American English vowel sounds | American English Pronunciation Blog

Archive for American English vowel sounds

Accent Reduction Tips for Spanish Speakers

Image via Wikipedia One 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

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 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

Lose or Loose? What’s the difference?

This morning one of my accent reduction coaching clients asked me: What’s the difference between the words lose & loose? Here is my step by step answer: Phonetically, the verb lose sounds like luwze. The vowel sound is /uw/ as in Blue. The S has a /z/ sound. Phonetically, the adjective loose sounds like luwse.

Those American O’s!

OK, this post is for all you Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese speakers…let’s take a minute to talk about those American O sounds. My accent reduction clients who speak Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese often ask me to work with them on the sounds of O. They find the letter O rather confusing…and I totally

Did you say Texas or taxes?

While working with my accent reduction coaching clients last week, I noticed that many of them don’t say the words Texas & taxes clearly & distinctly. If you aren’t an American English speaker, these two words may sound identical to you. However, each word sounds quite different to the American listener.✔ Let’s break down these

How do you pronounce February?

Even my most advanced accent reduction clients often have problems pronouncing the word February correctly. ♡ It’s easy to see why that happens…..the way we SAY it does NOT match the way it’s spelled. Here’s how I tell my clients to say February. Lengthen the first vowel sound. I call this /ɛ/ as in Red.

American English Vowel Sounds (2 charts)

I found a great American English vowel chart from the University of Texas. ↓ This chart shows where each of the 11 simple American English vowel sounds are articulated in your mouth. The website has audio so you can listen to each sound. You can use the chart as a guide as you pronounce the

How to Pronounce the American English O

Many of my accent reduction coaching clients get confused about how to pronounce the letter O in American English. And it’s no wonder!!! The O has at least five different sounds in spoken English. Here are a few examples: /ow/ as in rose mobile home phone /ɑ/ as in olive content (n ) process, processor

How to Pronounce ou

When I work with my accent reduction coaching clients, I always make sure to provide them with a solid foundation of the American English vowel sounds. Note that I said vowel SOUNDS! This is important! ✔ Many people (both native & non-native speakers) are unaware that the 5 vowel letters, a, e, i, o &