My accent reduction clients are often surprised to learn that English is not always pronounced the same way that it’s written.
This discrepancy creates many pronunciation problems. One letter that does not always sound the same way it is written is the letter T.
In fact, American English speakers frequently drop the /t/ sound altogether when it occurs after the /n/ sound. This is very natural 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 tweny dollars an hour.
3. plenty = pleny -Sally has pleny of money in the bank.
4. gigantic = giganic- That mountain is giganic!
5. Toronto=Torono -Torono is an interesting city.
Sometimes the students in my accent reduction course prefer not to drop the /t/ sound and that’s OK. 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.
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Tags: american accent, american english consonants, american pronunciation, learn american english pronunciation, online accent reduction classes, t sound
