Water, Waiter, Wetter: American English Pronunciation
Water might be one of the first words English students learn. Fun fact, my first word when I was a baby was “agua” which is “water” in Portuguese! The thing is, even though it’s a very basic word, many students pronounce water incorrectly. “Water” has two sounds that ESL students struggle with: the flap t and the r-controlled vowel “er.” Putting those sounds to whether can be even harder. Watch this video lesson to see if you are pronouncing “water” correctly in the General American accent.
In this English lesson, I will:
Teach you how to pronounce water
Compare water to other words like hotter, wetter, waiter
Give you practice sentences with "water"
Give you two practice paragraphs for the word "water"
Lesson Breakdown:
00:11 "water"
00:16 'flap t' (sounds like soft d)
00:25 'w' sound /w/
00:30 short 'o' sound /ɑː/ like "cop" or "hot"
00:45 'flap t'
00:50 r-controlled vowel "er"
01:05 practice sentences with "water"
02:30 "water" vs. "hotter" + 'stop t' vs. 'flap t'
03:04 "water" vs. "wetter" short e /ɛ/
03:30 "water" vs. "waiter" long a /eɪ/
03:45 practice paragraphs with "water"
I hope you enjoyed this free English lesson! Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or lesson requests. I would love to hear from you!
