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 professionals, I’ve found that many people confuse the three sounds of A when they speak English.

Here are a few examples:

Pronounce these words with /ey/ as in grey

• nation
• arrange
• array

Pronounce these words with /ae/ as in black

• agile
• patent
• spam

An unstressed A will often have a schwa vowel sound

• around
• allow
• another

I use a visual tool called the Color Vowel Chart to teach these sounds.

You can read more about vowels in American English by clicking on the links below. The O means closed for comments.

They CONtact me because they realize that their clients (and sometimes their colleagues) don’t always understand what they are saying in the workplace.

Their breakdowns in communication occur with both technical terms and in everyday phrases.

Here is some of the advice that I give them.

1. Learn to use syllable stress in technical words such as:

• ENterprise, INtegrate, SOFTware, SYStem, deVELopment & INterface

2. Learn to use sentence stress and intonation in everyday phrases such as:

• HowAReyou?  HowizGOwing?  Keeping BUSy?  Lets TALKaboudit.

If you are an IT professional who wants to improve your American English communication style, check out my accent reduction coaching program at Learn American Accent Online.

I can help you improve the way you speak American English.

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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 which syllables are stressed and emphasize them.

3. Lengthen the vowels in stressed syllables

Of course there are other consonant and vowel sounds that need to be learned too… but in my opinion the three features noted above are the most important.

This recent article from Arab news discusses the pros and cons of Arab parents speaking English to their children.

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article560962.ece

To read related information on American English pronunciation click on the links below. The 0 means closed for comments.

The first one is nice because each sound symbol has an audio component.

http://theaccentlab.com/

I also like the one below because it shows which syllable is stressed. When it comes to spoken English, stress is extremely important!

http://upodn.com/phon.asp

To read related information on American English pronunciation click on the links below. The 0 means closed for comments.

I like to teach individual words according to their syllable stress patterns and primary vowel sounds. That helps my students and clients be better understood right away.

However, I also like to teach chunks of speech and phrases with intonation. Everyday greetings and requests are best taught this way.

For example: hoWAReyou? ….I’m FINE, howareYOU?

Words or phrases? It’s hard to say!  Here is a link to an article in the New York Times that discusses the this topic

Teaching chunks of speech.

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When a conversation breaks down, think about the most important word in your message. This is called the focus word.

Repeat that word again. But this time be careful to lengthen the  main vowel in that word. Use a slightly  higher pitch on that vowel. Pause briefly after the focus word to give the listener time to “get it”.

There is an excellent chance that using this focus word and vowel length strategy will clear up the misunderstanding.

Oh, and when you look at the title of this post keep in mind that phrasal verbs are stressed on the second part-clearUP.

Compound or phrasal nouns are stressed on the first part-BREAKdowns.

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That way you can refer to it more often AND you can help me out. Bookmarking tells the powers at Google and Yahoo that you find my information valuable.

By the way … my blog is formatted to look good on a smart phone. To get the app for this blog just scan the QR code at the bottom right of the page.

You’ll never see any ads here. Just lots of tips, techniques and recommendations about American English pronunciation and accent reduction products that I’ve used myself.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you learned something here. I do my best to add new information three times a week.

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I’ve bought and used two of these courses… so let me tell you about them.

The first one that I  recommend is called Best Accent Training. I like this course because it teaches you all the American English vowel and consonant sounds PLUS, syllable stress, intonation and linking skills.

If you want an accent reduction audio course with lessons on vowel & consonant sounds AND syllable and sentence stress patterns should take a look at this  Just click on the link above to see the preview.

The other course that I recommend is the American Accent Audio Course.

I like this one because it teaches you to speak American English with the correct stress, linking and intonation.

Once you learn to use the correct stress, linking and intonation, American English listeners will be able to understand you MUCH more easily!

You’ll like the cost of this one too. This high quality audio course is only $37.00.

Both courses can be downloaded to your computer right away and you’re ready to start learning.

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In words ending with the suffixes ion, ity, ic, ical, ian, ial, tion & ious we typically stress the FIRST syllable BEFORE the suffix.

• inVAsion
• fanTAStic
• fiNANcial
• GLORious

In words ending with the suffix ate we stress the FIRST or SECOND syllable BEFORE the suffix.

• aPPREciate
• DELegate
• DOnate
• LOcate

My accent reduction coaching clients usually find that learning to use syllable stress patterns correctly (and the schwa vowel sound) REALLY help them to improve the way they speak American English.

All (most) accent reduction books will teach you about these patterns. Once you learn them, you must 1) listen for them in daily conversations and 2) try to use them in your own speech.

To see the bestselling Accent Reduction books on this topic click the link here.

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