Pronouncing the letter ع ayn in Arabic

right now want to talk about the beautiful and delicious letter ein which is one of the more distinctive sounds that we have in the arabic language and one that perhaps undeservedly has reputation for being bit more challenging than some of the other sounds we need to learn and control the sound of an iron is voiced constriction of the throat it sounds like this and to make it we're using our vocal cords we're sending some air up through our throats with little assist from our diaphragm and tensing our neck muscles bit to affect the quality of the sound not too much we don't want to strain ourselves but just enough to affect the quality of the sound you have probably made something like this sound before know i've made it on an occasion when tied my necktie little bit too tightly or if get an over-enthusiastic hug from my toddler around the neck and in both of those cases my neck muscles will engage little bit instinctively right just to protect my throat which is kind of delicate instrument and i'm also probably uttering little exclamation about the situation in which find myself so practice is important right and you can try that on your own but couple of things that do want to mention here are first if you have already encountered and learned how to pronounce our letter ha that sort of raspier sound that we have in arabic you'll find that the muscles in your neck are doing something similar if not identical and if you're finding this sound challenging one cue might recommend is to think of it as voiced ha sound sometimes that helps people get there and really do recommend putting your fingers to your throat for moment as you're trying to pronounce these sounds and feeling what's going on right which muscles are you engaging what does it feel like when they are little bit more tense and engaged it's also important to remember think that ein in arabic is consonant not vowel and we do often need to make this voiced sound in way that nevertheless doesn't really resolve into sound with real vowel quality right it can be kind of schwa it can be sort of colorless it doesn't need and sometimes mustn't resolve into an it's just its own voiced consonant that doesn't quite fit neatly into particular vowel sometimes it will be followed by vowel right and you can think of it as gradual swift but gradual de-clenching of those neck muscles that will enable us to resolve into clear voiced vowel think it's also important to mention that if using these muscles in this way is new thing for you and don't think we really do it when we're speaking english which is my mother tongue then you're going to want to practice gently at first our muscles do get sore when we do new things with them and the muscles of your neck and throat are no different in that regard with this sound and this letter in particular think sometimes motivated and enthusiastic learners can have tendency to really go for it and really emphasize that sound which is good as practice but it is possible to overdo it in way that can become little uncomfortable know that when i'm working with my beginning classes on this letter feel little bit of fatigue and little bit of soreness at the end of 50 or 75 minute class session so the sound can be gentle while still retaining its distinctive quality and aiming for that in your practice gentle but distinctive is something that can help your practice remain sustainable