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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Gabriella: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Pronunciation Series, lesson 2 - The Pronunciation of Vowels in Swahili. I’m Gabriella.
Medina: Jina langu ni Medina. My name is Medina. Listeners, did you practice the sounds from lesson 1?
Gabriella: We have a few more sounds for you this time! 5 vowels.
Medina: And these are very easy!
Gabriella: Yes, and they aren't that different from English sounds, actually. So this lesson will be short and sweet. Okay, shall we get started?
Medina: All right!

Lesson focus

Gabriella: Now, if you’ve got the lesson notes, it’s probably a good idea to read them as you listen, so that you can see what sounds we are talking about.
Medina: The first thing to remember is that there are 5 vowels in Swahili—the same as those in English. Yes, 5! So make sure to practice and remember them well!
Gabriella: What we’ll do is compare them to sounds in English. Okay, the first one is the letter -A.
Medina: /a/
Gabriella: A is pronounced like the [ah] in "father." never as the [a] in "cat." Some example words in Swahili are...
Medina: abiria
Gabriella: "passenger," and...
Medina: saa
Gabriella: "clock." The next vowel is -E.
Medina: /e/
Gabriella: E is pronounced like the [eh] in "best." For example...
Medina: embe
Gabriella: “mango," and...
Medina: tembe
Gabriella: “tablet.” Next is the letter -I.
Medina: /i/
Gabriella: It’s pronounced like the [i] in "fit." For example...
Medina: sita
Gabriella: “six," and...
Medina: pita
Gabriella: “pass.” Next is the letter -O.
Medina: /o/
Gabriella: It’s pronounced like the [o] in note. Now don’t make a [u] sound here. We just want a round “o”. For example...
Medina: soda
Gabriella: “soda," and...
Medina: kiboko
Gabriella: “cain.” The last vowel is the letter -U.
Medina: /u/
Gabriella: This is pronounced like the [u] in "duke." It can also be like the [oo] in "book." For example...
Medina: ule
Gabriella: “him" or "her," and...
Medina: mume
Gabriella: “man.” So I guess this basically covers all the vowel sounds that exist in Swahili.
Medina: Yes, that’s right. It's very easy, isn't it?
Medina: Just finished this lesson? Wondering what to study next?
Gabriella: We’ll guide you through. While you’re on the lesson page, click on “Add Course to Dashboard.”
Medina: This course is now added to your SwahiliPod101.com dashboard where..
Gabriella: You can see which lesson to study next..
Medina: And you can easily jump back into your lessons the next time you log in.

Outro

Gabriella: That’s all for this lesson. Thanks for joining us everyone! Keep practicing that pronunciation, and we’ll see you next time!
Gabriella: Goodbye.
Medina: Kwa heri

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