My client, a project manager at an international communications company, said “but Susan, I can’t even hear the difference between these two sounds.”

This is very common.

Non-native speakers can’t always hear the subtle differences between American English vowel sounds. But native speakers can hear the difference.

If you pronounce vowel sounds incorrectly, it contributes to your accent and leads to breakdowns in communication.

So, if you can’t hear the difference between vowel sounds such as /iy/ & /I/ (a big problem for Spanish speakers) or /ae & /e/, how can you improve the way you say them?

The truth is that you probably need some help to get started.

An accent reduction coach can tell you exactly what sounds and patterns are contributing to your accent. A coach can teach you how to hear the difference between American English vowel sounds.

Once you become aware of these sounds (and how they are different) you will begin to notice them when people say them. You will hear native English speakers using these sounds and you will wonder why you never heard them before!

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Here is my answer:

The ‘a’ in want has an /ɑ/ sound. This is the same vowel sound in the word father.

The ‘o’ in the won’t has an /ow/ sound. This is the same vowel sound in the word loan.

The word final ‘t’ in both words is held or even deleted, depending on how the words are linked to the surrounding sounds.

If you are looking for an audio course that will teach you all the American English vowel sounds, you might want to take a look at Best Accent Training.

When you are speaking English you must lengthen the vowel sounds that occur in stressed syllables. You must also lengthen vowels that occur before voiced consonant sounds such as /z/ and /d/.

Many non native speakers say the vowel sounds in stressed syllables and before voiced consonants in a short manner. Doing  that it will make your speech sound choppy to American listeners.

You can read more about vowel length on my post titled: Voiced & Voiceless Sounds in American English.

When non-native speakers (especially Spanish & Portuguese speakers) say the word cheap, it often sounds like chip. When they say the word seat, it sounds like sit. When they say the word seek, it sounds like sick. When they say the word beach, it sounds like…….well, you know!

Here is an accent reduction exercise you can use to practice listening to and pronouncing these confusing vowel  sounds.

The /iy/ and /I/ sounds.

If you are looking for a book and CD you can use to learn and practice the American accent check out Mastering the American Accent. You will learn about the /iy/& /I/ sounds and all of the other vowel and consonant sounds in American English.

Dictionaries and pronunciation books do not all use the same phonetic symbols. However, each will have a symbol key that explains the symbols and sounds that they use. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these symbols used when you start to use a new dictionary or pronunciation text.

Here are some examples of the American English vowel IPA symbols taken used in the great American English pronunciation book,  Mastering the American Accent.

/i/ as in seat

/ɪ/ as in sit

/eɪ/ as in cake

/ɛ/ as in met

/æ/ as in cat

/ɑ/ as in father

/ə/ as in bun

/ɔ/ as in law

/oʊ/ as in boat

/ʊ/ as in wood

/u/ as in two

/ər/ as in heard

/aɪ/ as in mine

/aʊ/ as  in mouse

/ɔɪ/ as in boy

The best place to see and hear the articulation of all the American English vowel sounds is on the University of Iowa’s Phonetics website.

My student, a project manager at an international communications company, said “but Susan, I can’t even hear the difference between these two sounds.”

It’s very common that non-native speakers can’t hear the subtle differences between American English vowel sounds. But native speakers can hear the difference and if you pronounce vowel sounds incorrectly it contributes to your accent and leads to breakdowns in communication.

So, if you can’t hear the difference between sounds such as /iy/ & /I/ (a big problem for many Spanish and Chinese speakers) how can you improve the way you say them?

The truth is that you probably need some help to get started.

An accent reduction coach can tell you exactly what sounds and patterns are contributing to your accent. A coach can teach you how to hear the difference between the vowel sounds in fit & feet and live & leave.

Once you become aware of these sounds (and how they are different) you will begin to notice them in your environment. You will hear native English speakers using these sounds and you will wonder why you never heard them before!

This happens all the time.

Shari from the American Accent Course says that students of accent reduction need

“to recognize and become aware of these new sounds in everyday life.  Then, after you start entering this new world of sound, you need to train your mouth and your brain to consistently use them. ”

I couldn’t agree more!

Professionals who are serious about improving the way they communicate in American English should consider working with an accent reduction coach or taking an online accent reduction course.

A coach or a course will teach you how to hear the difference between vowel sounds and how to articulate these sounds using the correct tongue placement and muscle movement.

Once you can hear the difference you must train yourself to articulate these sounds correctly with focused daily practice.

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 more about how to articulate American English vowel sounds you might want to check out Mastering the American Accent with Audio CDs

This excellent book uses illustrated text with an audio CD to show you where to put your mouth, tongue and lips to form each sound.

One of these is the tendency to delete the /h/ sound at the beginning of words. Word initial /h/ is almost always pronounced in American English. That means that the /h/ must be articulated clearly in words such as: hat, here, hot, host, half, hair, hungry & husband. Exceptions to this rule include the words honest, honor and herb.

Speakers of Haitian Creole also have a tendency to pronounce words with the lax vowel sound /I/ using the tense vowel sound /iy/. That means that the word sit sounds like seat, the word live sounds like leave and the word chip sounds like cheap.

Spoken English has linking between words and also within words.

Word internal linking occurs when there are 2 vowel sounds inside a word. When this happens native English speakers will insert a /y/ or /w/ glide  to connect the sounds.

The /y/ insertion is very common. This is sometimes referred to as the invisible /y/. Here are a few examples:

reunion sounds like reyunion
client sounds like cliyent
diet sounds like diyet

You will also hear a /w/ insertion is some words:
cooperate sounds like cowoperate
graduate sounds like graduwate
coersion sounds like cowersion

Click on the LINKING category to your right to learn more about the importance of linking in American English!

To make the /ɑ/ sound relax your lips and your tongue. Your tongue should be low in your mouth when you articulate this sound. Here is a list of words in which the letter o has an /ɑ/ sound.

1.    hot

2.    lot

3.    stop

4.    job

5.    office

6.    modern

7.    confident

8.    clock

9.    dollar

10. doctor

To see the detailed articulation of this sound go to the University of Iowa Phonetics site and choose Vowels, Monothongs, Back.