American English Pronunciation Blog » Books & CDs http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:28:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Learn the Intonation of English with American Accent Training http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/learn-the-rhythms-of-spoken-english-with-american-accent-training/ http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/learn-the-rhythms-of-spoken-english-with-american-accent-training/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:07:10 +0000 susan http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/?p=286

Read more →]]> This week on the blog there have been a lot of you looking for information on American English .

One of the best books for learning and practicing the rhythms and intonations of spoken American English is Ann Cook’s .

American Accent Training includes a book plus 5 CDs that you can use to listen and practice.

Intonation cannot be learned without listening and the 5 CDs in this package give you plenty listening practice.

Here is a short article with some more information about intonation patterns.

]]> http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/learn-the-rhythms-of-spoken-english-with-american-accent-training/feed/ 0 Pronunciation of the Vowel Combination ou http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-combination-ou/ http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-combination-ou/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:00:45 +0000 susan http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/?p=197

Read more →]]> 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 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.

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Read more →]]> 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 . When native speakers use the words seem to run together and this can make it very difficult to understand what they are saying.

Click on the link below to hear a list of phrases that American English speakers commonly reduce in everyday speech. You do not necessarily have to pronounce these reduced phrases, however it is critical that you are aware of them because native speakers use them all the time!

AMERICAN ENGLISH AUDIO REDUCED SPEECH

The very best book for learning to use is Nina Weinstein’s Whaddaya Say? Take a look at this great book & CD.

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