Hi everyone. Welcome to this week's Seattle Learning Academy American English pronunciation podcast.

This is podcast number 26, and my name is Mandy. Last week, we began talking about nasal sounds.

Nasal sounds are strange sounds because, to make them, we need to completely close air off from exiting out our mouth, and allow the air to go out our nose instead.

The sound we practiced last week was the N-G sound. Let's say a few N-G-I-N-G words to review the fact that there is

usually no G-sound at the end of the N-G spelling. Repeat after me if you can. Ringing.

Banging.

Banging.

Belonging.

Sometimes certain words like finger do also include the G sound, but those words are the exception.

You need to listen carefully to new words so you know how to say them.

Dictionaries will also tell you if there is an additional G sound or not.

Today we're going to practice the other two nasal sounds, the M sound and the N sound.

Not too many people have trouble with the M sound. We create that sound by pressing our

lips together the same as we do for the B sound and P sound. Let's say a few words with the M sound in the beginning, middle, and end of the word.

I'll leave time for you to repeat after me.

Mother.

Empty.

Coming. From.

Column.

That last word, column, is spelled C-O-L-U-M-N. The last letter of that word, the N, is silent.

Other words that follow the same pattern are Autumn, Solem, and D-A-M-N, which some people consider a curse word, so I'm not going to say on

this show. Anyway, all those words end in the M sound, not the N sound, as the spelling would

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