Improve Your English Pronunciation: FAMILY MEMBERS

Do people understand when you talk about family in English? Learn the right way to pronounce all the members of your family. I’ll show you how to avoid the most common pronunciation mistakes when saying parents, mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, nephew, niece, in-laws, and more. We often ask and answer questions about families, so make sure you’re speaking clearly in your everyday conversations. https://www.engvid.com/improve-your-e...

More of my beginner pronunciation lessons:
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In this lesson:
0:00 How to pronounce family words in English
1:18 family
1:38 parents
2:31 mother, father, brother
4:37 sister
5:06 Mom, Dad, Mum, mummy, daddy
6:23 son
7:14 daughter
7:54 husband, wife
8:18 fiancé, fiancée
8:57 grandparents
9:36 child, children, kids
10:39 uncle, aunt
11:46 nephew, niece
12:42 cousin
13:55 mother-in-law, brother-in-law
15:42 stepfather
16:49 relatives
17:13 PRACTICE

Transcript:
In this lesson, we're going to focus on something which is very dear to all our hearts, and that is our family. We're going to learn how to pronounce properly and correctly all the members of our family, or most of them in any case, alright? Because what I've realized, having taught for over 30 years all kinds of students and clients from all over the world, that because of various language differences, many mistakes are often made in pronouncing these very basic words. And yet, these particular very basic words are very important to us, right? There are lots of times when we're going to be talking about our own family members. There are lots of times when we're going to ask others about their family members. So we really want to make sure that we get these particular words and their pronunciation as right and as close as possible, okay? So, bear with me, even if you think, "Well, I know that. I know how to say things", you might be surprised, as a lot of my clients sometimes are, as we start to go through the basic pronunciation of family members, okay?

So, let's go through this. The very first word is the word "family". Say it after me, "family", okay? So where's the stress, here? "Fam", "family", good.

Now, the next word I know is mispronounced by so many students from all over the world. The correct pronunciation of this word is "parents", "pare", just like a pair of pants, a pair of jeans, right? Just like this, a pair. Make sure that the first part of this word is pronounced like that. Think of two parents as a pair and say it like that, okay? The mistake is sometimes this is said as "par", so don't do that, okay? It's sometimes said as "pa", but we want to say what? "Pare", "parents", very good, okay? And where's the stress? Here, "parents". Now, these next four wor... Next three words are mispronounced very often for the same reason. They have the same issue in them, and that's the "th". You see it here in the word "mother", "father", "brother", okay? So the difficulty for various English learners is in this "th", okay? So what you have to be careful of is not to say this like a "d". This is not a "d" sound, it's not like the letter "d", no, okay? We want a different sound here. It's much softer, it's the "th" sound. Hear it. Let's... Let me say it first so you can hear it, and then repeat it after me, okay? "Mother", "mother". So my tongue is coming out a little bit between my teeth when I'm saying the "th" part. "Mother", "mother", okay? The stress is here, the beginning.

Let's say the next one, same issue here with the "th". "Father", "father", okay? Make sure you're saying it soft, like that "th", "th", not "d", okay? "Father", the stress is here.

The next one, "brother", "brother". So also, be careful of the "o", don't say "bro", that's different. Sometimes in slang, you say "He's my bro", that's different, okay? But if you're trying to say the full word, okay? This is "my brother", okay? "Brother". Where's the stress? Here. "Brother". Okay?

Let's say this one, here, what's the problem here? What happens is that some people don't say the "i" properly, they say it too long. But actually, this "i" is very short, so repeat after me, "sister", "Meet my sister." Okay? "Sister". The stress is in the beginning, and the "i" is very short, not long.

Now, for "mother" and "father", of course, we have many short words and sort of affectionate terms that we use. In North America, very often, we say "mom", "m-o-m", "mom", "dad". If you're saying "dad", make sure to open your mouth. Don't say "dad", say "dad". Okay? "Mom" and "dad". In other places, instead of "mom", they sometimes say "mum", "m-u-m", quite popular in England. And then they have the version which children say, and sometimes adults also, "mommy", "daddy". Say those, "mommy", "daddy", or "mummy", "daddy". Okay? But usually, they're said by children, but not necessarily always. Okay? Depends on the culture and the country. […]