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Today I'm going to go over, by request, the months of the year. January. January starts with the 'jj' as in 'jar' consonant sound [], where you are making sound with the vocal cords, jj, as it is voiced. The lips you can see take a position where the corners come in, but the lips stretch away from the face, which shows the teeth. The next sound is the 'aa' as in 'bat' [] followed by the N consonant sound. When the 'aa' as in 'bat' is followed by the N, the M, or the NG consonant sound [], it is somewhat affected by that consonant. Aa, uh, nn. So it is this 'uh' that is thrown in that does not appear in the IPA transcription, but that happens as you pass from the aa into the nn consonant sound. Jan, jan, January. The next syllable is the 'ew' as in 'few' diphthong [], and then the open 'eh' as in 'bed' [], Janua-, rr, the R consonant sound [], and the 'ee' as in 'she' []. -Ary. So the corners of the lips pull wider for the 'ee' as in 'she' after having been in the circle for the R. January, January. It's the first syllable here that's stressed. January, January.

February begins with the F consonant sound, ff, so the bottom lip moves up to touch the bottom of the top teeth, ff. And it's unvoiced, so you just let air pass through. Fe-, it opens into the 'eh' as in 'bed' vowel sound, Feb-, and the has the B sound where the lips come together to make that B sound. The second syllable can be pronounced one of two ways: you can pronounce the R and then have the 'oo' as in 'boo' vowel [] -ru-, Febru-. Although I don't feel like I hear this very much in America, I know it is an accepted pronunciation. But I think much more you will here -u-, the 'ew' as in 'few' diphthong, rather than an R sound. So in most cases this first R sound is left out. Febru-, Febru-. And then the end, just like January, the 'eh' as in 'bed', the R consonant sound, and the 'ee' as in 'she'. February, February. Again it is the first syllable, Fe-, that is accented. February, February.

March. March begins with the M consonant sound and then has the 'ah' as in 'father' [] followed by the R consonant sound. When the 'ah' as in 'father' is followed by the R consonant sound, the R has a way of taking over the vowel. So it's not ah, as we think of it this very relaxed ah, drop of the jaw, relaxed lips, relaxed forward tongue. But rather, Mar-, the lips begin to already sort of form the slightly circular position for the R, and the tongue begins to already draw back into that position. Mar-. It is followed by the 'ch' as in 'char' consonant sound [], which is just like the 'jj' in January but it's not voiced. So you just pass air through your vocal cords. March.

April. April begins with the 'ay' as in 'say' diphthong [], and this is the accented syllable, A-, April. It then has the P consonant sound followed by the R, the schwa [] and the dark L. April, April. May. May begins with the M consonant sound and is followed by the 'ay' as in 'say' diphthong, which is also the first syllable of April. May, May. June, like January, begins with the 'jj' as in 'jar' sound. It then has the 'oo' as in 'boo' vowel and the N consonant sound. June, June.

July, like June and January, begins with the jj consonant sound. The first syllable can be pronounced one of two ways. It can either have the 'oo' as in 'boo', July, or it can have a schwa. Ju-, July. So with the 'oo' as in 'boo' the lips would be more rounded, and with the schwa more relaxed. At any rate, it's the second syllable that is accented. Ju-, Ju-, July, July. And the second syllable has the L sound, followed by the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong []. July. August. In August it is the first syllable that is accented, Au-, August. And it is the 'aw' as in 'law' sound []. The second syllable begins with the G consonant sound, gg, which is voiced, so you do make sound with your vocal cords, gg, and the tongue reaches up to the soft palate and pulls away. It then has the 'uh' as in 'butter' [], very relaxed vowel sound, Augu-, Augu-, and finally the S and T consonant sounds. August.

September. Here it is the middle syllable that is stressed. September, September. Both the first and second syllables have the 'eh' as in 'bed' vowel sound. But the second one, because it's in the accented syllable, will be a little longer and a little higher in pitch. Septe-, September. So it begins with the S consonant sound, unvoiced. Ss. It has the 'eh' as in 'bed', Se-, the P consonant sound, Sep-, but here you don't release puh, because you do that in the T. Sept-, Septe-, the 'eh' as in 'bed' and the M consonant sound. September. B consonant sound, schwa, and R consonant sound. September. October, November, and December are all similar to September in that it is the middle syllable that is stressed, and they all end with the same syllable, -ber.

So October begins with the 'ah' as in 'father' sound, followed by the K sound, kk, which is unvoiced, where the tongue pulls away from the soft palate. Oc-, Oc-. The accented syllable is the T consonant sound followed by the 'oh' as in 'no' diphthong []. Octo-, October. November. November begins with the N consonant sound and has the 'oh' as in 'no' diphthong, here in an unaccented syllable, No-. -Ve-: the V consonant sound followed by the 'eh' as in 'bed' and the M consonant sound, Novem-, Novem-ber. November. December. It begins with the D consonant sound followed by the 'ih' as in 'sit' vowel sound. It then has the S consonant sound and the 'eh' as in 'bed' followed by the M consonant sound. Dece-, December. December.

And now a sentence for each month. Listen and repeat. I'll see you in January. In February it snows a lot. In March it seems like it's alway raining. Last April we went to Europe. My birthday is May fifth. In June, summer begins. In July we celebrate the birthday of America. In August it's always so hot. In September we begin our school year. October is the beginning of fall. November is my favorite month. In December we have Christmas.