The main reasons why speaking English is so hard 2

The main reasons why speaking English is so hard

This special pronunciation section will explain to you why English is hard to speak correctly and give you some help on improving your pronunciation. These are the main reasons why English is so hard. There is a lesson for each one.

Note that the pronunciation examples are in American English accent. In the last lesson you will find American and British English examples.

You most likely know how to say these sounds: 'm' 'p', 's' and 'd'. However do you know how to say them when they are together? For example have you ever had to say a word like 'glimpsed' 

There are FOUR consonants in a row at the end of this word, 'mpsd'. The 'e' is not a vowel. Even though 'glimpsed' has seven sounds in it, it is only ONE syllable!

Here are some common consonant clusters and examples:

Cluster	Examples
br	bridge		abrupt		bright
bd	absorbed		bribed		disturbed
fs	cliffs		beliefs
ft	craft		shaft		left
mp	bump		lump		camp
pt	egypt		except		suspect
ths	baths		maths		paths
nth	month		tenth		seventh
nd	friend		land		hand
sp	sponge		clasp		lisp
st	start		last		sting
lmd	filmed
lk	milk		silk
str	strength		destroy		strip
vs	behaves		waves		valves

You need to know that when you are saying words with consonant clusters in them it is very important that you say all the consonants as one syllable. A mistake often made by Asian speakers among others is to put them into extra syllables. For example:

'glimpsed' could become 'glimp sid' 

or 'bribed' could become 'brib id' 

This does not sound correct.

Finally here is an exercise to let you know when you have really mastered this. Try saying the following:
'The sixth twisty crisp'