汤(Soup)不是肥皂(Soap): ōō as in Food vs. ŏŏ as in Book

Many words have double “o”, eg., book, food. However, its pronunciation is different.
 
“oo” has two pronunciations 1) long vowel ōō as in food, and 2) short vowel ŏŏ as in “Book”.

It is very difficult to describe the difference between ōō and ŏŏ without being face to face. 
The purpose of this article is to help some friends realize that their pronunciation of “oo” is sometimes not correct.
 
1. Long vowel ōō as in food:
Similar to, but not the exactly the same as “吴” in Chinese.
I still remember that my teacher in my “Speech pathology” class told me that I have to "square" my mouth when I pronounce “oo” in “Food”, “Noodle”, “Boots”, etc. Of course, this is a long vowel; you have to say it long enough.

发 ōō 口形一定要方方方!!!

2. Short vowel ŏŏ as in “Book”.

Similar to, but not the exactly the same as “额” in Chinese.

发ŏŏ 口形一定要圆圆圆!!!

DO NOT SAY “Hood” as “猴的”, “Good” as ”狗的”, Hollywood” as ”Holly吴的”, “Hood” as as “胡的”, “Book” as “不可”, and “Look” as 陆可. They are wrong!

Please read these words to you American friends or colleague and let them correct your pronunciation.

Long ōō as in “Food” 

Food
Boots
Who
Whose
Soup
Sue
Noodle
Cool
Pool

Short ŏŏ as in “Book”

Hood
Good
Wood
Hollywood
Book
Brook
Look
Wool

QinHwang
May 2, 2007

Thank you!