Welcome back! Have you checked out my Accent Reduction classes yet? Many of you have written and asked me questions about the IPA and how to read phonetic transcriptions of English words.
I did some searching on the web and found this page from the Antimoon site. The page shows you how to read and write [...]
Posts under ‘Pronunciation Exercises’
IPA for American English
American English Pronunciation Practice-Mirroring
Lots of people will tell you to watch American television shows to hear authentic examples of American English. That’s an excellent idea but you can take it a step further to get some serious pronunciation practice.
Instead of simply watching your show, choose a character to imitate. As soon as your character starts to speak, try [...]
Free American English Audio
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
The Best Online Dictionary for American English Pronunciation
Lots of my students have asked me what the best online dictionary is for learning to pronounce American English words. I like to use http://dictionary.reference.com/ because they show both the spelled pronunciation and the IPA spelling.
The audio is not terrific though.
The Merriam-Webster ESL Learner’s Dictionary has a great section called Pronunciation Exercises that I frequently [...]
American English Pronunciation: The /iy/ and /I/ Sounds
One American English vowel sounds that non-native speakers frequently mispronounce is the /iy/ sound and in the word sheep. They frequently shorten this sound so that it sounds more like the /I/ sound as in the word ship.
This means that when non-native speakers (especially Spanish & Portuguese speakers) say the word cheap, it sounds like [...]
3 Strategies for Practicing American English Pronunciation
Sometimes it’s hard to know how to practice your pronunciation outside of class. Here are three strategies that I use with my students.
1. Use a checklist
Make a checklist of the pronunciation features that you need to work on. You can use the results of your accent assessment or feedback from your pronunciation teacher to make [...]
American English Pronunciation Videos
I found some interesting American English pronunciation videos developed by Sozo Exchange. These are pronunciation videos of individual English words. First they model the articulation of the word and then they use the word in a sentence.
At this time only a few of the videos that I watched use the IPA to indicate stressed syllables and [...]
Pronouncing Numbers in American English
In spoken American English many numbers sound very similar. In order to pronounce numbers clearly you must pay attention to syllable stress, the sound of the “t” and word endings.
Here are a few rules you can use to help you.
1. Tens numbers have major stress on the first syllable. Say the first syllable louder and [...]
American English Pronunciation Lesson-Visiting the Doctor
Everyone knows that going to the doctor can be stressful and it’s even more so when you and your doctor don’t speak the same language!
Alta ESL has a nice lesson that you can use to read and listen to phrases that will help you communciate with the doctor in this lesson called American Pronunciation-A Visit [...]
