, you say that again.
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After that, I'm going to show you a sentence, just like this one.
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We'll give you about three or four seconds to read and practice saying the words in the sentence,
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and after that I'll give you the pronunciation of the sentence.
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For example, she wrote the answer with chalk on the board, so that you can check and see if you pronounced it correctly.
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Ready?
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Let's go!
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Number one.
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Walk.
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Castle.
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Wrinkle.
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Witch.
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Echo.
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The castle where the wrinkled witch lives is an echoey place.
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How did you go?
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Sentence two.
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Debt, foreign, architect.
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The foreign architect is in a lot of debt.
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Sentence number three.
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Handsome, knight, sword.
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The famous handsome knight died from a sword wound.
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Sentence number four.
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Wrestle.
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Match.
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Wednesday.
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He has a wrestling match on Wednesday.
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Let me know how you did with those four sentences down in the comments below.
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And I hope you enjoyed the exercise at the end and that you found this lesson useful.
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We saw a total of 70 words that have silent letters in them.
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These are for sure the most common words that learners still confuse and mispronounce.
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So if you've paid attention, you're in a much better place to avoid these common mistakes.
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The great benefit of knowing that you don't need to say the silent letters is
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that it actually makes it a lot easier to pronounce these words.
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When your pronunciation improves, so does your confidence and that's what it's ultimately all about, right?
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And I wanna say thank you again for joining me today.
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If you aren't subscribed to our channel, make sure you hit the subscribe button and the bell down below so you can continue learning with us.
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Ah yeah.
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So in this lesson, we'll talk about your mindset and how it determines whether you're ready for success
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or crippled by your fear of failure.
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Mastering the English language is an adventure that contains many challenges along the way.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 167 sentences and 1718 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:43. The speaker talks at a steady 125 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- pronounce /pɹəˈnaʊns/ (verb) — To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.
- silent /ˈsaɪ̯lənt/ (adjective) — Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
- litter /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ (noun) — Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
- lesson /ˈlɛs.ən/ (noun) — A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
- handsome /ˈhæn.səm/ (adjective) — Having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly
- architect /ˈɑɹ.kɪˌtɛkt/ (noun) — A professional who designs buildings or other structures, or who prepares plans and superintends construction.
- spelling /ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/ (noun) — The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography.
- castle /ˈkɑːsəl/ (noun) — A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or…
- sword /soɹd/ (noun) — A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack.
- knight /ˈnaɪ̯t/ (noun) — An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.
- subscribe /səbˈskɹaɪb/ (verb) — To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).
- chalk /t͡ʃɔk/ (noun) — A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).
- confuse /kənˈfjuːz/ (verb) — to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
- pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ (noun) — The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken.
- spell /spɛl/ (noun) — Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
- check out (verb) — To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
- know about (verb) — To have positive inclinations regarding (someone or something); to have no doubts regarding (someone or something).
- talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
- talked about (adjective) — Discussed by many people.
- write in (verb) — To write a letter to, e.g. a publication.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 47 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, thorough /ˈθʌɹoʊ/, wrath /ɹæθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, immersion /ɪˈmɝʒən/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/, unnecessary /ʌnˈnɛs.əˌsɛɹ.i/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, charismatic /ˌkɛɹəzˈmætək/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pronounce, silent, litter.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | can be pronounced · isn't pronounced · be understood |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has contributed · I've seen · you've paid |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might be · might probably feel · might not be |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | The best · the most common |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.