Students who take elocution lessons often find English diphthongs quite difficult to pronounce.

A diphthong is a voiced sound consisting of two vowel sounds glided together. There are eight diphthongs in English:

[ɪə] – hear – [hɪə]
[eɪ] – pay – [peɪ]
[eə] – pair – [peə]
[aɪ] – pie – [paɪ]
[aʊ] – how – [haʊ]
[əʊ] – boat – [bəʊt]  - this diphthong does not exist in other languages, not even in American English
[ɔɪ] – boy – [bɔɪ]
[ʊə] – sewer – [sʊə]

The most difficult for most nationalities is diphthong [əʊ] – boat – [bəʊt].

When I started to work on it, I thought I would never be able to pronounce it correctly. Then, my tutor, Linda James, explained that if I break it into two parts, it will be easier. The first vowel is [ə] as in "the" and the second vowel is [ʊ] as in "book", and we glide from the first vowel into the second, making one complete sound [əʊ] as in "boat".

Most students make a mistake at the start of this diphthong: they round their lips for the [o] sound because it is easier, then glide to [u]. Whilst the correct way is to start with a neutral mouth position, mouth is slightly open, relaxed lips (not rounded, not pushed forward) and then move them into a slightly round position. Watch our video to make sure you place your mouth and lips correctly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fWj5raKwcE

Then practise it in Lesson 16 in the apps:

Android:

Elocution Lessons: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.batcs.accentukbegin

Get Rid of your Accent: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.batcs.accentukone

Business English Speech:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.batcs.accentukthree

iOS

Elocution Lessons: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/elocution-lessons/id1411601245

Get Rid of your Accent: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/get-rid-of-your-accent-uk1/id673687753

Business English Speech:https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/business-english-speech/id1447774697

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