Hi. I'm Ronnie. Do you have problems saying "je" and "ye"? Are you a Spanish speaker?
Maybe. If you speak Spanish, so if you're from Mexico, or Spain, or other Spanish-speaking
places in South America or all over the world, it's going to be difficult for you to get
the pronunciation of "j" like "je" and "y" like "ye". Do you know why? Because in your
language, it's just different. Isn't it? It's the opposite. Why does English have to be
so difficult with pronunciation? I'm here to help you. Maybe you have seen a lesson
like this. I did a lesson like this a long time ago, years and years ago, really, but
we had some audio difficulties, so I'm here to redo it back in the year 2015. Go for a
First of all, let's focus on the mouth position, and what we do to get the differences in the
pronunciation of these letters. The first one: "je". Your throat, the air's going to
come out of your throat almost like you're yelling, so it's like "je, je". Your teeth
are a little bit apart, "je", and you're going to throw the air out: "je, je". It's a very
strong sound. Now, the "y" sound, on the other hand, is not as strong. It's more of a "ye,
ye". Think about this: what's the position of my mouth when I make the "je" and when
I make the "ye"? When I make the "ye", I get to smile a little bit. My cheeks are really
tight, so I'm like: "ye, ye". When I do the "j": "je", my mouth is more sloppy and wiggly.
So, it wiggles like Jell-O. The "j", your mouth is not as tight: "je" and more loose
and open. And with the "y": "ye", you have to make your mouth tight, your cheek's got
to be tight. These are your cheeks. Your cheeks have to be tight and: "ye". It's a much softer
sound. Let's go through some examples, shall we?
Somebody's name: "Jo-Jo". "Hi, Jo-Jo, how are you? Cool." "Jo-Jo, je, Jo-Jo." Oh, it's
another name. This is not Juan, oh no. In English, we say: "Je, John. Hi, John, how
are you? Cool. Thanks for watching." The next thing we have, a really, really fast airplane
is a "je, je, jet". Jo-Jo, John, jet. You try now.
Perfect. Good. Next one, the word
"jeer". Oh, what does that mean? That's a strange word. I've never heard that. "Jeer"
means you make fun of someone. It's not very nice to do to people. This, another one is
a person's name, it could be a boy or a girl: "Jess", "Jessica", "Jessie". So this word
is: "je, Jess". "Jell-O". What's Jell-O? Jell-O is gelatin, it's a dessert. In Canada and
in North America, or in... Sorry. In Canada and America, Jell-O is a brand name of a kind
of gelatin. And there was a really famous actor that would advertise Jell-O. Bonus points
if you know his name. Jell-O Pudding Pops. We have the months of "June" and "July". So
Good. Okay, so let's move on to the "ye". Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. "Yo-yo". What's a
yo-yo? I bet you you know what a yo-yo is. A yo-yo is a toy. Hmm. It's a toy on a string.
Maybe you are really, really good at playing with a yo-yo. I've never been really good
at yo-yoing. It's a noun, it's a verb. Just to... Didn't work. Bored. Ronnie doesn't like
to yo-yo, but pronunciation is fun. So this word is: "yo-yo". You may hear this in some
movies, and people be like: "Yo, yo, yo, what's up, yo?" You have to be careful if you're
going to be a cholo gangster, not to say: "Jo, jo." You have to say: "Yo, yo." Please
be careful. [Yawns] "Yawn", "yawn". Yawn means you go [yawns] because you're tired, so you
yawn. Next: "yet". "Yet" is a kind of grammar word and it means that something is going
to happen, but it won't happen now. So it's like "still". I yet have got to get you to
subscribe to my YouTube channel. Go do it. "Year". The year is 2015. Funny story, the
other day I was looking at my phone and I realized that it wasn't 2014 anymore. And
the thing I was looking at, at the supermarket had expired. Ronnie has no concept of years,
but now I do know it's 2015 is the year. "Yes". Not: "Jes", "Yes". The colour, beautiful colour
of "yellow". Let's practice one more time. Yo-yo, yawn, yet, year, yes, and yellow. Oh,
we forgot one. "Yeast". Yeast is something that we use to make bread or pastries rise.
It's also an infection that some people get. Let's not talk about that in the pronunciation
lesson; we'll save that one for later.
So, the next thing that we have to do, and probably the most challenging thing that we
have to do is comparing the two sounds. So, it's fine and dandy if you can just say the
j's, and then you say the y's, and you're like: "Yo, I got it!" No you don't. You will
only get it if we do this now. So, please, follow along. The "j" is Jo-jo. The "y" is
yo-yo. Please repeat. Jo-jo, yo-yo. Make sure that your mouth is really tight for the y's.
Tight mouth for the y's. Jo-jo, yo-yo. Your turn. Perfect. Next one: Hi, John, how are
you? John, yawn. John, yawn. Ye, ye, yawn. Jet, yet. Jet, yet. Jeer: "he-he, he-he",
jeer, year. Year. What year is it? Not: what jeer is it? Jess: Oh, hi, Jess, how are you?
Cool. Yes. Jess, yes. A lot of the time I hear people say: -"Jess". -"Where's Jess?
Jess, Jess is here? No. Jess isn't here. You're lying. Jessica is not here. Oh, you meant
'yes'." Please be careful. Jell-O which is a kind of dessert, Jell-O and the colour yellow.
Jell-O, yellow. Try and say this: "Yellow Jell-O." It's lime. Lemon. Yellow Jell-O.
Then we have: yeast. The "j" words, these obviously don't connect, but we have June
If you have any other pronunciation problems, please go to my Facebook, which is
Ronnie McEnglish, or hit me up on the website. I will be happy to try and help you figure out
more of your pronunciation problems. From Jo-Jo, John, and Jess, we're out of here.