The Center for Confident American English Communication

Most of my clients from India have advanced degrees in science, IT and engineering. They read and write English perfectly. Since they were educated in English their reading, writing and vocabulary indicate a high level of success. Unfortunately their spoken English is often not comprehensible to American English speakers. Here are 3 common American English

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On her blog this week Lisa Mosjin, author of Mastering the American Accent writes about the pronunciation of the words months and clothes. These words contain the difficult consonant cluster th+s. She says that you should always pronounce the th + s as in words like strengths and Smiths. In order to do this you must

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In spoken American English the letter combination TH makes two different sounds. One of these sounds is voiced and the other is voiceless. The IPA symbol for the voiced th sound looks like this /ð/. The IPA symbol for the voiceless th sound looks like this /θ/. While both of these sounds cause problems for

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The voiced th sound is one of the most problematic sounds for non-native English speakers to pronounce. To make the sound place your tongue slightly between your teeth. Vibrate your vocal chords as you push the air through your throat. While there are not that many words that have the voiced th sound, the words

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Listen for all the different ways the th and the t are pronounced in this Thanksgiving video by Martha Stuart. Here is a checklist you can use to guide you as you watch and listen. Print or copy these words and mark each one when you hear it. Then watch and listen again several times

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