American English Pronunciation and Accent Reduction

Accent Reduction for Chinese Speakers

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Chinese students seeking to study in the United States often have the money to do so. What they lack are spoken English skills. University bound students need advanced linguistic skills that will enable them to participate in discussions and seminar-type settings. Chinese speakers who want to speak English

American English Intonation Patterns

Probably the most common question that I get in my accent reduction courses regards how to speak with American English intonation. Intonation is not easy to learn from a book. You really need direct instruction on how to hear American intonation and apply it correctly. There are not always clear cut rules. That’s because intonation

What happens to the brain when you hear an accent

This article from the journal, Scientific American, describes some current research on how the human brain reacts when it hears a foreign accent. The research may have implications on how accented speech is perceived and judged. Does having an accent that is difficult to understand, reduce one’s credibility in the eyes and ears of native

American English Pronunciation: Words that Begin with Schwa

This week I received many questions about the schwa vowel sound. Let me explain a few things about this KEY English vowel sound. In spoken American English the schwa (see the image above right) is the relaxed vowel sound that is frequently used for vowel sounds in unstressed syllables. The schwa sound is made with

American Accent Training for German Speakers

During the past couple of months I’ve had the opportunity to do American accent training with a couple of German speakers. This has been a real pleasure for me because these clients have been so dedicated and hardworking both inside and outside of our sessions. Typical problems that Germans have when speaking American English include

American English Audio from Voice of America

The Voice of America website has some excellent stories that you can use to listen to American English. I especially like the series titled Words and Their Stories. This series has stories with idioms, phrasal verbs and stories that describe American culture. Keep this in mind though: the narrators who read the audio tend to

Pronunciation of Medical Terms & Expressions

Here is a great audio story from the Voice of America that features some frequently used medical terms and expressions. If you are an international doctor or other medical professional who uses American English in your work, you’ll really enjoy this lesson. Keep in mind that the speaker speaks a bit slower than normal. Medical

Words with /u/ & /ʊ/

Many non native English speakers don’t always tell the difference between the /u/ sound and the /ʊ/ sound. For example: When they say the word pull, it sounds like pool. When they say the word look, it sounds like Luke. When they say the word good, it sounds like gude. In order to address this

Accent Reduction on Kindle

My American English pronunciation and accent reduction blog is now available on amazon’s Kindle. Just follow the link below to sign up. You’ll see that amazon is charging a small fee for this download ($0.99 a month). I apologize for that! I wanted to offer it for free….but they require a convenience payment. Give it

Speak Business English Like an American

I buy a lot of American English pronunciation and accent reduction books because I like to have a variety of interesting materials to use with my students and clients. Last week a couple of people asked me if I used the book titled Speak Business English Like an American. I did not have a copy

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