Hello, my name is Kolia.
I am from Russia. You are listening to Everybody ESL.
Welcome to Episode 404 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English.
My name is Ben, and I have a mini -episode for you today where I am going to teach you about one English topic.
You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple Podcasts and wherever you find your podcasts.
If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too.
And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyesl at gmail dot com.
Okay, let's get on with this mini -episode.
In this episode, I want to talk about the pronunciation of two very common words.
As you know, often the way words are spelled in English does not really tell you everything you need to know about how the words are pronounced.
And I think these two words are good examples of that idea.
The first word is spelled c -o -m -f -o -r -t -a -b -l -e.
Before I pronounce this word, let me ask you this.
How do you pronounce that word?
Say it right now and count how many syllables it has when you say it.
If you pronounce it the way it looks, you will probably pronounce it with four syllables.
You would probably say something like this.
Well, American English speakers almost never pronounce the word that way.
Instead of pronouncing it as a four -syllable word, comfortable, or something like that, we almost always pronounce it as a three -syllable word.
Com -f -ter -ble. Comfortable.
Comfortable. When we pronounce this word, we almost always say comfortable.
I know that's not really how it looks.
I know that pronunciation does not seem to match the spelling, but that is how we say it almost every time, comfortable.
Com -f -ter -ble. Com -f -ter -ble.
You can see something similar happening in the second word that I want to mention today.
This second word is spelled I -N -T -E -R -E -S -T -I -N -G.
How do you pronounce that word?
Say it right now. Say it out loud.
Listen to yourself saying that word.
When you pronounce it, how many syllables does it have?
If you pronounce it the way it looks like it should be pronounced, based on the spelling, you are probably saying it as a four -syllable word.
Interesting. Interesting.
But American English speakers do not usually pronounce this word as a four -syllable word.
Instead of saying interesting, we usually say interesting, interesting.
Three syllables. In -tri -sting, interesting, interesting.
Oh, that is very interesting.
I thought that movie was interesting.
Three syllables. In -tri -sting.
Do you need to pronounce these words the way I'm telling you most Americans pronounce them?
Comfortable and interesting?
No, you don't need to pronounce them that way.
If you pronounce these words as four -syllable words, everyone will know what words you are using.
Everyone will understand.
But if you want your speech to sound like natural, typical American English speech, then I think you should pronounce these words the way I have been pronouncing them in this episode.
Comfortable. Interesting.
Comfortable. Interesting.
Each of them is three syllables.
The pronunciations of these words are just two examples of many, many, many examples of words that are pronounced differently from the way they look like they should be pronounced based on the spelling.
And I think the natural American English pronunciation of these two words is something that you should know.
This is the end of episode 404 of Everybody ESL.
Remember, if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes the same way Kolia recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode, send an email to everybodyesl at gmail .com.
I'll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning.
I'll see you soon. Goodbye.
Thank you.
