The /æ/ sound

Our next pronunciation lesson is about the /æ/ sound most often represented by the letter ‘a’ in words such as hat, cat, began and others. 

Section One: Spotting the problem

Let's listen to the following words. You'll hear the ones on the left pronounced with a Spanish accent:

Pronounced this way, the words in each row sound quite similar. Yet the ones on the left should be pronounced with an /æ/ sound, like hat and bag, and the words on the right with an /ʌ/, like hut and cut. Well, our goal is to make them sound different, the way they're usually pronounced in English. 

To do this, first we'll need to learn and practise a target sound, the /æ/ sound. 

Section Two: Correcting the problem 

Now let's learn how to form this /æ/ sound. First, listen to these two sounds:
/e/ in words like step, many, left
/a:/ in star, car, bar 

The sounds /e/ and /a:/ are easy to distinguish. Now, to 'find' the /æ/ sound, our new target sound, we'll do two things. First, let's make a continuous line of sounds starting from /e/ down to /a:/ this way: /e/ ----- /a:/ 

Repeat this a few more times before moving on.

Our /æ/ sound can be found somewhere between /e/ and /a:/. Let's look for it. To do this, I'll start again, stopping at the point where I think the /æ/ sounds right. Listen:  /e/ ----- /æ/

Ok, that's our sound: It's not /e/ like bed, nor is it /ʌ/ like bug or /a:/ like bar. It's /æ/ such as bag, have, or add. Try this exercise for yourself and experiment a little bit more before moving on to the practice part. 

Section Three: Practice 

Now that we've got the sound, let's use it in the right form in the right words. Compare these words: big-beg-bag-bug

Out of these four, bag is the word with our /æ/ sound. Pay special attention to the difference between bag and bug. 

Now continue practising. Before saying each word, fix the /æ/ sound aloud, and then say the word. Start with these:
glad, happy, man, sand, candy, Andy, stand, natural, handy, handball, began, understand. 

Now practise with these word pairs: 

Section Four: Memorize 

Learn a few example sentences and expressions from the list below to help you remember the /æ/ sound properly. 

• plastic bag 
• backpack 
• madman
• taxi rank 
• clap your hands
• Do both exercises if you can.
• Your father's a happy man.
• Take off your hat, please.
• I usually run ten laps, but yesterday I ran only five 

I hope this was useful. Keep practising!