American English Pronunciation and Accent Reduction

The Importance of the Schwa Sound

This week many people have emailed me to ask about the English schwa vowel sound. This vowel sound is found in both American and British English. The symbol for schwa is /ə/. While schwa may not seem like an important sound, it is…in fact /ə/may be the most common sound in spoken English. The best place

Does accent reduction work?

Some people who sign up for accent reduction classes or coaching make a lot of progress. There are other people who only make a small amount of progress. Why is this? First of all, there is no magic formula for change. Your current speech is an accumulation of habits. You have to change some of these habits

Accents & Acceptance

In the news recently, there have been some interesting articles about language and accent. In a recent article on goats and accents (YES, GOATs!), one study found that developing the right accent serves an important purpose for the goats. “These accents allow them (the goats) to recognize who’s from their group and who’s not from

Does your spoken English sound mumbly?

This week one of my accent reduction clients said. “Susan, I just listened to the recording of our coaching session. How come my speech sounds so mumbly and your speech sounds so clear?” “Ahhh…”, I told her, “I think you are beginning to recognize the importance of articulating long clear vowel sounds in key words.”

Syllable Stress Rules

It’s been many months since I’ve written a post on the importance of syllable stress. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about this….in my opinion using syllable stress and sentence level intonation correctly is probably the most effective way to improve your comprehensibility. That said, here’s a link to some syllable stress rules for two syllable nouns

Communicating in Business English

Many of the people who come to me for American English pronunciation lessons have a goal. That goal is to communicate more clearly and effectively in the workplace. One book that I just began to use with my clients is called Communicating in Business English. I like this book for the following reasons: 1. The

Why is English so difficult to pronounce?

This article published in the American Enterprise Institute Magazine explains a three of the reasons that English is so difficult to pronounce. 1. English spelling and pronunciation are not well coordinated. There are more sounds than letters…and one letter can have a variety of sounds. 2. English does not use accent marks or other symbols to denote

Medical English Audio

ESL pod has a wide variety of medical English audio lessons. You can listen to these lessons on your computer or iPhone. The pronunciation starts out clear and slow so it’s a good way to practice listening for syllable stress in medical words including: hospital, diagnosis, emergency, chronic. The podcasts also bring your attention to

The Sounds of the Letter A

When it comes to American English pronunciation, one common problem is the letter A. Why is the letter A so problematic? Well…. When you are speaking American English, the letter A has three sounds; /ae/ as in black, /ey/ as in grey and /ə/ as in mustard. In my work teaching the American accent to international

How Arabic speakers can improve their American English pronunciation

I work on American English pronunciation and accent reduction with Arabic speaking professionals from different parts of the world including Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. These professionals need to make the following adjustments in order to speak American English more clearly: 1. Slow down and speak using thought groups (phrases) and focus words 2. Learn

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