You've seen the letter X, but did you know there's no X sound in American English?

你见过字母X，但你知道美式英语中没有X的发音吗？

Confusing, right?

觉得困惑，对吧？

In this video, you're going to learn the different sounds we use to pronounce the letter X. 

在这段视频中，你将学习字母X的不同发音，

So you'll feel totally comfortable pronouncing words with this letter.

这样你就可以完全轻松地发音了。

Every once in a while, I get a question from someone about the X sound.

每隔一段时间，我都会收到关于X发音的问题。

And I have to say, there is no X sound in American English.

我不得不说，美式英语中没有X音。

We have the letter X but let's take a look at what sounds that letter actually represents.

我们有字母X，但是让我们看看这个字母实际上代表什么音。

There are four different ways this letter can be pronounced.

这个字母有四种不同的发音方式。

First, we'll go over those pronunciations, then we'll go over the most common words with the letter X and which pronunciation those words have.

首先，我们会复习这些发音，然后复习最常见的带有字母X的单词以及这些单词的发音。

First, let's go over the two most common pronunciations. In each of these words, the letter X makes two different sounds.

首先，让我们回顾一下两种最常见的发音。在这些单词中，字母X发两种不同的音。

The word extra.

单词“extra”。

Before I tell you what sounds are there, I want you to listen and see if you can guess.

在我告诉你发音之前，我想让你听一下，看看你能否猜出来。

Extra. Extra.

extra、extra。

Now, I'm going to slow it down and exaggerate.

现在，我要放慢速度，夸大一下。

Extra. Extra. Extra. Extra. Kkk. Ssss. K and S.

extra、extra、extra、extra，Kkk，Ssss，K和S。

That's the unvoiced version of this pronunciation. Extra.

这是这个发音的清音版，extra。

Now we don't pronounce them with the separation.

现在，我们不分开来发音。

K is a stop consonant, ek- ek-.

K是闭塞辅音，ek、ek。

Did you hear how my voice abruptly stopped?

你听到我的声音突然停止了吗？

Ek– It wasn't ehh– That's because of the K.

Ek，不是ehh，因为那个K。

You lift the back of the tongue to the soft palate.

把舌背抬到软腭，

Ekk– And that cuts off of the air, it cuts off the sound.

Ekk，它切断了空气，切断了发音。

Now, rather than pulling down the tongue by itself, ekk– kk– kk– Rather than making that full K sound,

现在，不要放下舌头，ekk、kk、kk，不发出完整的K音，

you instead go right into the S. Ekk– sss— ksss—

而是直接进入S，ekk、sss、ksss。

So when you pull your tongue down in the back, the front of your tongue, the front of your mouth is already in position for the S sound.

所以当你把舌头从后面放下来，舌头的前面，嘴巴的前面已经准备发S音了，

Ekkkksss—

Ekkkksss。

So when you release the air, release the tongue, everything's ready to go for the S and the S sound is made.

所以，当你排出空气，放开舌头后，一切准备就绪，s的声音就发出来了。

For the S, the teeth are together and the tip of the tongue is either pressing the back of the bottom front teeth, or it can point up a little bit.

发s音，牙齿靠在一起，舌尖要么压住底部前齿的后部，要么可以向上一点。

Sssss. Sssss.

Sssss、Sssss。

Practice just the KS sounds with me.

和我一起练习KS音。

Front of the mouth is in position for the S, and bring the back of the tongue up to the soft palate.

嘴的前面用来发S音，把舌头的后面拉到软腭。

Let air build up and release it by bringing the back of the tongue down.

让空气积聚起来，把舌头的后部放下来，排出空气。

Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. 

Kksss、Kksss、Kksss、Kksss、Kksss、Kksss，

Let's put it into the word 'extra' slowly. Extra. Extra. That's the unvoiced pronunciation. 

让我们慢慢把它加入“extra”这个词中，extra、extra，这是清音发音。

But there's also a voiced pronunciation like in the word 'exam'.

但也有浊音，就像“exam”这个词。

The letter X still represents two sounds here.

字母X在这里仍然代表两种发音。

What sounds are you hearing now?

你现在听到了什么音？

Exam.

exam，

I'll pronounce it slowly.

我慢慢念，

Eeggggg– zzz– eggzzaam.

Eegggggg、zzz、eggzzaam。

G and Z.

G和Z。

Those are the voice versions of K and S.

这是K和S的浊音版，

So everything about the position is the same, but rather than releasing air,

所以发音位置都一样，但不是排出空气，

ksss, ksss,

ksss、ksss，

you release a voiced sound,

而是发出一个浊音，

gzzz, gzzz, gzzz. Exam. Exam.

gzzz、gzzz、gzzz，exam、exam。