the word 'download'.

This week's Word of the Week is 'download'. Thanks so much to the fan who suggested it.

This is a two-syllable word with stress on the first syllable. DA-da, download. So the

first syllable will be longer than the second. DA-da, download.

We begin with the D consonant sound.  Teeth are together, and the front, flat part of

the tongue is at the roof of the mouth, and I'm voicing it, dd, dd.  Next we have the

OW as in NOW diphthong.  The main issue my students have with this sound is that they

don't drop their jaw enough for the first half of this diphthong.  Do-, you really

do need to drop it.  Dow-.  The lips will circle in for the second half of the

diphthong, do-. So the jaw will come up, and the tongue will lift to the roof of the mouth

for the N.  The front part of the tongue should be flat and wide when it goes to the

roof of the mouth.  Some people will make it more narrow and make it stiff, put some

tension in it.  That will probably make it sound somewhat more like an NG.  So make sure it's

flat and relaxed, nn, all the way forward in the mouth.  To transition from the N to

the L, push the tip of the tongue against the back of the front top teeth.  This will

engage the tip, instead of the top flat part of the tongue, which will make it sound more

like the L.  Next is the OH diphthong.  Because we're in an unstressed syllable, the

jaw will drop a little less for this first sound of the diphthong than it would have

in a stressed syllable, -lo-, -lo-.  The lips will then round in for the second half

of the diphthong.  Downloa-dd.  And we end with a D.  Most native speakers

won't release the D, download, dd, dd, but will just make it a stop, download.  So,

they'll bring the tongue up into position and stop the air in their throat. Download,

download. Since it's unstressed, we may take some of the energy out of the voice here,

-load, -load, -load.  Download. So, it won't sound the same way 'load' would in a sentence,

where it would be stressed.  "That's a heavy load", load, load. 

Download, -load, -load. 

Load, -load.  We've got to make it unstressed.  Download.  Download. 

I'll download that later. 

Here it is in slow motion.

If there's a word you find difficult to pronounce, suggest it in the comments.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.