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 ‘Books & CDs’
Learn the Intonation of English with American Accent Training
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 [...]
Why You Have an Accent When You Speak American English, Part 4
This is my fourth and final post explaining why you have an accent when you speak American English. Today I am going to write about sound substitution or approximation.
When they are speaking English, non native speakers often substitute a sound they are familiar with from their own language for American English sounds.
For example, Russian speakers [...]
