The Center for Confident American English Communication

Non-native English speakers think that they should pronounce each word, sound and syllable clearly and distinctly but that’s not how spoken English works. Americans use reduced vowels and speech when they talk. They do not say every sound and syllable clearly and distinctly. Look at the words in the careful speech column below. If you

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Spanish speakers frequently drop the consonant sounds at the ends of words. This can cause your speech to sound both accented and grammatically incorrect. If you are a  Spanish speaker, here is one technique you can use to reduce your accent. Words in Spanish do not typically end in a consonant clusters but English words

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Do you speak English with a foreign accent? If you do, you may have found that native English speakers find it difficult to understand you. Even though your grammar and writing are excellent, your accent may be preventing you from making progress; getting the best job, getting a promotion or even making new friends. The

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The schwa + r sound /ɚ/ is frequently a confusing feature of American English pronunciation. In many situations when a vowel is followed by an /r/, only the /r/ sound is heard. The vowel sound isn’t really heard at all! This is called the schwa + r /ɚ/. The letter combinations or, er, ur &

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I meet many non-native English speakers who have excellent grammar. However, they do not articulate word final consonant sounds strongly enough and this contributes to their accent. One word final sound that many people fail to articulate is the past tense ed. Failing to pronounce the ed will definitely contribute to your accent! Most of

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When Americans speak they divide longer sentences into sections called thought groups. In each thought group we emphasize the focus word and then briefly pause before the next thought group begins. Many non-native English speakers have never learned to use thought groups when they speak English. For some people this causes their speech too sound

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When Americans speak they divide longer sentences into phrases called “thought groups”. Within each thought group we emphasize the content words, giving special stress to the focus word. After the focus word we pause briefly before the next thought group begins. Many non-native English speakers fail to use thought groups when they speak English. For

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Linking happens in every English sentence. We connect two words together when the first word ends in a vowel sound and the next word begins with the same vowel sound. that table sounds like thattable next time sounds like nexttime We also connect words when the first word ends with a consonant sound and the

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Those of you who read my blog frequently know that using syllable stress correctly is one of the very best ways to improve your comprehensibility when you speak English.  That said, here are a few syllable stress patterns for compound words that you may find useful. Compound nouns are stressed on the first word in

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If you are an advanced student of American English pronunciation you have probably learned about linking (or liaisons). Linking refers to the connections between words. Ann Cook, author of American Accent Training, says that these connections “allow us to speak in sound groups” instead of word by word. Spoken English has linking between words and

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