speak like an american

Step by Step Pronunciation Guide
from Our Bestselling Course
SPEAK LIKE AN
AMERICAN
PART 1
R
It is considered one of the hardest English language sounds to
articulate, and it is typically the last sound that native English
speakers master as children.
How to pronounce?
Open your mouth slightly. Curl the tip of your tongue back without
touching the top of your mouth. The tip of the tongue should not
touch the gum ridge or your teeth when pronouncing the letter R.
Do not create any kind of contact in your mouth!
Tip from Venya Pak:
Round your lips and keep in mind to say “o”, but master “r”.
Don’t forget that in American English the sound is always
pronounced.
Try it:
Red River
Rocket
Wrap / Rap
Arrow
Arrive
R
“R” accent reduction
Whatever you do – do not create any kind of contact in your mouth.
Unlike British English, in American English -R- is always pronounced.
Just don’t roll it! Pay particular attending to R when it appears at the
end of word: for, more, far and teacher. If it’s too difficult for you – you
can start out by rounding your
lips.
Try it:
Four-door car
Her younger sister
Sooner or later
They’re never here
Lobster for dinner
Important information
Thirty percent
I heard it was a four-hour performance
He normally works in New York
Mark is determined to learn German
Read the text out
Two men are on an escalator. They are going down. Suddenly,
somebody shouts, “Free burgers!” The men want the burgers. They
must turn around. They must run up the escalator. They are going the
wrong way. This is not easy for the men. They fall a few times. People
watch them. They film them, too. In the end, the men get to the top.
People start to cheer.
Check yourself
H
A common error English language learners make is overproducing
the /h/. In American English /h/ is very weak and gentle.
Tip from Venya Pak:
Just relax and breathe out saying the word. Yeah, that’s it!
Good job!
Try it:
How
His
Her
Hope
Hey
Hate
Hip-hop
Hello
H
V
Your top teeth should be touching your lower lip.
V
Try it:
Vodka
Volleyball
Very
Vivid
W
Just round your lips. No contact with your lips or teeth.
Tip from Venya Pak:
Get surprised! Say “wow”. That’s it!
Try it:
Wow
Was
When
Water
Wow
Was
When
W
T
Your tongue should press between the tooth ridge and the upper
side teeth and touch the gum ringe
Tip from Venya Pak:
Think about drums and play an imaginary
one with your mouth!
Silent -t- after n
The -t- after N is almost always silent in American English.
Instead of saying internet Americans will frequently say
[Innernet]. This is fairly standard speech. It’s not considered
sloppy or overly casual.
Try it:
Interview
Twenty
Center
Quantity
Plenty
T
T between two vowels
When -t- is between two vowels, it is generally pronounced like a fast
/d/ sound. It also sounds similar to rolling r’s, when tip of the tongue
touches the upper gum ridge. We also call it “tapped T” because
you quickly tap the tip of your tongue on the gum ridge when you
pronounce it. T becomes a fast /d/ in the following cases:
A. BETWEEN TWO VOWELS
(Natives don’t say /BETTER/ – they say /BEDDER/)
B. BEFORE AN -L(Natives don’t say /LITTLE/ – they say /LIDDLE/)
C. AFTER -R- AND A VOWEL
(Natives don’t say /PARTY/, /FORTY/ – they say /PARDY/, /FORDY/)
D. BETWEEN TWO SEPARATE WORDS when the FIRST WORD ENDS
WITH A VOWEL + T and the SECONS
BEGINS WITH a VOWEL (it is, what if, wait a minute)
ATTENTION: -T- DOESN’T CHANGE to a /FAST D/ if it’s within a
stressed syllable.
Natives don’t say /ADACK/ – they say /ATTACK/
Try it:
City
Better
Duty
Total
Matter
Meeting
Quality
At eleven
Put it on
Eat out
Get up
I’ll eat it a little later
Peter wrote a better letter
He brought a lot of bottles of water
D
The articulation is the same like when you pronounce /t/ but with
vocal vibration.
Try it:
Do
Two
Take
Date
Day
Toy
Table
Toilet
Desk
Don’t take
Time to do
D
Read the text out
Once, I took my daughter to a park. We ran into a boy from her
school and he asked me, "How are you doing, sir?" He is a really
nice kid
Check yourself
N-NG
In American English, the final G in the ING endings should not be
dropped, but it should not be over-pronounced either. Don’t say
“I’m goin shoppin” and don’t say “I’m going shopping”. To
create the right sound – raise the back of the tongue and let it
touch the soft palate, which is the soft area at the rear of your
mouth. MAKE SURE THE TIP OF YOUR TONGUE DOES NOT
TOUCH YOUR TEETH!
Try it:
N
Doing nothing
Something wrong
Looking young
Feeling strong
Wedding ring
To make N sound – you just need to touch your
upper teeth with the tip of your tongue.
Try it:
Thin – Things
Ran – Rang
Win – Wing
Ban – Bang
It’s a pretty normal thing.
He comes running to you every night.
I will give you nothing.
N
Read the text out
Hey! How’s it going? I know, we haven’t talked in a long time, but I
really do feel like we’ve been there for each other all along!
Check yourself
Explanation by Venya
TH
Your tongue is stiсking out a little bit while you are blowing out air.
Tip from Venya Pak:
Imagine that today is your B-Day and you have a cake
with candles that you have to blow out. But you have an
allergic reaction and your tongue is swallen.
There are voiced and unvoiced TH.
For the UNVOICED /th/ we use only air. For the VOICED one - we
use air and voice vibration (like /z/)
TH
Try it:
Voiced TH
breathe
clothing
father
this
weather
Unvoiced TH
anything
both
earth
nothing
thing
Read the text out
Her thirty-third birthday is on the third Thursday of this month.
Those three things are worth thousands of dollars.
There are those that always tell the truth.
I’d rather buy this one than that one.
Check yourself
Explanation by Venya
PART 2
Sounds /æ/ & /ɛ/. MAN vs. MEN
In order to pronounce the sound /æ/ like in a word MAN or BAD,
you need to open your mouth and drop the jaw as much as
possible. If you don't open your mouth wide enough, you'll get a
totally different sound /ɛ/ as in MEN or BED.
LIPS: open, not rounded
TONGUE: Low and flat on the floor of the mouth.
SPELLING: A (hat, apple, man) in a closed syllable (the one ending
with a consonant letter).
Try it:
Bad example
National anthem
Accurate answer
Bad habit
Practice these sentences:
This is your last chance to give me an accurate answer
Sam sat at the back of the math class
Danny had a salad and a sandwich in the cafeteria
Nancy had a bad attitude in her Spanish class
Kathy would rather study acting at the national academy
æ
LONG AND SHORT /i/
Long /i/ as in SEAT and short /ɪ/ as in SIT sounds.
For long /i/ sound you to follow these instructions:
LIPS: Slightly smiling, tense, not rounded
TONGUE: Tense, high and far forward near the roof of the mouth.
SPELLING: -ee (meet, feet); -ea (team, sea); -ie or -ei (piece,
neither); final -e (me, we); final -y (duty, city); endings with -ique
(unique, critique).
Try it:
The employees agreed to meet at eight fifteen.
Don’t keep the TV near the heater.
It’s extremely easy to cheat when the teacher isn’t here.
Steve will read the email before he leaves.
For a short /ɪ/ sound you need to have your lips slightly parted and
your tongue relaxed and high but not as high as for /i/. Sides of the
tongue should touch upper back teeth.
SPELLING: i (sit, give); ui (build, quit); y between to consonants
(gym, system)
EXCEPT FOR: been (in US ENG), women (wimin), busy (bizzy).
Try it:
Kim will visit her big sister Linda in Virginia
In the beginning it was difficult for Jim to quit drinking
The city has an interesting history
Keep in mind that spelling with these sounds is a bit tricky as there
are a lot of exceptions.
Now try to feel the difference between these sounds /i/ and /I/:
leave / live
feel / fill
least / list
beat / bit
each / itch
feet / fit
sheep / ship
Check yourself
Sounds /ʊ/ and /u/. GOOD & MOOD
The main difference here is rounding your lips. For the sound /ʊ/ as in
GOOD you don't round your lips at all.
SPELLING: oo (good, look), u (push, full) , ould (would., should).
EXCEPTION: Woman
Try it:
good book
took a look
fully cooked
push and pull
The sugar cookies taste good.
He would read the book if he could
Would you help me look for my book?
In order to make a sound /u/ as in MOOD, you should round your lips as
if you are blowing a balloon.
SPELLING: oo (too, food, school), ue (true, blue), o (do, who), ew (new,
blew), u (super, rule)
Try it:
too few
soup spoon
new moon
two rooms
The new roof was installed in June.
I need proof that you’re telling the truth.
Contrast version:
Full / Fool
Look / Luke
Pull / Pool
Stood / Stewed
Check yourself
ʊ
SOUNDS /ʌ/ AND /ə/
These are two very lazy English sounds. We pronounce Sounds /ʌ/ as
in MUG and /ə/ as in SURPRISE
In order to articulate the sound /ʌ/ you need to have your lips totally
relaxed and slightly parted. Your tongue should be also relaxed and
be in the middle of your mouth.
Try it:
young son
jump up
fun in the sun
number one
What country does he come from?
I love the sunny summer months.
Your younger brother doesn’t trust us.
For /ə/ you put minimum effort and don't round your lips. You just
slightly open your mouth. Remember - this sound is only pronounced
in unstressed syllables
Read this text aloud and practice pronunciation:
They got on the crowded subway train. They sat down on the plastic seat.
They sat next to a man.
He was an old man. He was talking. He was talking to himself. He looked
at them. He raised his voice. “You’re not smart,” he said. “Did you hear
me? Did you hear what I said? You think you’re so smart.”
He smelled of alcohol. He was holding something. It was in a small paper
bag. “Let’s move,” Natalie whispered. Adrian agreed. They got up. They
walked about 20 feet away. They found another seat.
“This is better,” she said. “He smelled bad.” Adrian nodded. “Oh, no,” she
said.
“What’s wrong?” Adrian asked. “I think he’s coming our way,” she said.
The man was walking toward them. He sat down across from them. “See?
You’re not smart,” he said. “You think you’re so smart. But I found you,
didn’t I?”
Check yourself
PART 3
STRESSES IN WORDS AND SENTENCES
In English, certain words have stress within a sentence, as well as,
certain syllables have stress within a word.
The stressed syllable is usually:
• Slightly higher in pitch
• Slightly longer
ABOUT
A • BOUT
A word can sometimes have 2 stresses: a main stress and a secondary
stress which is less emphasized that the main one.
EMBARRASSMENT
EM • BA • RRASS • MENT
Main stress on BA, secondary stress on EM.
SENTENCE STRESS
Sentence stress allows us to understand the meaning and pick up on
the important parts of your statements.
We can stress any word (except for prepositions, conjunctions, and
particles) in a sentence depending on what exactly we wish to
emphasize.
I saw her at the party. We can put a stress on her, if we want to point
out that we saw exactly her. We can put a stress on saw, if we say that
we only saw her (didn't talk to her) and so on.
Sentence stress can change depending on the mood you're trying to
convey.
SIT DOWN
SIT DOWN
SIT DOWN
INTONATION
The English language has a set of rules for sentence intonations. In
order to sound like a native you need to master these rules as they
might be different from your mother tongue.
Affirmative sentence
Intonation goes down by the end of the sentence.
Yes/No Questions
Intonation goes up by the end of the sentence.
Informative (Wh-) questions
Intonation goes down by the end of the sentence
Alternative (OR) questions
Intonation goes up at the first choice (second, third, etc if there are
several variants) and goes down by the last variant.
TAG questions
If we want to learn something (as we don't know the needed
information) intonation goes down by the end of the main sentence and
rises at the tag.
If we are unsure and want to simply clarify something, intonation goes
down from the start and drops at the tag
Read this text aloud and practice pronunciation:
I’ll pick you up at nine.
Do you like roses or sunflowers?
Are you okay?
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