Welcome back! Have you checked out my Accent Reduction classes yet? This week on the blog there have been a lot of you looking for information on American English intonation patterns.
One of the best books for learning and practicing the rhythms and intonations of spoken American English is Ann Cook’s American Accent Training.
American Accent Training [...]
Posts Tagged ‘american english audio’
Learn the Intonation of English with American Accent Training
American English Audio Lesson: The 2 Sounds of TH
Most non-native English speakers have problems articulating the two ‘th’ sounds that we use so frequently in in spoken American English.
Here is a link to a lesson on the 2 ‘th’ sounds. At the end of the lesson is an audio practice activity that you can use to practice.
American English Audio Lesson-The TH Sounds
If you [...]
American English Pronunciation: The /iy/ and /I/ Sounds
One of the American English vowel sounds that non-native speakers frequently mispronounce is the /iy/ sound as 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 [...]
Accent Reduction Books & Audio Courses
Students who are really motivated to improve the way they speak English should invest in some training. One way to do this is to buy an Accent Reduction or American English pronunciation book with CD’s. There are several books with CD’s that are very affordable.
Here are some of the most popular choices:
1. For people who [...]
Speak English Like an American: Use Idioms
Here are two common idioms that you will hear when you are listening to people speak American English.
Bring Home the Bacon
In American English a person who brings home the bacon is the person who earns the money for the family to live on. For example, if my father works hard to support my family I [...]
Pronunciation of the Vowel Combination ou
Continuing on my theme of American English vowels I’m going to write briefly on the pronunciation of the vowel combination ou.
This vowel combination can be pronounced 3 ways in American English. Here are some examples.
ou can be pronounced like /oʊ/
shoulder
soul
though
doughnut
although
ou can be pronounced like schwa /ə/
cousin
enough
country
tough
couple
ou can be pronounced like /aʊ/
loud
sound
south
found
house
If you want to learn [...]
English Audio Lesson: Reduced Speech
Several of my students tell me that they have trouble understanding the spoken English of native speakers. This is not at all unusual.
One reason that native English speakers are difficult to understand is because they often use reduced speech. When native speakers use reduced speech the words seem to run together and this can make [...]
American English Pronunciation: Question Intonation Patterns
When I was teaching one of my pronunciation classes this week I found out that my students did not know about the two different intonation patterns for questions in American English. Here they are:
1. Use rising intonation when the question can be answered with a “yes” or a “no”.
2. Use falling intonation when the question [...]
IPA for American English
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 phonetic transcriptions. Each word and transcription has an audio recording using [...]
