Are you mispronouncing these common English words? Many professionals do, and it can affect clarity.
These words are: “work, word, worm”
I am a non-native English Speaker. It took me several lessons with my speech tutor and a few months of strengthening my lip muscles to pronounce these words correctly. Before learning and mastering the correct pronunciation, I made 3 mistakes in these 4-letter words
The first word: “work”
Mistake N1
The /w/ sound does not exist in my native language, and I used to substitute it with the /v/ sound as in “vet”.
Mistake N2
In my Native lanaguage, we pronounce all letters, so I pronounced the/r/ sound, but in British English, it is not pronounced in this word
Mistake N3
The long /ɜː/ sound as in “Sir” does not exist in my native language either, and I used to pronounce it as /o/.
Mistake N4
Long words do not exist in my native language, and I could not pronounce the /ɜː/ as “Sir” as a long vowel
The result of these 4 mistakes:
Instead of “work” /wɜːk/ I was pronouncing /vɔrk/
Instead of “word” /wɜːd/ I was saying /vɔrd/
Instead of “worm” //wɜːm/ I was saying /vɔrm/
How To Do Right
Many learners of English struggle with these words. Because it is really a tough combination:
For the /w/ sound, your lips should go forward into a tight whistle- shape circle for a split second, and then they should be pushed back into the neutral position.
For the /ɜː/ as “Sir”, the lips should be in a relaxed, neutral position.
Pro Tip: Push lips forward and then quickly move them into the neutral position and keep them there for much longer to pronounce the long /ɜː/ sound.
What often happens is that students keep their lips forward in the round poision for too long and instead of /ɜː/ they say /ɔː/
“walk -“work”
Practice
Repeat each sentence 3 times:
The word werm is hard work.
I worked one term as a nurse.
I wanted to help many people and published apps where you can practise all English sounds. Practise /ɜː/ in lesson 5 and /w/ in lesson 25 with the apps:
Warmly
Olga Smith