Letters Vs. Sounds: "Vowel ay"

Pronouncing vowel sounds can be challenging in a foreign language.  This is because we interpret the vowels we hear through the filter of our native language.  We hear a sound close to a vowel sound in our language, and our brain lumps it together with that known sound.  Fortunately, we can learn to override this filter and adapt it to include a different set of vowels.  But we have to know which words have the new vowel sound, and with the lack of consistent spelling in English, this is a learning process.

We have been looking at the vowel sounds one sound at a time.  The best way to re-train your brain to hear these sounds is to use listening skills.  But being familiar with the variations in spelling will also help you succeed.

The sound /e/; or "vowel ay," has at least nine different ways that it is spelled in English. It is most frequently spelled with the letter a and is sometimes called "long a".  You can see examples of the sound's various spellings in the chart below.