American English Consonant Sounds | American English Pronunciation Blog

Archive for American English Consonant Sounds

How to practice the /w/ sound

Many of my accent reduction clients from India, Turkey, Germany and Russian speaking countries need some instruction on the American /w/ sound. I teach them that the /w/ sound in American English is articulated with the lips rounded. The teeth do not touch the lips to make this sound! ~ Here’s a short exercise

Do I need to know the IPA to improve my American English pronunciation?

I receive lots of questions from people about the IPA symbols used for American English vowel and consonant sounds. Here is some basic information. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system that was developed to represent the sounds of spoken languages. The system uses characters from the Latin and Greek alphabets. IPA symbols include

American English Pronunciation: How to Make the /n/ & /l/ Sounds

If you are a Chinese speaker who is working to improve your American English pronunciation, you may have found that you’re having trouble with your /l/ & /n/ sounds. Don’t worry!! This is a very common problem & you can fix it. ✔ The /n/ & /l/ sounds are articulated in almost the same manner.

American English Pronunciation Video Tutorials

One excellent tool that I use with all of my accent reduction clients is the American English pronunciation software developed at the University of Iowa. The Phonetics Software shows you how to pronounce all of the American English vowel and consonant sounds using audio and video samples. The animated diagrams show you how to move

Pronouncing Voiced & Voiceless Consonant Sounds

Are you an Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese or Spanish speaker who is working to improve your American accent? If you are….it’s really important that you learn to use voiced consonant sounds! Let me explain what I mean….. A voiced sound causes your vocal chords to vibrate. A voiceless sound does not cause your vocal chords to vibrate. TRY THIS

All About American English Consonants!

Professor Duncan from Towson University in Maryland has created an very thorough audio lesson on the American English consonant sounds. I’ve posted this audio lesson at the link below. Professor Duncan explains the phonemic symbols that we use to represent the consonant sounds. He also explains the difference between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds. There is a fun

Accent Reduction Tip-The Dropped T Sound

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.

How Can I Make My American English Sound More Natural?

All of my accent reduction clients read & write American English very, very well. They all have a strong command of grammar and vocabulary. What they learn in their coaching sessions is how to make their SPOKEN English sound more fluid and natural. ♬ One way to do this is to use linking to blend

Non Phonetic English (Consonant Sounds)

Here’s another accent reduction TIP for pronouncing & blending consonant sounds. ✔ If you’ve studied accent reduction before, you know that spoken English does not always sound like you think it should, given the spelling. ☹ When you are speaking American English, there are many consonants that don’t always sound like you expect them to.

Why You Need to Use the 3 Sounds of S

This morning one of my accent reduction coaching clients said to me; “Susan, the reason the American accent is so difficult for me, is because so many of the letters have more than one sound!” And you know, he’s right. The fact that our 26 letters make 44 different sounds creates plenty of problems for