Lesson 6 / 22
/ɜː/ — /ə/
Listen to each sound, compare mouth positions, and practise from words to sentences.
The reference chart uses British IPA. English RankUp uses American audio and speech recognition, so some vowels have different symbols and pronunciations.
1 / 2
/ɝː/
bird /bɝːd/
Mouth and tongue position
Curl the tongue slightly back in the middle of the mouth, lips slightly rounded, hold it long — a hallmark American sound.
Word practice
bird
Sentence practice
The bird is singing.
Mouth-position video (British) — BBC Learning English
2 / 2
/ə/
about /əˈbaʊt/
Mouth and tongue position
The 'schwa' — mouth fully relaxed, tongue neutral, always in an unstressed syllable.
Word practice
about
Sentence practice
Tell me about it.
Mouth-position video (British) — BBC Learning English
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The microphone recognizes words and sentences, not individual IPA sounds. Use its result only to check what the recognizer heard.