I think one of the most difficult things to accurately pronounce in English is ‘universal’ words. Words that share the same root in your native tongue.
Chocolate is one of them.
We’re so used to saying it in a certain way, it’s really hard to change!
Here’s How to say chocolate:
TRANSCRIPT
Hey guys, it’s Hadar. And this is the Accent’s Way. Today we’re going to talk about the delicious word ‘chocolate’, ‘chocolate’.
Now, as you can hear, there are only two syllables in this word the way I’m pronouncing it: choco-late. You start with a ‘ch’ sound and then you open it to the ‘aa’ as in “father” – ‘chaa’. So it’s not ‘chOcOlit’ or ‘chOcOlet’. ‘chaa’ – drop your jaw, relax your lips completely. And then close it with a K sound ‘chaak’.
The second syllable is an L sound, a schwa, which is a really reduced vowel – l’, l’, l’. And then a held T – l’t, which is basically a T that is not released. So I bring the tip of the tongue up to block the air inside my mouth – l’t – but I don’t release it. I just stop.
‘chaak-l’t’. Chocolate. “Can I have some chocolate, please?” “Can I get a box of chocolate?” “Life is like a box of chocolate”. Chocolate. Pretty simple. Just remember: it’s two syllables – ‘chaak-l’t’. Primary stress on the first syllable. And then the second syllable has a schwa, so it’s a reduced vowel: ‘chaak-l’t’.
Okay, that’s it. Thank you for watching. Please share this video with your friends if you liked it. And I hope it was tasty for you as it was for me. Come on over to my website to check it out and get more great content that is just sitting there waiting for you.
Have a great week. And I’ll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
