In this video we're going to be looking at the difference between /n/ and /ŋ/.

Let's start off with the first sound /n/, okay?

This is a nasal sound, /n/.

So, the sound essentially travels out of your nose.

You put the tip of your tongue up to the top of your mouth - if you want to be really specific, very close to your alveolar ridge.

So, it's not on the roof of your mouth, it's not the palate.

It's a little bit kind of between your teeth and the alveolar ridge.

You touch that /n/ and you hold it, /n/.

Now the other sound, /ŋ/, is further back.

Again, it's another nasal sound, so the sound travels out of your nose.

Now many languages don't have this sound, so I want you to image that you're pronouncing a /g/, /g/, as in "go", "goat", okay?

But, you don't release it, you hold it.

So, take "go", /ŋ/, you hold it /ŋ/, that's the sound you need.

Let's have a look at some minimal pairs and you can compare the difference.

Just listen and repeat: sin, sing, win, wing.

And the last ones: ban, bang.

Now just a quick note before we look at some sentences: Be really careful with that /ŋ/ sound and that you're not releasing it.

So don't say sing-a, bang-a, okay? Cause, erm, yeah, that's not how we say it.

So now let's have a look at some sentences.

Her son sung a song. Her son sung a song.

Song also has that /ŋ/ sound at the end too.

How about another one.

Bung the bun in the oven. Bung the bun in the oven.

Now, to bung is an informal British way of saying to put or to throw something somewhere in a very careless way.

So, in this context, we're basically saying, just put in the bun in the oven, carelessly.

That's the end of this video, I hope it's been helpful and it's helped with your pronunciation.

Feel free to go back and watch again if you need to, if you need more listening and repeating exercises, but for now, I'll just say, I'll see you next week.

Bye bye.