"Bacon", "salmon", "luncheon", "fusion", and "pigeon" all have an -on ending in common. But just by looking at these words, you cannot guess their pronunciation. That's why I have put together a list of over 20 words that end in -on whose pronunciations are not obvious. In this lesson, I will teach you how to pronounce all these words, and I will give you a phonetic spelling for each. It will also be a good vocabulary review since I will tell you what each word means. It's important to pronounce -on words correctly if you want to be properly understood by native speakers. www.engvid.com/pronunciation-...
TRANSCRIPT
Good afternoon. Good morning. My name's Ronnie. I'm going to teach you how to... Get focus on the camera, okay? I'm going to teach you some very important pronunciation. Pronunciation, pronunciation. And the point of me teaching you this is-magic-how to sound more natural when you speak English. So, you understand; you know that pronunciation in English, I think is the most difficult because it's just crazy, isn't it? You see a word written, but the way that it's actually said is completely different. We have silent letters; we have letters that make a whole new word, a whole new sound.
So, let me teach you something that will help you, and it's all about one of my favourite things in the word: Food. Who likes food? I like food. Food is essential for living, so this lesson is essential for you. I hope you're not hungry; maybe you will be after this.
So, our first word is: "bacon". Right? "Bay-kin", not: "bacon"? No. Check this out. "Bacon". "Bay-kin", "bacon", "bay-kin". What is going on, Ronnie? What's going on is the... All of these words that I've written on the board actually end in "ion" or "on", but we pronounce them like: "in". So, we don't say: "bacon"-unless you're a French Canadian-we say: "bay-kin". So, if I was to write this phonetically, which means how it sounds, I would write: "bay-kin". Bacon is delicious. It's got a lot of fat, a lot of calories - that's what makes it so tasty. It comes from a pig, and it's the tummy of a pig. Pig tummy. Delicious bacon. Bacon. Bacon.
So, next one. This is a crazy one as well because we have a silent "l", and as our lesson will follow, we don't say: "mon", we say: "min". So, this word-it's a fish and the inside of the fish is orange or pink-is called not: "salmon"; it's actually called: "samin". So, it looks like "salmon", but it's "samin". So, so far we have: "bacon" and "salmon".
Next, it's a vegetable. It smells bad; it makes you cry, if you cut it. And this is not: "onion"; it's actually: "un-yin". So you want to say: "onion", but we're like: "No. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to say: 'un-yin'." Oh, that's just crazy. Bear with, okay? It gets more fun.
The next one is: "lemin", not: "lemon"; "lemin". This is actually a little more easier. Now, the other thing that you guys have to be aware of is "lemon" is yellow, and it's big. Okay? In a lot of your countries, you say: "leemon", and "leemon" actually in English we call "lime". Uh-oh. So, a lemon is big and yellow; and a lime-which is actually the spelling; it's pretty cool-is actually small and green. So, in your language, maybe you mix those up. But never fear. Lemons are yellow; limes are green.
Another delicious fruit is a "melon". Not: "melon"; "melin". And in the world we have many different kinds of melon; we have watermelon that has nothing to do with water, and we have muskmelon, dew melon, honeydew melon, queen melon, king melon - so many melons; we're not going to get into them. But the pronunciation is: "melin", not "melon".
Another thing that we have that you probably maybe have never seen this word before, it's called "mutton". Mitten? Don't eat the mittens. "Mutton". "Mutton" is basically a sheep. So, maybe you have heard of the word "lamb". "Oh, Ronnie, you forgot the 'b': 'lamb'." It's not "lam-b"; it's "lam". So, basically: "lamb" and "mutton" are the same thing; they're both sheep. The difference is a lamb is a baby sheep, and a mutton is an older sheep; a teenager. So, you're eating the teenager or you're eating the baby. Do you eat babies? Do you eat baby lamb? Do you eat baby sheep? Cool.
Do you eat "lye-in"? Not: "lion". It should be. Look at: "li-on". Oh, no, in English - no. I'm sorry, we say: "lye-in". "Lion". Have you ever eaten lion? Me neither. I would. I think they're beautiful, but I would eat them. Damn, I would eat anything, really. Maybe anything.
The next one. Maybe you guys are confused about why I have "lion" written on the board - it was a joke. But the next one is not a joke at all. And this word, it looks like: "pig-eon". And you say: "Ronnie, is that a pig?" and I say: "No. A 'pigeon' is a bird." Okay? A lot of people don't like pigeons; they think that they're dirty... Or all birds are dirty; all animals are dirty. […]