A voiced sound causes your vocal chords to vibrate. A voiceless sound does not cause your vocal chords to vibrate.

American English has 8 voiced/voiceless consonant pairs such as /z/ & /s/ and /v/ & /f/. Here are a couple of examples:

Put your fingers lightly on your throat and say “zoo”. You should feel a vibration when you say the /z/.

Keep your fingers on your throat and say “Sue”. You should not feel a vibration when you say the /s/.

Now put your fingers lightly on your throat and say “save”. You should feel a vibration when you say the /v/.

Keep your fingers on your throat and say “safe”. You should not feel a vibration when you say the /f/.

When you are speaking English it is very important to recognize the difference between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds. If you say these sounds incorrectly it will both mark your grammar as incorrect and contribute to your foreign accent.

A great book for learning about voiced and voiceless sounds in American English is:

Pronunciation Pairs Student’s Book with Audio CD

Click on the link to see this fun and educational book for learning American English pronunciaton.

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The American T is one consonant that most of my accent reduction coaching clients need help with.

Listen to this great story on Voice of America’s Special English to learn about three of the sounds we use for the letter T.

T is for Trouble

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Here are a few tips you can use to make these sounds.

Making the /r/ sound

To make the /r/ start with your tongue in a turned back position and uncurl it as you say the following vowel sound. Do not touch the top of your mouth with your tongue!

Practice by saying these words: red, raid, wrist, right, wrong, rice

Making the /l/ sound

To make the /l/ touch the tip of your tongue behind your top teeth. The flow of air through your mouth should move freely.

Practice by saying these words: led, laid, list, light, long, lice

For more pronunciation practice with the sounds /r/ & /l/ you can click here to practice by using the popular American children’s song Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

This can be challenging, but it’s really FUN!

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English spelling is the way that words are written using the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet. Since English is not a phonetic language there is not always a one-on-one relationship between the letters in the English alphabet and spoken sounds.

This lack of sound spelling correspondence makes English a very difficult language to pronounce. Let’s look at some sound-spelling situations that are frequently confusing to non-native speakers of American English. We’ll start with the letter s.

When you are speaking English the letter s can represent several different sounds depending on its location within a word.

In the words simple and same the s sounds like /s/. This is what most non-native speakers expect. The /s/ is a voiceless sound

In the words resign and design the s sounds like /z/. The letter s is often pronounced as /z/ when it occurs between vowels. The /z/ is a voiced sound.

In the words leisure and pleasure the s sounds like /ʒ/. This is also a voiced sound. The s often sounds like /ʒ/ before a schwa vowel sound.

The fact that the letter s is pronounced three different ways can be very confusing when you are trying to pronounce English correctly!

One way to improve your pronunciation is to be aware of the variety of sounds that some letters can have.

The best way to do this is to listen attentively when American English speakers are talking. Try to increase your awareness of sounds and spelling patterns. Enhanced listening skills are one of the first steps in improving your American English pronunciation.

The American English r sounds like /ɚ/. The sound is made by bunching the middle of the tongue high in the back of the mouth and rounding the lips. The tip of the tongue curls up a bit, but it never touches the roof of the mouth.

When a vowel is followed by an r, the vowel sound changes. These are called r-controlled vowels, or r-colored vowels. Here are some of the phonemes you will hear.

The letters ar can sound like /ɑɚ/ as in: car, guitar & star.

The letters ear can sound like /iɚ/ as in: near, fear & beard.

The letters or usually sound like /ɔɚ/ as in: or, more & course.

The letters ir, er and ur, sound like /ɚ/ as in: bird, were, & fur.

Since the sounds of r-colored vowels are so complicated, many pronunciation books and courses simplify these. One great resource is the American English Pronunciation exercises from the Kelly brothers at Many Things.

The best book that I know of for learning the r-colored vowel sounds is Ann Cook’s American Accent Training. You can see the book by clicking on the link below.

American Accent Training (Book and Audio CD, 2nd Edition)

Voiced sounds cause the vocal chords to vibrate. Voiceless sounds are softer and do not cause the vocal chords to vibrate. Here are a few examples:

In spoken English the /s/ & /z/ sounds employ the same tongue position and mouth shape but the /z/ is voiced and the /s/ is voiceless.

The English /k/ & /g/ sounds are both produced in the back of the throat but the /g/ is voiced and the /k/ is voiceless.

The /p/ & /b/ sounds are both made by pushing your lips together and then releasing them but the /b/ is voiced and the /p/ is voiceless.

Many non-native English speakers used the voiceless sounds /s/, /k/ & /p/ when they should use the voiced sounds /z/, /g/ & /b/. Making this type of pronunciation mistake will both contribute to your accent and cause misunderstandings.

Here is one pattern. When a /d/ sound is followed by a /y/ sound the result is a /dʒ/ sound. This sound occurs between these words:

• could you sounds like couldjew
• would you sounds like wouldjew

When a /t/ sound is followed by a /y/ sound the result is a /tch/ sound

• can’t you sounds like cantchew
• won’t you sounds like wontchew

Don’t think that articulating every sound exactly as it is written will improve your accent. In spoken English the letters in the alphabet take on  different characteristics according to their position in a word or phrase.

The other reason the word final ed can be difficult to hear is because native English speakers link words together so that the /d/ & /t/ sounds become part of the following word. That means that:

passed out sounds like pass dout

looked over sounds like look dover

talked about sounds like talk tabout

laughed at sounds like laugh tat

Click here to read more about this on my post called  How to pronounce ed in American English.

She says that you should always pronounce the th + s as in words like strengths and Smiths. In order to do this you must quickly move your tongue from the th position (slightly between your teeth) to the s position (slightly behind your teeth).

She notes, however that when pronouncing the words months and clothes most American English speakers drop the th and just say mons and close.

You can read more of Lisa’s posts here. http://accurateenglish.blogspot.com/

Be careful when you pronounce the letter P. Portuguese speakers often pronounce the American English /p/ sound like a /b/ sound. This can be confusing to American listeners because when you do that:

pill sounds like bill

pull sounds like bull

poor sounds like boor

Peter sounds like beater

The /p/ and /b/ sounds are articulated almost the same way in spoken American English. To make both sounds place your lips lightly together and then push the air out of your mouth in a short burst.

The difference is that /p/ is a voiceless sound and /b/ is a voiced sound. When you make the /p/ sound you should not feel a vibration in your throat. When you make the /b/ sound you should feel a vibration in your throat.