MiniPod: Totaub txog ib yam dab tsi kom zoo tshaj qub ntxiv | Xyaum tawm suab lus nrog Janice

Toom sob kawm 5 ntiag tiv los yuav pab kom koj tau xyaum kawm txog cov kev tawm suab thaum koj mloog thiab xyaum nrog Janice petersen.

Ntsiab lus tseem ceeb:

• Lub hom phiaj kawm: Pab kom muaj peev xwm hais tau lub suab /l/ and /n/.
• Tawm lub suab /l/ tam li lub suab /n/ rau los lus muaj cov niam ntawv xyaw nrog lub suab yub piv txwv li.., lo lus thrill thiab train uas yog ib lo lus hais suab yuam kev rau tej neeg kawm ntawv Askiv ua hom lus ob. Tsis tas li ntawd los lub suab /l/ thiab /n/ yej yog ib lub suab hais tau nyuaj heev rau tej neeg hais lus Arabic, Cantonese, South Western Mandarin, Russian thiab Turkish. Lub suab /n/ los kuj yog ib lub suab nyuaj heev rau tej neeg Italy thiab neeg Croatia thiab. Lub suab /n/ los tej zaum neeg Japan kuj yuav hais lub suab yub tawm hauv qhov ntswg thiab.
• Tej ntaub ntawv coj los xyaum tawm suab: We light a new light for the Lunar New Year In the dark of the night, we light a new light for Diwali For eight nights, we light a new light for Hanukkah.
• Qee lo lus yuav siv coj los kawm rau cov kev tawm suab: /l/ light, low, line, lot, lap, thrill /n/ night, no, nine, not, nap, train.

SBS Learn English will help you speak, understand and connect in Australia.

This lesson suits all learners at all levels.

Transcript:

(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)

Hi! I’m Janice Petersen. You might recognise me from SBS World News. As a news reporter I must speak clearly and be very careful about how I pronounce places and names. People have even said that I’ve become a queen of pronunciation!

Some of my favourite SBS World News stories are when we show people from many different cultures in Australia celebrating special times of the year.

Some of my favourite festivals are related to light, such as Lunar New Year, celebrating the first new moon of the lunar calendar; Diwali, symbolising the victory of light over darkness; and Hannukah, also known as the festival of lights.

All three festivals are celebrated by lighting candles, lanterns, or oil lamps. They remind me of this tongue twister:

We light a new light for the Lunar New Year,

In the dark of the night, we light a new light for Diwali

For eight nights, we light a new light for Hanukkah

This tongue twister is also a great way to practice pronouncing the /l/ [le] in light and the /n/ [nnnn] in night. They sound similar, so let’s start by finding out what the difference is.

With the /l/ sound, keep your mouth slightly open and relaxed. Place the tip of your tongue against the back of your top teeth then flick it. Let’s pretend we’re singing, la la la. Okay, let’s practice:

• Light
• Low
• Line

The /n/ sound starts the same way as /l/ by placing your tongue at the top of your mouth. But this time, find the ridge behind your teeth and put the tip of your tongue flat against it.

This placement of your tongue will block the airflow out of your mouth, so that the air goes through your nose instead. It will make a nasal sound. Let’s give it a try:

• Night
• No
• Nine

Did you hear the nasal sound?

Next, let’s try the sounds in the word pairs. If you like, you can repeat after me:

• Light - night
• Low - no
• Line - nine

We can practice these sounds in the first line of the tongue twister:

We light a new light for the Lunar New Year

With us today are learners from the Mosman Council Conversation Class.

Students

We light a new light for the Lunar New Year,

In the dark of the night, we light a new light for Diwali

For eight nights, we light a new light for Hanukkah

They did such an amazing job.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the different ways of saying the /l/ and /n/ sounds. Tonight, when you turn on a light, practise it again.

I hope you enjoy your next festival in Australia with friends and family.

CREDITS

Thanks to our educational consultant, Natalie Oostergo from IES College and learners from the Mosman Council Conversation Class.

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