My accent reduction coaching clients are often surprised to learn that English is not always pronounced the same way that it’s written.

Here’s an example:

I was working with one of my Japanese clients on the pronunciation of the words Toronto and center.

He was pronouncing these words with short vowel sounds and heavy T sounds. That made the words sound choppy. The T sounds were louder than the vowel sounds.

I told him that those words would sound more clear and natural if he dropped the sound of the letter T.

I explained that North American English speakers frequently drop the /t/ sound when it occurs after the /n/ sound. This is very common in everyday conversations.

Here are some examples of words in which many Americans drop the /t/ sound.

1. winter = winner -It’s too cold here in the winner!

2. twenty = twenny- Thomas is paid twenny dollars an hour.

3. plenty = plenny -Sally has plenny of money in the bank.

4. center = cenner- Jim lives in the city cenner.

5. Toronto=Toronno -Toronno is an interesting city.

There are MANY others!

Some of my accent reduction clients prefer not to drop the /t/ sound and that’s OK. North Americans will understand you if you articulate the /t/.

However, if you want to reduce your accent and sound more natural you may want to drop the /t/ sound in the words above.

Here is a short QUIZ you can take to test your knowledge of the American T sounds.

If you LEARNED SOMETHING new here, please give this post a LIKE ⬇ below.

THANK you for that! ♡