Welcome back! Have you checked out my Accent Reduction classes yet?
Today in one of my classes I taught a short lesson on making polite requests. During the lesson I pointed our two pronunciation features to my students.
1. When a /d/ sound is followed by a /y/ sound, the sounds blend together to sound like /dʒ/. Here are a few examples:
Did you sounds like didjoo
Could you sounds like couldjoo
Would you sounds like wouldjoo
2. When a /t/ sound is followed by a /y/ sound, the sounds blend together to sound like /tʃ/. Here are a few examples:
Won’t you sounds like wontchew
Can’t you sounds like canchew
If you can blend the /d/ and /t/ sounds with the /y/ sounds as described here, your American English pronunciation will sound much more natural.
An excellent book for learning about and practicing American English reduced speech is called Whaddaya Say?. You can check it out using the link here.
Whaddaya Say? Guided Practice in Relaxed Speech, Second Edition
