Vowel stresses can be fun!

Hello all you language learners!

I'm back to explain a little about stresses. Sorry that I've been away, but I'm off visiting family. I thought I'd just make a quick message for you.

Many languages uses stresses. I know, people say Japanese doesn't use stresses. However, think about the difference between 'rain' and 'candy', or between 'chopsticks' and 'bridge'. Stress use is not very common in Japanese, but it is used.

Languages like Spanish and Portuguese use stresses just as much as English, though these stresses are often in different places.

Let's look at an English example now.

1) Dessert/Desert

Which one is the tasty food and which one is the hot place with lots of sand? When written, we can see the different spelling and decide using this. When speaking, we have to control the stress (long vowel sound) to communicate this information.

First: Remember that English words only have one stress. Do not stress two vowels in the same word. This can be very confusing for the listener.

Second: Remember that a stress is only used with vowels (a, e, i, o, u).

Third: Remember that a stress is a long vowel sound. It is not a loud vowel sound

Fourth: The best way to learn to control your stresses when speaking is to watch movies or listen to music and copy what you hear.

Fifth: The other best way is to use your hand like a conductor.

Move your hand straight forward when not stressing, then gently up for the stress, then straight again after the stress. Imagine you are drawing a hill. The flat land is the not stress (de-emphasized sounds) and the hill is the stress (emphasized words).

Now you know how to stress. All that is left is to practice. Begin by practicing with the words below.

Dessert (sweet tasting food like pie)

Desert (hot sandy place)

Thank you for reading and good luck with your English!

We can fix that!

Matthew
www.englishispersonal@gmail.com