This viewer question comes from China: “Can you tell me how to speak “interview, indefinitely, written, palm, twenty, forty, sixty” etc. Thank you because I’m very confused.”
This is a big question. I think the best way to approach this question is to look at syllables and spelling.
Syllables are beats in a word. For instance, my name, Jennifer, has 3 syllables: Jen uh fer. Tarle has 2: Tar l.
Spelling guides our pronunciation, but is not a recipe for speaking. As I always say in my classes, “there are exceptions to every spelling rule.” So confusing! Yes, I agree. You may need to listen to the word, slowly, or ask a native speaker to tell you the syllables.
For the words that you listed, I will write them in syllables and sounds below:
| Word | Syllables | Sounds |
| Interview | IN TER VIEW | IH, N, T, ER, V, EW |
| Indefinitely | IN DEF IN IT LY | IH, N, D, EH, F, IH, N, T, L, E |
| Written | WRI TEN | R, IH, T, N |
| Palm | PALM | P, AH, L, M |
| Twenty | TWEN TY | T, W, EH, N, T, E |
| Forty | FOR TY | F, OR, T, E |
| Sixty | SIX TY | S, IH, K, S, T, E |