American English Pronunciation Blog » American English Pronunciation Videos

Free American English Audio

susan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:00:09 +0000

This is a nice, clean webiste that you can use to listen to and repeat American English words. I like the audio on this site because it’s easy to hear the syllable stress and the schwa sound in reduced syllables.

The site has both audio and video.

American English Audio

Content Words in American English

susan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:03:13 +0000

Spoken American English has different types of stress. There is syllable stress which is the stress within a particular word. Then there is word stress which is the way content, focus and function words are stressed in a sentence or thought group. For both types of stress you need to be aware of pitch, vowel length and the schwa sound.

Click here to watch a 6 minute video where Rachel of Rachel’s English describes content words in American English.

American English Listening Practice

susan — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:13:12 +0000

Randall of esl-lab has added some short movie clips to his website. These are called Video Snapshots and they provide video content that relates to the other listening activities available on his site. As always Randall’s new activities are excellent! If you want practice listening you can check them out here-

American English Listening Practice

Remember that listening is key to helping you improve your pronunciation. Careful listening will help you become aware of American English sounds and patterns that you didn’t notice before. Once you are aware of sounds and patterns it will be easier to incorporate them into your speech.

Accent Reduction Tips for Korean Speakers

susan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:00:26 +0000

Many non-native English speakers, including Koreans, often mispronounce the words woman and women.

Both words are stressed on the first syllable as indicated in ‘ bold. However, the vowel sounds do not sound how you think they should!

The word woman is pronounced ‘wʊ-mən.

The word women is pronounced ‘wɪ-mɪn.

Here is a short video from Tarle Speech and Language that you can use to learn more about the pronunciation of these words.

How to pronounce woman & women.

BTW, in my opinion the best online dictionary for IPA spellings is Dictionary.com.

American English Syllable Stress Patterns & Schwa

susan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:10:06 +0000

One of the most effective ways to improve your American English pronunciation is to use syllable stress correctly. The problem is that many students of spoken English don’t know the syllable stress patterns. Here is a general rule that will help you-

Most two syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable. Other two syllable words including many verbs, reflexive pronouns and prepositions are stressed on the second syllable.

Here is a video from Charles Kelly that you can use to practice pronouncing words with second syllable stress.

Note-Charles does not always use the schwa sound for the unstressed “e” in words such as between. Keep in mind that many American English speakers use the schwa sound for these vowels. You can read more about the schwa sound here-

Also, instead of listening and repeating each word after Charles, say it along with him. That way you’ll really feel the stress pattern!

American English syllable stress video

Pronouncing t & th in American English (with Martha Stewart)

susan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:00:39 +0000

Listen for all the different ways the th and the t are pronounced in this Thanksgiving video by Martha Stuart.

Here is a checklist you can use to guide you as you watch and listen. Print or copy these words and mark each one when you hear it. Then watch and listen again several times to see if you can hear all the different sounds of t & th.

1. Words with the voiceless th sound: Thanksgiving, with

2. Words with the voiced th sound: that, the, this, that, there, those, feathers

3. Words with the tapped t sound: little, prettier, complicated, lotus, perfectly, quarters, inviting

4. Phrases with the tapped t sound: point up, bit of, alot of

5. Words with the aspirated t: turkey, two, taking

6. Words with a held word final t: wallet, aren’t

American English pronunciation of t & th

Pronouncing Numbers in American English (Video)

susan — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:00:41 +0000

American English numbers are not always pronounced the way they are written.

For example, when Americans say the numbers thirty, forty ,fifty and so on…. the t in those words is pronounced more like a d. This sound is called the flap or the tapped t and the IPA symbol is /ɾ/.

When they say the number twenty, many Americans omit the sound of the t.

Americans pronounce phone numbers following a familiar pattern that sounds like this:

808-123-6589

eighdOEIGHT-onetwoTHREE-sixfiveeightNIne

Watch Julia Roberts pronouncing American English numbers in this one minute video.

American English Pronunciation Videos

susan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:36:01 +0000

One of the teachers at the school where I teach here in Washington, DC just told me about a website with some good American English pronunciation videos. The website is called ugoeigo.com (you go I go) and it features videos that teach you how to make these English sounds: /p/ & /b/, /f/ & /v/, /r/ & /l/ and others. There is also a section on functional everyday phrases.

American English Audio for Listening & Speaking

susan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:41:19 +0000

If you are looking for English audio that you can listen to in order to help you learn pronunciation you may want to check out this site called English Language Listening Lab Online.

The site has almost 1000 audio and video files you can use. There are also games and activities. I used to use this site in my ESL classes and I just rediscovered it this week.

American English Audio

3 Success Strategies for Mastering American English Pronunciation

susan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:00:08 +0000

Take a look at my 3 strategies for improving your American English Pronunciation. This is short but sweet!