ฝึกพูดภาษาอังกฤษด้วยเทคนิค Shadowing จากวิดีโอ: The Schwa Sound | English Pronunciation Training

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In this English pronunciation lesson, we're focused a hundred percent on the most common sound in English, the schwa.
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Arguably it's also the most important, especially when it comes to natural sounding speech.
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Now, if you're thinking the schwa, what is that?
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I've never heard of it before.
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Don't worry.
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I've got you in this
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Confident English lesson today, you're going to learn what is the schwa in English?
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English.
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Why is it so important?
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And two essential rules for using the schwa.
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Along the way you'll learn eight ways to apply those two rules.
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So you'll easily recognize words in which you should be using the schwa sound.
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And the great news is learning to use the schwa correctly will not only help you with natural sounding speech in English,
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but it will also help you better understand fast English speakers.
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But before I say any more about that, very quickly, let me introduce myself just in case this is your first time here.
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I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English.
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Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your life and work in English.
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One way I do that is by sharing my weekly confident English lessons.
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These lessons focus on fluency and confidence building strategies, in depth grammar training, and accurate pronunciation training.
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Just like in this lesson today, you can find all my lessons
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and follow me every week at my Speak Confident English website and on my Speak Confident English YouTube channel as well.
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So while you're watching this lesson, make sure you give it a thumbs up and subscribe.
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So you don't miss my future lessons.
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Now let's get back to the schwa.
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I mentioned briefly that understanding the schwa will help you understand fast English speakers.
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And this lesson is actually part of an entire series I have on better understanding fast English speakers.
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You can get all of those lessons, for example, on assimilation, dropped sounds and more by checking out my fast English speaker series.
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I'll leave a link to that playlist in the notes below.
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And now I want you to sit down, get comfortable, and let's learn everything you need to know about the schwa,
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why it's important and how you can use it.
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We're going to start at the beginning.
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What exactly is the schwa?
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As you'll learn, the schwa is the most common vowel sound in English.
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And it's what we call a reduced vowel sound.
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In other words, it's really lazy.
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It doesn't like to do a lot of work.
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The reason it's the most common is the schwa sound can replace vowels in a word.
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It can replace any vowel, an A E I O or U sound.
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And you'll see examples of that as we continue through this lesson.
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Now, you might be thinking, do I really need to know this?
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Can't I just use the normal vowel sounds?
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Well, you could, however, the schwa is used to convey the correct stress and rhythm of the English language.
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And that's why it's so important.
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We'll talk much more about stress in English, but before we go there, let's talk about what the schwa sounds like.
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The schwa sound typically sounds like a, Uh, uh, uh.
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Notice that everything is relaxed.
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When I make that sound, my jaw, my lips, everything,
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uh, uh, in writing the symbol that we use to represent the schwa is this symbol.
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However, typically in writing, you don't see the schwa.
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For example, in the word helmet, you don't see the schwa written.
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However you do hear it.
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Listen again.
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Helmut.
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Helmut.
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That second E has an a sound.
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Helmut.
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Ut.
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Helmut.
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This is exactly what makes the schwa so challenging.
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The fact that we don't see it in writing.
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When you learn a new word and you learn that word in writing, you see it with all the vowels we have in English,
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but in spoken communication, it's there.
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Here's another example.
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When you learn the word content, for example, I feel content in that word, you see the O vowel,
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but in spoken communication, we hear the schwa content, content.
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Remember the uh sound content.
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Before we learn the two essential rules for using the schwa,
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let's talk about how this is related to better understanding fast English speakers.
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The schwa is used in unstressed syllables, which we're going to learn much more about in a moment.
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And when used, it's said faster with lower volume than you you might hear in stressed syllables and speaking.
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What that means is the schwa reduces the amount of time it takes to say a vowel in the word.
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And as a result, when English speakers use it, it sounds like they're speaking faster.
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The amount of time needed to speak or say that syllable is reduced.
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Using the schwa gives the illusion that words are being said more quickly.
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Learning to recognize the schwa in spoken communication and learning to use it is going to help you in multiple ways.
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First, it will strengthen your listening skills.
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It will help you get familiar with the stressed, timed nature of the English rhythm.
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As a result, you'll have improved comprehension with native English speakers, and you'll be able to produce these sounds as well for natural sounding speech.
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So let's talk about rule number one, using the schwa.
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The schwa is used in unstressed syllables to understand this rule and to apply it.
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It is essential to understand the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables.
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And this can be a challenge because not everyone can initially hear the difference between stressed and unstressed sounds in English.
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So let me share with you an example that I learned many years ago to help you recognize the difference.
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When I was a kid, I loved playing outside with my neighborhood friends.
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During the summer, we would often be outside playing hide and seek or kick ball.
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And when it was time to go home for dinner,
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or if it was during the school year and it was time for me to go home,
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to do my homework, I would see my mom or dad come outside, stand on the front porch and yell my name.
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When they did that, it would sound like this.
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Anne Marie, Anne Marie.
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Can you hear the unstressed part of my name?
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Listen again.
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Anne Marie.
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Notice that you don't hear Anne Marie.
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Instead, Anne Marie.
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The ma of my name is unstressed.
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That syllable has less emphasis.
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It said faster and with lower volume.
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In fact, you can hear the schwa there an ma, uh, uh, re with that in mind,
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let's look at five specific uses of the schwa in unstressed syllables.
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Use number one is words ending with the vowel a in words
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that have more than one syllable and end in the a vowel sound.
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That final a is typically reduced to a schwa sound.
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For example, Cola, uh, uh, Cola, sofa, Panda.
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Here are four more words.
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And I want you to apply that same rule.
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Use a schwa sound at the end.
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I'm going to give you a moment to practice each word
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and then I'll say it as well so that you can listen and repeat.
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Number one, barista, a barista.
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Number two, Frisia.
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Number three, persona.
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Number four, iguana.
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Okay.
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Let's transition right into use number two
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because it's very similar in words with more than one syllable that begin with a letter A,
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that first syllable can be used with a schwa sound when it's a weak syllable.
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Let's take a look at some example words instead of enunciating an A sound as in the words day,
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may say we hear schwa the beginning of these,
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uh, ago, a tone away.
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I want you to give this fourth one a try on your own.
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Alaska in use three, the schwa can be found in the middle of a word when it has more than two syllables.
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And when it is a weak syllable,
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for example, elephant, listen carefully to the middle syllable elephant,
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elephant, dinosaur, sediment, elephant, dinosaur, sediment.
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Look at the spelling of those words.
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Notice that each one contains a different vowel in the middle syllable, yet we're still using the schwa sound in each one of those.
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Let's try a few more.
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This time I want you to say them first
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and then you'll hear me say them so that you can listen and repeat.
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I also want you to think about how many schwa sounds are in the word.
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So let's try number one, algebra, algebra, algebra.
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Algebra.
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How many schwa sounds do you think we have there?
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Algebra.
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Two schwa sounds.
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Algebra.
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Word number two.
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Academic.
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Academic.
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How many schwa sounds are there?
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There's just one.
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A -ca -demic.
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The second syllable.
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A -ca -demic.
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And number three.
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Transatlantic.
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Transatlantic.
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Listen one more time and see if you can identify where the schwa is.
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Transatlantic.
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It's at the beginning of the word Atlantic.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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It's time for use number four of using the schwa in unstressed syllables.
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In this case, the schwa is often used when words end in A I N A N or O N.
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And it has to be when the syllable is unstressed or a weak syllable.
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For example, in the word human, the first syllable carries the primary stress
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and the second syllable is unstressed rather than pronounce the second syllable as the word man,
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as we would in the singular word man, it takes on the schwa human,
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a human, human using that same rule.
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How would you pronounce these words?
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Take a moment to practice.
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Once again, I'll say them aloud so that you can listen and repeat.
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So number one, what do you think?
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When we say number one, you don't hear bargan.
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You hear bargain.
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Bargain.
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Number two, captain.
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Captain.
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Number three, reason.
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Reason.
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And number four, person.
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Person.
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Notice in all four of those examples, that final unstressed syllable has an a sound that schwa
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and now use number five for using the schwa in unstressed syllables is with noun suffixes.
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As a quick reminder, a suffix is added to the end of a word and it changes the form of a word.
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For example, if I have the verb to compete when I add shun at the end, it becomes competition, a noun.
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Shen is a noun suffix.
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Words that end in a noun suffix and are an unstressed syllable are pronounced as the schwa.
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Now in English, we have quite a few noun suffixes.
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In this video lesson, I'm going to review three of them with examples so that you can hear that schwa sound.
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If you want a full list of noun suffixes in English and examples where you can hear the schwa,
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I recommend visiting this lesson at my Speak Confident English website.
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In that lesson, you'll see everything in writing, including 11 noun suffixes that follow this rule.
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Now let's get into the first three we're going to review together right now.
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First, nouns ending in Shun, T I O N.
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For example, the word station,
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uh, an station that first syllable has all the stress stay shun.
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This is similar to the word that we just used competition.
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The second noun suffix is words that end in I T Y as in the noun ability, ability.
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Notice the I in I T Y is a, ability, ability.
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And the third example, nouns that end in ism, I S M.
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For example, feminism, um, feminism.
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Can you think of other example words with those same noun suffixes?
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Take a moment, write one or two down, practice saying them aloud.
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You'll notice that schwa sound is present.
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Now let's transition to the second rule for using the schwa.
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And we'll look at three specific uses of that rule.
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But before I go there, don't forget, if you want a full list of those noun suffixes with examples,
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make sure that you visit the Speak Confident English website.
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And now rule number two for using the schwa, use the schwa with function words.
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If you're one of my fluency school students, you absolutely know what function words are.
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Function words are words that have a grammatical or structural cultural relationship with other words in the sentence.
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In other words, they have a job to do.
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And here are examples of function words in English conjunctions such as because and,
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but however determiners, for example,
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you're there prepositions at, on into of pronouns.
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For example, anybody, someone, auxiliary verbs, such as do, does, am,
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question words, who, what, when, and qualifiers, somewhat, rather, a little.
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In English grammar, these are all function words.
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And when used in a sentence, you'll often hear the schwa.
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Our first use with this rule is when you have a one syllable function word, use the schwa sound.
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Function words such as to,
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for, and, uh, the, and so on have vowel sounds that are typically reduced to the schwa sound.
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And in speaking, this gives the illusion that someone is speaking particularly fast because you you don't hear those function words clearly.
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When you have a function word in isolation, or if someone is intentionally emphasizing the word,
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then the vowel sounds remain fully intact.
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For example, if I have this word here, as in isolation, you hear the full vowel sounds.
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However, However, when used in a sentence or in combination with other words, it becomes unstressed.
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And as a result, you don't hear as you hear us.
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We have that a sound us.
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For example, the sentence, I'm not as tall as you.
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I'm not as tall as you.
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Listen carefully.
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You don't hear.
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I'm not as tall as you.
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Instead we have that schwa sound.
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I'm not as tall as you.
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I'm not as tall as you.
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Similarly, let's look at this word when pronounced in isolation,
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you'll hear your, however, when used in a sentence in an unstressed syllable,
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it's your, your, for example, I'd like to hear your opinion.
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I'd like to hear your opinion.
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Let's give this a try with a few example sentences in each of these sentences.
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I've highlighted the function word and I want you to try saying the sentence using the schwa sound.
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Let's give the first one a try.
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The cards for me, the cards for me, Instead of four, we have fur.
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I need a cup of coffee.
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I need a, a, I need a cup of, a, of coffee.
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I need a cup of coffee.
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And number three, could you pass me a pen?
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Could you pass me a pen?
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Now that you've got that down, this is the perfect time to go into use number two of this rule with function words.
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We use the schwa in reductions with two, one of our function words.
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In my playlist on how to understand fast English speakers, I've included a full lesson on common reductions in English.
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Let's revisit that topic briefly.
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Some words combine with two to form reductions.
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For example, gonna wanna gotta.
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When that reduced form occurs, they also weaken in stress and adopt the schwa sound.
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So instead of clearly hearing going to, you'll hear gonna as in this sentence,
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I'm gonna go to the store.
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The same is true with have to.
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Instead of I have to go to the store, we have hafta.
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I have to go to the store.
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Once again, we have that schwa to hafta.
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And lastly, gotta, I gotta go.
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So now that you have these two clear rules of how to use the schwa sound in English
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and when you should let's practice.
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I have a long sentence here for you and I want you to apply these rules,
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these uses that you've learned and see if you can identify all the places where we should use a schwa sound.
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If you want, you can write this sentence down in a notebook
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and circle or underline the the places where a schwa sound would be used in speaking.
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Once you've finished, you can take a look at my example sentence with the schwa sounds highlighted in the comments below.
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Now to help you, I am going to say this sentence out loud so you can listen carefully for those schwa sounds.
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Here we go.
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An elephant walked into the room and spilled the professor's drink on the sofa.
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Listen again, An elephant walked into the room and spilled the professor's drink on the sofa.
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Again, you'll find my sentence written out with the schwa sounds in the comments below.
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If you found this lesson helpful to you, I would love to know.
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You can tell me in one very simple way, give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube.
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And while you're at it, subscribe to the Speak Confident English channel.
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So you never miss one of my Confident English lessons.
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That's the best way to let me know what has been helpful to you
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so that I can continue to create lessons just like this for you in the future.
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Thank you so much for joining me and I'll look forward to seeing you next time.

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คำศัพท์และข้อสังเกตด้านการพูดสำหรับบทเรียนนี้

บทเรียนฝึกพูดนี้ใช้วิดีโอ “The Schwa Sound” เป็นสื่อ คำที่ถูกพูดซ้ำบ่อยที่สุด: schwa, word, sound, English, syllable วิดีโอนี้มี 275 ประโยค และ 2891 คำ สำหรับฝึกพูดตาม ช่วงที่มีเสียงพูดยาว 22:41 ผู้พูดพูดด้วยความเร็วสม่ำเสมอ ประมาณ 127 คำต่อนาที เหมาะกับการฝึกพูดตาม 82% ของคำอยู่ใน 3,000 คำที่ใช้บ่อยที่สุดในภาษาอังกฤษ ส่วนที่เหลือควรดูไว้ก่อนเริ่มฝึก

คำศัพท์สำคัญในวิดีโอนี้

คำที่ควรเรียนรู้ 15 คำจากวิดีโอ พร้อมคำอ่านและความหมาย:

คำศัพท์คำอ่านความหมาย
lesson คำนาม/ˈlɛs.ən/บทเรียน
noun คำนาม/naʊn/นาม, คำนาม
elephant คำนาม/ˈɛlɪfənt/ช้าง, คชสาร
algebra คำนาม/ˈæl.d͡ʒɪ.bɹə/พีชคณิต
sofa คำนาม/ˈsoʊ̯fə/โซฟา
symbol คำนาม/ˈsɪmbəl/สัญลักษณ์
grammar คำนาม/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ไวยากรณ์
rhythm คำนาม/ˈɹɪð.əm/จังหวะ
thumb คำนาม/ˈθʌm/นิ้วโป้ง, หัวแม่มือ
feminism คำนาม/ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/สตรีนิยม
dinosaur คำนาม/ˈdaɪnəsoɹ/ไดโนเสาร์
verb คำนาม/vɝb/คำกริยา, กริยา
pronunciation คำนาม/pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/การออกเสียง, เสียงอ่าน
topic คำนาม/ˈtɑpɪk/หัวข้อ, กระทู้
occur คำกริยา/əˈkɜː/เกิด

กริยาวลีที่คุณจะได้ยิน

คำศัพท์ความหมาย
sit down คำกริยานั่ง

ประโยคที่ควรฝึกพูดซ้ำ

ประโยคสั้น ๆ ที่สมบูรณ์จากวิดีโอ ซึ่งนำไปใช้ในบทสนทนาประจำวันได้:

  • Now, if you're thinking the schwa, what is that?
  • Can't I just use the normal vowel sounds?
  • Can you hear the unstressed part of my name?
  • How would you pronounce these words?
  • Could you pass me a pen?

ไวยากรณ์ในวิดีโอนี้

โครงสร้างที่ผู้พูดใช้บ่อยที่สุด พร้อมคำพูดจริงจากวิดีโอ:

โครงสร้างในวิดีโอ
Passive voice be + กริยาช่อง 3 — เน้นสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้น ไม่ใช่ผู้กระทำis designed · is reduced · being said
Present perfect have/has + กริยาช่อง 3 — เหตุการณ์ในอดีตที่ยังเกี่ยวข้องกับปัจจุบันI've never heard · I've highlighted · I've included

การออกเสียงที่ควรระวัง

ผู้พูดใช้รูปย่อและรูปลดเสียง 69 ครั้ง เช่น you'll, don't, I'm ให้พูดแบบสั้นตามที่ได้ยิน

  • เสียง “th”: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, thumb /ˈθʌm/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
  • เสียง “sh” และ “zh”: reduction /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, illusion /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
  • คำยาว — ลงเสียงหนักให้ถูกพยางค์: isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, feminism /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/

เสียงที่คนไทยมักออกเสียงยาก:

  • เสียงท้ายคำ — ออกเสียงให้ครบ ไม่เปลี่ยนเป็นตัวสะกดแบบไทย: distress /dɪˈstɹɛs/, pronounce /pɹəˈnaʊns/, symbol /ˈsɪmbəl/, spill /spɪl/, introduce /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/
  • /v/ — ไม่ใช่ /w/ ให้ฟันบนแตะริมฝีปากล่าง: verb /vɝb/, convey /kənˈveɪ/, vowel /ˈvaʊ.əl/, revisit /ɹiːˈvɪzɪt/
  • /z/ — เสียงก้อง ไม่ใช่ /s/: transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, feminism /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/, lazy /ˈleɪ̯zi(ː)/, auxiliary /ɔɡˈzɪl.(jə).ɹi/, emphasize /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/

วิธีฝึกกับวิดีโอนี้

  1. ฟังวิดีโอให้จบหนึ่งรอบโดยยังไม่ต้องพูด แล้วจดคำที่ยังไม่รู้จัก
  2. พูดตามทีละประโยคด้วยความเร็วปกติ ทำซ้ำแต่ละประโยคจนจังหวะของคุณตรงกับผู้พูด
  3. อัดเสียงตัวเองแล้วเทียบกับต้นฉบับ โดยสังเกตคำอย่าง lesson, noun, elephant เป็นพิเศษ

เทคนิค Shadowing คืออะไร?

Shadowing เป็นเทคนิคการเรียนรู้ภาษาที่ได้รับการรับรองทางวิทยาศาสตร์ พัฒนาขึ้นสำหรับการฝึกนักแปลมืออาชีพ วิธีการนี้เรียบง่ายแต่ทรงพลัง: คุณฟังเสียงภาษาอังกฤษจากเจ้าของภาษาและพูดตามทันที — เหมือนเงาที่ตามผู้พูดด้วยช่วงเวลาห่าง 1-2 วินาที การวิจัยแสดงว่าเทคนิคนี้ปรับปรุงความแม่นยำในการออกเสียง ทำนองเสียง จังหวะ การเชื่อมเสียง การฟังเข้าใจ และความคล่องแคล่วในการพูดได้อย่างมีนัยสำคัญ

เทคนิค shadowing: อ่านคู่มือฉบับเต็มทีละขั้นตอน →