Video Transcript

(Frank) English pronunciation is stupid.

(Max) Thanks, Frank.

(Frank) Stupid. 

(Max) Hi everyone. Welcome back to English with Max.

Yes, as I’m sure you know, English spelling and pronunciation can be rather frustrating, because we often don’t pronounce things exactly as they are spelt.

In fact, there are many letters that we don’t pronounce at all.

I talked about that in my video on silent letters.

And there are some letters or syllables that we sometimes pronounce, but that we don’t usually pronounce.

If you’re confused, don’t worry because it will become clear very soon.

This will help your listening skills and it will also help you to sound more natural when you speak English.

We’re going to look at what are called missing or disappearing syllables.

Some people also call them dropped syllables.

For example, let’s look at this very common word (several).

Non-native English speakers tend to pronounce this “sev-e-ral”.

Sev-e-ral.

With three syllables.

That’s not incorrect – you can say it that way – but most of the time native speakers say “sev-ral”.

Sev-ral.

With two syllables.

There are quite a few common words in which we usually drop a syllable.

Most of the time it’s a schwa sound.

All of these words have three or more syllables in the long version.

We especially do this if we’re speaking quickly or in a relaxed way.

And this is not something that’s specific to American English or British English or Australian English.

Basically all native speakers do this.

We’re not going to cover every single word where this happens, but we’ll look at some very common ones that you should definitely be aware of.

Most of these have the same pronunciation in British and American English, but if they’re different, I will point that out.

Before we start, I’d just like to remind you that I also send out a free advanced English email lesson every two weeks for people who really want to improve their vocabulary.

If you would like to sign up for that, you’ll find the link in the description.

Okay, let’s start.

average
This word can be pronounced “av-e-rage”.

Av-e-rage.

But most of the time we actually say “av-rage”.

Av-rage. Av-rage.

So although it’s not wrong to say “av-e-rage”, usually we don’t pronounce the second syllable and we say “av-rage”.

beverage
This word can be pronounced “bev-e-rage”.

Bev-e-rage.

But usually we say “bev-rage”.

Bev-rage.

camera
I’m sure you know this word.

This technically can be pronounced “cam-e-ra”.

Cam-e-ra.

But I’ve hardly ever heard a native speaker say “cam-e-ra”.

We basically always say “cam-ra”.

Cam-ra.

Catholic
This one can be pronounced “Cath-o-lic”.

Cath-o-lic.

But we usually say “Cath-lic”.

Cath-lic.

chocolate
This one can technically be pronounced “choc-o-late”.

Choc-o-late.

But again, I’ve hardly ever heard a native speaker say that.

We basically always say “choc-late”.

Choc-late.

That’s the British pronunciation.

In American English the first O is pronounced a little differently.

It’s “choc-late”. Choc-late.

British English: choc-late. Choco-late.

American English: choc-late. Choc-late.

conference
The next one can be pronounced “con-fe-rence”.

Con-fe-rence.

But usually we say “con-frence”.

Con-frence.

Again, the O is a little different in American English.

In American English this is “con-frence”. Con-frence.

British English: con-frence. Con-frence.

American English: con-frence. Con-frence.

desperate
This word can be pronounced “des-pe-rate”.

Des-pe-rate.

But most of the time we say “des-prate”.

Des-prate.

difference
This word can be pronounced “dif-fe-rence”.

Dif-fe-rence.

But usually we say “diff-rence”.

Diff-rence.

different 
And a similar thing happens with the adjective.

You can say “dif-fe-rent”.

Dif-fe-rent.

But usually we say “diff-rent”.

Diff-rent.

family
What do you think about this word?

Yes, you can say “fam-i-ly”.

Fam-i-ly.

And in fact, lots of native speakers do say it that way, but we also often say “fam-ly”.

Fam-ly.

general
This word can be pronounced “gen-e-ral”.

Gen-e-ral.

But usually we say “gen-ral”.

Gen-ral.

generally
And something similar happens with the adverb.

You can say “gen-e-ra-lly”.

Gen-e-ra-lly.

But we usually say “gen-ra-lly”.

Gen-ra-lly.

history
The next one is “his-to-ry”.

His-to-ry.

Lots of native speakers do say it like that, but I’d say it’s more common to say it with two syllables: his-try.

His-try.

You might have noticed that in that second version I actually pronounced the T like a “ch”.

That’s because if we drop the schwa, we have a /t/ followed by a /r/.

If that happens in English, we often pronounce it “chr”. Chr.

His-chree. His-chree.

interest
This one can be pronounced “in-te-rest”.

In-te-rest.

But that sounds a bit strange.

Normally we say “in-trest”.

In-trest.

Again we have a /t/ followed by a /r/, so it becomes “chr”.

In-chrest.

You don’t have to do that.

You can say “in-trest” but most people say “in-chrest”.

interesting
This word can be pronounced “in-te-res-ting”.

In-te-res-ting.

But usually we say “in-tres-ting”.

In-tres-ting.

miserable
Next we have “mis-e-ra-ble”.

Mis-e-ra-ble.

You can say it that way, but we usually say “mis-ra-ble”.

Mis-ra-ble.

nationally
This one can be pronounced “na-tio-na-lly”.

Na-tio-na-lly.

But it’s more common to say “nash-na-lly”.

Nash-na-lly.

separate
Here we have the adjective “sep-a-rate”.

Sep-a-rate.

It’s normally pronounced “sep-rate”.

Sep-rate.

I’m saying that it’s the adjective because the verb is pronounced “sep-a-rate”.

Sep-a-rate.

vegetable
And finally one that causes a lot of frustration for English learners.

This can technically be pronounced “veg-e-ta-ble”.

Veg-e-ta-ble.

But honestly I don’t think I’ve ever heard a native speaker say that.

I highly recommend that you just say “veg-ta-ble”.

Veg-ta-ble.

Now you might be thinking, “But how do we know if we can drop a syllable? Are there rules?”

The answer is… kind of.

I wouldn’t say that there are rules, but there are some guidelines that might help.

For example, this often happens to a syllable if the next sound is a /r/, like in “average”.

There’s a schwa followed by a /r/.

As I said, you can say “av-e-rage” or “av-rage”.

This is also the case with “different”.

Remember: dif-fe-rent or diff-rent.

But there are exceptions.

For example, with the word “calorie”.

There’s a schwa followed by a /r/.

If someone’s speaking really fast, they might drop the schwa and say “cal-rie”, but native speakers almost always pronounce it here.

So we say “ca-lo-rie”.

Ca-lo-rie.

It’s also quite common if a schwa is followed by a /l/ sound, like in “family”.

Remember, you can say “fam-i-ly” or “fam-ly”.

But again there are exceptions.

For example, in this word we pronounce all the syllables.

It’s “vo-ca-lly”.

Vo-ca-lly.

So I think it’s best just to learn the pronunciations of words individually.

This can be a little difficult to figure out if you’re not able to ask an English teacher or a native speaker, because even dictionaries don’t always contain the same information.

But I’m going to show you a couple of websites which can help.

Okay, the first website I’m going to show you is actually a dictionary. 

This isn’t the main dictionary that I use online, but it’s probably the best when it comes to disappearing syllables, at least among the dictionaries that I know.

So, for example, if we type in “average”, it shows you that you can pronounce it “av-e-rage” or “av-rage”.

And if we type in “family”, for example, it shows you that you can say it “fam-i-ly” or “fam-ly”.

Now, one of the best websites for hearing how native speakers usually pronounce things is this one here.

It’s called Youglish and it goes through YouTube videos to allow you to hear how people say certain words or phrases.

You can type the word in here.

So we’ll type in “average”.

And then if you click “UK”, you’ll be able to hear people with British accents saying “average”. 

You can also um… make it go a little bit slower if you want.

Okay, now if you, for example, type in “family” or “fam-i-ly” and then click “US”, you’ll hear people with American accents saying “family”. 

Okay, I think you get the idea.

In any case, this is great for pronunciation.

Thanks very much for watching, everybody.

If you liked the video, don’t forget to hit the thumbs up and remember to hit that big red subscribe button if you don’t want to miss any new videos.

See you next time!

Okay, let’s start.

For example…

If someone’s speaking really fast…

… is a… is a…

There are…

Stupid… (cough)

Noise…

Hmm…

Is that going to stop?

… a /r/, like…