Teaching American English Pronunciation | American English Pronunciation Blog

Archive for Teaching American English Pronunciation

American English Pronunciation: The Best Pronunciation Dictionary

Each week I receive lots of questions from people asking about the best online dictionary for American English pronunciation. I usually use Merriam Webster, but I don’t love it.☹ The dictionary’s audio voice articulates the sounds at the ends of words too strongly. There are also LOTS of advertisements….but it’s free so we can’t complain.

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

All About American English Consonants!

Professor Duncan from Towson University in Maryland has created an very thorough audio lesson on the American English consonant sounds. I’ve posted this audio lesson at the link below. Professor Duncan explains the phonemic symbols that we use to represent the consonant sounds. He also explains the difference between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds. There is a fun

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

Learn American English Pronunciation with Songs

One fun & effective way to learn the rhythm of spoken English is to sing songs.♬ When I taught American English pronunciation classes in DC, I used the website below called KaraokeParty to teach American English phrasing, linking and vowel lengthening to the students in my classes. They loved this!! To find the free songs

What is the Schwa Sound? (PDF)

What is the Schwa sound? If you are asking this question you already know something about the rules of spoken English. Good for YOU!! ☆ Let’s talk for a moment about this VERY COMMON sound. ⬇ Spoken British & American English have a little vowel sound that most people have never heard of. This

English Proficiency Index

I just received a report called the English Proficiency Index. The report contains a fascinating info-graphic on English proficiency around the world. ✪ You can click on the link to see the info-graphic below. ⬇ In summary, the countries in which adults have the highest English proficiency include: the Scandinavian countries, followed by Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Germany & the Czech Republic. In

American English Sounds & Spelling-Are You Confused?

As an accent reduction coach who works with many international professionals, I understand that one of the most confusing aspects of spoken English is not always the ability to say a sound…. …it’s often the lack of uniformity between spelling and sounds. This is especially true for American vowel sounds. When I work with my clients,

Using Reduced & Connected Speech in American English

This week several of my clients asked me about the rules for using reduced speech. This is an important question! First of all, what is reduced speech? In spoken American English, reduced speech is the way that native speakers compact words together. This often involves linking and using the schwa vowel sound. Native speakers like

How Americans Listen

Last month’s New York Times had a fascinating article titled: Smoothing the Path From Foreign Lips to American Ears. The article describes the American English pronunciation training of international graduate students teaching in the US. There is a huge need for this type of training. In their training sessions graduate students “take sentences apart to learn rhythm, emphasis, pauses