Image via WikipediaOne of the most problematic American English vowel sounds for Spanish speakers is the /ı/ sound.
I call this sound /ı/ as in Silver.
The /ı/ is a relaxed sound. That means that you need to relax your facial muscles in order to say the sound correctly.
Spanish speakers often over pronounce this sound. When they say the /ı/ in words such as:
- video
- Jim
- live
- list
…it sounds more like the /iy/ sound as in Green.
When I work with my Spanish speaking accent reduction clients on the 15 American English vowel sounds, we always pay close attention to this troublesome sound.
If you are a Spanish speaker, don’t feel like you are alone with the /ı/ as in Silver sound.
In my experience coaching international professionals on the American accent, I’ve found that Chinese speakers, Russian speakers & even some Indian language speakers over pronounce this sound.
In my iBook for the American accent, I teach you how to pronounce all 15 vowel sounds in~
- words
- phrases
- sentences
- dialogs
✰If you want to improve the way you speak, check out this fun to use ☛ iBook. You can download the first chapter for free and start learning today!✰
YES! The audio files are built right into the book. Thanks for asking.☝
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