Whales in Wales.

English as a Second Language Listening, speaking, pronunciation and accent
1

Are they pronounced the same?

whales - Wales
son- sun
lead- lead ( metal )
read- read ( past)
meat-meet

You can add up more words if you wish.

Have fun!

2

lead( to guide) lead (metal pronounced as led), read means to read something whereas the past form of this verb which is also the same read(pronounce as red)
and the rest is pronounced the same way means meat and meet, son and sun and whales, Wales.

3

Warred - ward
Whirled - world
Missed - mist
Leased - least
Cent - sent
Baste - based

I’ll have to disagree.
“Lead (metal)” is pronounced as the past form of “lead (verb)” which is spelt as “led”, not “lead”.

4

Thank you OTS.

I mean to let the others know IF the words sound the same or different.

Like in read and read ( past ).

And…

Wind - wind ( clock )
wound- wound ( injury )
sea-see

Thank you…

Have fun.

5

Wound (injury) and wound (clock, past tense) do not sound the same.

6

Hi Bev,

What about

Whirled - world

I’m kind of having second thoughts about it. According to the dictionary, they must sound the same (except “whirl” has an optional “h” sound)

7

I’d say they usually sound the same.

8

Hi OTS,

I think you would consciously add in a token ‘h’ sound when you want to show up the differences between two words such as ‘whales’ and ‘Wales’, likewise with ‘whirled’ and ‘world’. In normal conversation you wouldn’t make this distinction but if you specifically wanted to stress that you are speaking two different words, I think you would have to.

Alan

9

Hi Bev and Alan,
Thanks,
I can definitely hear an “h” in “whirled” and “whales” in Alan’s recording.

10

I do agree.

Thank you.

Kind regards.

11

My Burmese students stared at me in great disbelief when I said ‘Whether and Weather’ sound the same.

But it worths knowing the standards in every disciplines. Of course, everything has its exceptions.

Kind regards.

Ref. Oxford Advanced Learner’s
whether
conjunction
whether pronunciation English ˈweðə®

weather
verb
weather pronunciation English ˈweðə®

12

That’s very British of you, Beees. I love it.

Kind regards.

13

Oh, by the way Beees, I love to say, ai 'ofTn 'gou ta thAt 'Restront. Sounds good to you?

Kind regards.

14

I have my British uncle and cousin sisters ( 3G ) in Essex. They speak totally different English from the American English.

Stress, intonation, rythym, assimilation and even the meaning.

They speak precise British English more familiar to my leaning background.

e.g They would say " 'London is 'expensive rather than " everything in London is expensive.

And I love it.

Kind regards.

Note. I’ve never been to London.