How to Train

Hearing and Pronunciation

 In this lesson you will learn…
• The 3 steps of building Capacity in the language (hearing and
pronunciation)

• How to see, hear and feel sound.

• Why words are imaginary.

• How to separate melody from speech.

Review
 The Conventional Approach to
Language Learning

📚✍ 😐😮 👂👄
Reading & 
 Understanding & 
 Hearing &

Writing Speaking Pronunciation

1 2 3
 The Conventional Approach to
Language Learning

📚✍ 😐😮 👂👄
Reading & 
 Understanding & 
 Hearing &

Writing Speaking Pronunciation

1 2 3

Stuck Point
Language is a tool for
Human Connection
 Humans connect most
through spoken conversation
The Conventional Approach 

Fails to Help us Connect
 The Conventional Approach to
Language Learning

📚✍ 😐😮 👂👄
Reading & 
 Understanding & 
 Hearing &

Writing Speaking Pronunciation

1 2 3

Stuck Point
 The Un-Conventional Approach to
Language Learning

👂👄 😊😆 📚✍
Hearing &
 Understanding & 
 Reading & 

Pronunciation Speaking Writing

1 2 3
 The Mimic Method

👂👄 😊😆 📚✍
Capacity Conversation Command

1 2 3
👂👄
Capacity
 Learning Capacity
is like Learning to Play Guitar

👂👄 = 👂🎸
Capacity Instrument
 The 3 Steps to Capacity

👂👄
Capacity

Sound Syllable Sentence

1 2 3
 The 3 Steps to Capacity

👂👄
Capacity

Sound Syllable Sentence

1 2 3
 Sound Capacity
• Guitar Analogy: Learn to play individual note

• What: Can hear/pronounce all the Elemental Sounds

• Why: Elemental Sounds are the foundation of language - any holes

at this level carry all the way up to the top.

• How: Go through the lectures and practice materials here until you
can see, hear, and feel each Elemental Sound.
How to See, Hear and Feel Sound
• How to See: Build up a mental image of pronunciation by learning
to use vowel charts and speech organ diagrams (don’t rely on
letters).

• How to Hear: Using the visualizations for guidance, listen to native

speaker audio repeatedly, until each sound is distinguished.

• How to Feel: Using the visualization and your ear for guidance,
adjust the parts in your mouth until you match the native speaker’s
sound.
 The 3 Steps to Capacity

👂👄
Capacity

Sound Syllable Sentence

1 2 3
 Syllable Capacity
• Guitar Analogy: Learn to finger chords (combination of notes)

• What: Can hear pronounce all Elemental Sounds in possible

combinations.

• Why: Natural speech is not a sequence of words, nor sounds, it’s a

sequence of syllables.

• How: Go through a “Frequency List” and make sure you can

correctly pronounce each word on the list. Highlight the combos that
trip you up and practice them separately.
 /w/…/ə/…./#/…/ɪ/…/g/

/n/…/d/…/u/…/t/…/aɪʔ/

10 Elemental Sounds
wə….#ɪ…gə…nə…du…tɪ…naɪʔ

7 Syllables
What ya’ gonna do tonight?

5 Words
 /w/…/ə/…./#/…/ɪ/…/g/

/n/…/d/…/u/…/t/…/aɪʔ/

The actual
wə….#ɪ…gə…nə…du…tɪ…naɪʔ sounds made

What ya’ gonna do tonight?

 /w/…/ə/…./#/…/ɪ/…/g/

/n/…/d/…/u/…/t/…/aɪʔ/

What your
wə….#ɪ…gə…nə…du…tɪ…naɪʔ brain hears

What ya’ gonna do tonight?

 /w/…/ə/…./#/…/ɪ/…/g/

/n/…/d/…/u/…/t/…/aɪʔ/

What your
wə….#ɪ…gə…nə…du…tɪ…naɪʔ mind imagines

What ya’ gonna do tonight?

 Words don’t exist
We only imagine them
To understand and speak clearly
You must learn how to
hear and pronounce syllables
 The 3 Steps to Capacity

👂👄
Capacity

Sound Syllable Sentence

1 2 3
 Sentence Capacity
• Guitar Analogy: Learn to play chord progressions and songs.

• What: Can mimic a string of syllables at natural speed and melody.

• Why: This is what speech is - a sequence of melodic syllables. If

you can mimic any word/phrase, you can learn how to speak and
understand that that word/phrase.

• How: Train pieces separately, re-combine together slow, then

gradually build up speed.
wə….#ɪ…gə…nə…du…tɪ…naɪʔ

7 Syllables
wə….#ɪ…gə…nə…du…tɪ…naɪʔ
4 Stressed Syllables
3 Unstressed Syllables
 du
tɪ
wə #ɪ gə nə
naɪʔ
Flat-rise-fall

Intonation
Your goal in Capacity is to
become a Mimic
So you can learn the language
fast and natural by ear
 Review
• Three steps to building Capacity: Sound, Syllable, Sentence

• To master a sound, you must see, hear and feel it.

• Speech is made up of melodic syllables, and we only imagine the

words.

• The goal of Capacity is to become a mimic, so you can build

conversational ability naturally by ear.