© Paul Smit 2006-2021
Pair list Spanish speakers Chinese speakers
What is a minimal pair?
A ‘minimal pair‘ is a set of two similar sounds which are confused by learners of English who cannot distinguish the difference between the two sounds. Usually, this is because either one sound or both of the two sounds do not exist in the learner’s first language. The long and short i sounds (/i:/ and /I/)are an example of a minimal pair for many learners of English. Word pairs such as sit/seat and slip/sleep are examples of this pair. You may struggle to pronounce the two sounds differently, usually because one or both sounds don’t exist in your first language and you possibly can’t even hear the difference. Fixing these problems requires a number of steps.
How can I improve my pronunciation of minimal pairs?
- Become aware of which sounds you are confusing.
- Listening to the two sounds and learning to recognise each sound.
- Discovering how to produce the sounds differently – Is one longer than the other? Where do I need to put my tongue to make this sound?
- Practising word pairs and concentrating on pronouncing them correctly in sentences.
Becoming aware: Generally, the sounds you confuse are the same sounds other people who speak your first language confuse. For example, most Japanese speakers confuse the l/r pairs (e.g. long/wrong) and Spanish speakers confuse y/j (e.g. yellow/jello). Becoming aware of what typical errors are made by speakers of your language is an important strategy.
- Ask your English teacher for a list of typical minimal pair problems for speakers of your first language or do an online search such as “minimal pair problems for Spanish speakers”. Remember to look for reliable websites such as universities of schools such as the British Council or BBC English.
- Make notes when someone doesn’t understand your pronunciation of a word. E.g. if you find out they heard slip when you tried to say sleep, you know that you confuse the long/short i sounds.
- Ask a native speaker friend to point out your mistakes, and again, make notes.
- Record yourself speaking on your computer or mobile phone and listen for problems in your pronunciation.
Listening to minimal pairs: The website (www.manythings.org/pp) has some useful activities for learning to distinguish minimal pairs, but unfortunately relies on Flash Player which will not work on most browsers due to security risks. While it does work in Internet Explorer, you use it at your own risk.
Lists of typical minimal pair problems for speakers of:
Minimal pair lists and activities:
/ɪ/and/i:/ as in sit/seat or it/eat. This minimal pair is a very common problem for learners from many language backgrounds.
/ɪ/ and /e/ as in pit/pet and wit/wet.
/eɪ/ and /æ/ as in snake/snack (/æ/ is short, while /eɪ/ is long/).
/i:/ and /ei/ as in grease/Grace
/ɒ/ and /ʌ/ as in not/nut Korean speakers
/ʊ/and /u:/ as in look/Luke (long and short u).
Bingo 1: Play bingo with the /aɪ/ /eɪ/ /e/ /ɔ:/ /i:/ /æ/ and /ɪ/vowel sounds.
/v/ & /b/ as in very/berry
/æ/ and /ʌ/ as in hat/hut
/w/ and /v/ as in west/vest
/f/ and /p/ as in fig/pig Korean speakers & Indians (particularly from Gujarat).
/w/ and /r/ as in witch/rich Cantonese speakers, especially from Hong Kong
/ʃ/ & /ʧ/ as in share/chair Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese.
/n/ & /l/ as in name/lame Southern China
/l/ and /r/ as in light/right Most of East Asian except Philipinos and Indonesian/Malay speakers
/j/ and /ʤ/ as in yam/jam Spanish speakers
/f/ and /h/ as in funny/honey
/f/ and /v/ as in fine/vine Indonesian speakers
/f/ and /θ/ as in fin/thin Cantonese speakers
/g/ and /k/ as in gate/Gate Korean speakers
/z/ and /ð/ as in breeze and breathe
/s/ & /θ/ as in sick and thick
/es/ and /s/ as in essay and say Exclusively Spanish speakers.
/ʧ/ and /ʤ/ as in choke/joke
Minimal pair telephone number game
/ʧ/ and tr cluster as chain/train Thai, Vietnamese, Southern Chinese Dialects.
/-t/ and /st/ cluster as in part/past
Added final schwa /ə/ as in but/butter East Asia, especially parts of China.
Dropped/reduced final consonants as in sick/six and thin/think
Number pairs as in thirty and thirteen
Adjective verb pairs (suitable for Upper-intermediate and Advanced learners).
© Paul Smit 2006-2021