Do you pronounce "January " this way?

[teechar]

How to pronounce January in English - Definition of January in English

How to pronounce January in English. The definition of January is: the first month of the year; begins 10 days after the winter...

forvo.com

Listen to the recording by gemmelo. Practice saying that (at least 30 times). Then post back.

 

[Tarheel]

How to pronounce January in English - Definition of January in English

How to pronounce January in English. The definition of January is: the first month of the year; begins 10 days after the winter...

forvo.com

Listen to the recording by gemmelo. Practice saying that (at least 30 times). Then post back.

Three out of the four sound just like an American would say it. Hm.

 

[emsr2d2]

Three out of the four sound just like an American would say it. Hm.

As I said earlier, it's clear that most AmE speakers make it a four-syllable word but most BrE speakers give it just three.

 

[teechar]

Three out of the four sound just like an American would say it. Hm.

Yes, and I use both. However, I think the recording I pointed to is very useful in that it's easy to emulate for a learner like the OP who is struggling with the pronunciation of that word. In fact, if I had that issue with one of my students in class, I would focus on that pronunciation solely for precisely that reason.

 

[Amigos4]

Three out of the four sound just like an American would say it. Hm.

As I said earlier, it's clear that most AmE speakers make it a four-syllable word but most BrE speakers give it just three.

I believe Tarheel was referring to the link teechar provided. Four examples of British pronunciation are listed under the " Accent: British” icon. Of those four examples, three use four-syllable pronunciation. Obviously, those three examples should have been placed under the “ Accent: American” icon. teechar correctly referred to the recording by gemmelo to illustrate the correct British pronunciation of “January”.
I’ll let @Tarheel explain the “Hm” comment in his post.

 

[5jj]

I believe Tarheel was referring to the link teechar provided. Four examples of British pronunciation are listed under the " Accent: British” icon. Of those four examples, three use four-syllable pronunciation. Obviously, those three examples should have been placed under the “ Accent: American” icon. teechar correctly referred to the recording by gemmelo to illustrate the correct British pronunciation of “January”.

No. Both the three-syllable and the four-syllable version are fine in BrE. I probably vary between the two, depending on what, if anything, follows.

 

[emsr2d2]

I wasn't suggesting that using the four-syllable version isn't correct in BrE. It is, of course. The word clearly has four syllables. However, the vast majority of BrE speakers, in normal everyday language, use the three-syllable pronunciation. The people who record on Forvo, with words like this, have to decide between how they would say a word in their everyday life and how it's pronounced "formally".
If I were making a formal speech, I would probably give it four syllables.

 

[Tarheel]

I didn't know "Hm" needed an explanation. However, I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the British pronunciation is with three syllables. Now I know they use both.

The trickiest, in my opinion, is February. January is second. (The easiest, of course, are May and June.)

 

[Amigos4]

I didn't know "Hm" needed an explanation. However, I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the British pronunciation is with three syllables. Now I know they use both.

The trickiest, in my opinion, is February. January is second. (The easiest, of course, are May and June.)

@Tarheel - Hm! I bet mohammedabo will be happy when May and June arrive!

(Just for fun, I think I'll try pronouncing "mohammedabo" on Forvo! )

 

[SoothingDave]

I didn't know "Hm" needed an explanation. However, I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the British pronunciation is with three syllables. Now I know they use both.

The trickiest, in my opinion, is February. January is second. (The easiest, of course, are May and June.)

I would think the vast majority of native speakers pronounce February as if the first R did not exist.

 

[Glizdka]

The trickiest, in my opinion, is February. January is second. (The easiest, of course, are May and June.)

I'm a big fan of how September is the ninth month, October is the tenth, November is the eleventh, and December is the twelfth. It makes sense when you know how it's come to be this way, but it still perplexes my tingling Latin-speaking senses.

 

[SoothingDave]

The Ceasars weren't content with inventing the salad and the surgical birth procedure, and had to go muck up the numbering system.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would think the vast majority of native speakers pronounce February as if the first R did not exist.

Absolutely! Many people say "Feb-yuh-ree". Some people pronounce it as if there were no "ua" either. In rapid, everyday speech, many BrE speakers say "Feb-ree".

 

[SoothingDave]

Here it's Feb-you-air-ee, with the latter three syllables exactly as in January

To be clear, I mean this is how most people say it. I say it correctly, with the R. Feb-roo-air-ee

 

[mohammedabo]

Here it's Feb-you-air-ee, with the latter three syllables exactly as in January

To be clear, I mean this is how most people say it. I say it correctly, with the R. Feb-roo-air-ee

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[Glizdka]

Now it's much better.

Try to say it in one go instead of syllable-by-syllable. Or better yet, say it in a sentence.

 

[mohammedabo]

Now it's much better.

Try to say it in one go instead of syllable-by-syllable. Or better yet, say it in a sentence.

I did it.

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[Glizdka]

It sounds somewhat like two separate words rather than one when you say it. Janu-ary.

Work on making the transition more fluid, so it sounds like one word.

 

[mohammedabo]

It sounds somewhat like two separate words rather than one when you say it. Janu-ary.

Work on making the transition more fluid, so it sounds like one word.

Vocaroo | Online voice recorder

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vocaroo.com

 

[Glizdka]

It sounds understandable to me. I'm not a native speaker, so I'd wait for one's opinion, but I think you've done a pretty good job when compared with your first attempts in the original post.