Why Is English Pronunciation So Hard? A Brief Introduction to Schwa.

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Schwa on paper.jpg

Let’s face it: English pronunciation is hard. Because of all the loanwords from so many different languages, as well as all the different dialects of English, English pronunciation is one very complicated subject.

If you’re learning English as a second language, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that spelling and pronunciation seem to have very little to do with each other. But did you know that even native speakers struggle with the exact same issue growing up? In fact, many native English speakers still struggle with spelling as adults because the way we say a word can be so different from how we write it!

Depending on the dialect of English you speak (British, American, Australian etc), there are anywhere from 38-44 different sounds in English. Yet, there are over 200 different ways to spell all these sounds. Just take a look at the examples below:

 

  • The suffix -ise in promise /ɪs/ is not pronounced the same was as in compromise /aɪz/.

  • The oo in book /ʊ/ is different from the oo in Google /u/, blood /ʌ/, and door /o/.

  • The words bomb /bɒm/ and tomb /tum/ sound nothing alike.

  • The words colonel and kernel are pronounced exactly the same way: /ˈkɜr nl/.

  • The word wind has two different pronunciations and meanings: /wɪnd/ and /waɪnd/.

  • There are 7 different spellings for the long E sound /i/: decent, thirteen, year, delete, funny, receive, believe.

  • There are 8 different ways to pronounce ough in English (we’ll cover these in a later post, stay tuned!)

In general, children that grow up in an English speaking society tend to spend a lot more time memorizing different words and their spellings than children in countries that speak other languages. We even have spelling competitions with trophies because spelling is as challenging as a professional sport! What’s interesting is that people who learn English as a second language are often better spellers than native speakers because they usually learn the written form of the language first. Unfortunately, this means their pronunciation is usually a lot worse.

So, what can you do about it? As we mentioned in a previous blog post, there are lots of things you can do to practice your English. If your focus is on pronunciation, it’s important to spend as much time listening to the language as possible. Over the years, I’ve found that the students with the best accents and pronunciation are always the ones who spend the most time watching English TV and listening to music (yes, you can tell your parents that watching 2 hours of ‘Friends’ episodes every night is now a part of your homework!).

While the best way to learn a language is organically (actively participating in the language in natural settings - not in a classroom or textbook!), knowing a little bit about the structure, rules, and principles can help to some extent. This, my friends, is where today’s lesson starts. Here, we’re going to learn about a special letter that holds the secret to English pronunciation. This letter isn’t found in the alphabet, yet it’s used in more words than any other sound in the English language.

Let me introduce you to ə, otherwise known as schwa.

Schwa, pronounced /uh/, is the laziest letter in the English language, and English is a pretty lazy language when it comes to pronunciation. Practice saying it several times: /uh/ /uh/ /uh/. See how lazy that sounds?

So, if there’s no letter in the alphabet for schwa, how can we recognize it in words? Unfortunately, every vowel in English can make the schwa sound:

 

  • A as in ago /əˈgoʊ/

  • E as in siren /ˈsaɪ rən/

  • I as in original /əˈrɪdʒ ə nl/

  • O as in computer /kəmˈpyu tər/

  • U as in regulate /ˈrɛg yəˌleɪt/

  • Y as in syringe /səˈrɪndʒ/

"Schwa is very closely linked to the rhythm of the language, and once you learn about syllables and stress, it’s relatively easy to identify where to use schwa."

Even though it can come from any vowel, there are some patterns you can learn to help recognize when to use this sound. In fact, understanding when to use schwa is much easier than a lot of other subjects in English. Schwa is very closely linked to the rhythm of the language, and once you learn about syllables and stress, it’s relatively easy to identify where to use schwa. If you’ve been learning English for a long time and still feel like your pronunciation needs work, there’s a good chance schwa is the missing element to sounding native!

There’s too much information to go over in a few blog posts, so in a couple of weeks we’ll be launching a new video course that’ll go over all the details of schwa: how to make it, where to find it in words, and how to use it in sentences to sound like a native speaker. We’ll be sure to link the course to this post once it’s up and running, so check back in a couple weeks if you’re interested in learning more about schwa.

In addition to schwa, syllables, and stress, we’ll be rolling out more courses in the future to help you identify your own mistakes and learn the techniques necessary to improve on your own. The important thing to remember for now is that English pronunciation might seem like a complicated mess of irregular sounds, but there are some rules and guidelines that you can apply to help you improve. Paired with lots of speaking and listening practice, you’ll find that sounding like a native speaker isn’t nearly as hard as you think.

We can’t wait to share what we’ve learned with you, so stay tuned!