When you are speaking American English it is really important to recognize the difference between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds! 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:
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Did you know that there are some great resources for learning American English pronunciation online on my blog? These resources include: The University of Iowa Phonetics The Merck Medical Pronunciations The Color Vowel Chart A syllable stress game from Oxford The BBC page on the schwa vowel sound These are great audio resources that you
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Here is a great story about the power of pronunciation and accent reduction classes- Foreign born scholars at the University of California at Berkeley may have PhD’s but they found that spoken American English is a very tricky subject. Before the class, few of the scholars knew what their specific English pronunciation problems were. They
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I see that there has been a lot of “buzz” on the web lately about an American English pronunciation book and CD set called Pronounce Pro. The book and audio were developed by an American English pronunciation teacher in California. I haven’t used the book in my accent reduction classes but if you are a
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The Language Guide website features excellent pictures and audio files that you can use to improve yourAmerican English pronunciation. I use this with the students at the school where I work in Washington, DC and they have found it to be an excellent resource. American English Audio. Related posts Pronunciation of the Vowel Combination ou
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Many pronunciation experts say that learning to use syllable stress in words is the best way to improve your American English pronunciation. That’s because when you use American English syllable stress correctly you create the speech rhythm that Americans use to identify words. Although you can’t see syllable stress in the written form of the language, you
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Many of you have been asking me about the schwa vowel sound. Here is a brief description. The schwa sound is the most common vowel sound in North American English. The schwa sounds like “uh”. It is pronounced with the mouth very relaxed. The IPA symbol for schwa is /ə/. Below are some common words
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One of my most thoughtful students wrote this week to tell me that he has a very difficult time understanding American English speakers. In response to his concern I will explain a few listening strategies you can use to increase your understanding of spoken English. 1. Anticipate and predict what might be said Before going into
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My new favorite accent reduction book for intermediate to advanced students is called Mastering the American Accent, by Lisa Mojsin. I really like the organization of topics and the American English pronunciation exercises in this book. One of my favorite American English pronunciation books for teachers are Teaching American English Pronunciation, by Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich. You can read
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American English speakers use linking to join words toegether so that they are easy to say and flow together smoothly. It often sounds like people are saying one long word since they are no spaces between words. Here are 2 common types of linking in American spoken English. Consonant to vowel linking When words that
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