American English Pronunciation

In this course you will learn the pronunciation of single English sounds. We will go over both how to make the sounds and examples of those sounds in words and phrases. This course includes exercises for making better speaking habits. At the end of the course, you should have the skills you need to sound more like a native English speaker, as well as the confidence to use the skills you learned. If you work hard and practice what you learn, you will improve.

In this first video, we will go over some basic pronunciation tips. It's important to remember the following:

1. Develop your ear 

2. Watch mouths 

3. Be very aware of yourself when speaking 

4. Try to feel pronunciation. Don't only learn rules, because they don't always work.

There are two kinds of letters: vowels and consonants. There are 21 consonants (b, c, d, f, g, etc) and five vowels, in the alphabet. Vowels (aeiou) generally make two kinds of sounds, long sounds, and short sounds. Long sounds sound like the name of the letter, while short sounds are different. Remember that long doesn't mean the sound will really last longer--it's just a name.

We will cover many examples of words with short sounds. The tough thing about short sounds is that they can often sound very alike. In order to be able to pronounce these sounds correctly, you have to be able to hear the differences. Once you can begin to do that, you can start making the sounds correctly each time. Once you've mastered all the short sounds, it's important to practice again and again until you can do them naturally, without thinking (a habit).

While rules don't always work for English pronunciation, one general rule which usually does is called the silent 'e'. When a vowel is in a word or a syllable (a syllable is a beat in a word, like bas-ket-ball or un-cle) that ends with an 'e', the vowel will be long. It's like the 'e' does something, changes the earlier vowel sound, so it needs to lay down and rest--it can't make a sound.
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Vowels in syllables or words without a silent 'e' at the end will usually be short.

When vowels are put together, like 'ai', the pronunciation is usually the long sound of the first vowel. This isn't always true. We will talk about another kind of sound made when two vowels are put together in the next lesson.

Diphthongs are special sounds made when two vowels are put together. These sounds are special because they are complex sounds--they require you to move your mouth as you say them, instead of being a single long or short sound. - The diphthongs are: OU (OW) AU (AW) OI (OY)

The V and W sounds are quite similar, but in fact they are made completely differently. When you say the V sound, it's important that your lower lip touches your upper teeth. When you say the W sound, the lips come forward but do not touch, and also do not touch the teeth. When the normal W sound is pronounced, the lips are pushed forward slightly before going to the next sound.

The TH sound is actually very easy to make. All you have to do is, softly, put your tongue between your teeth and push air out. Unfortunately, knowing the right way to make the sounds is not enough. It has to become a deep habit. Often, when speaking quickly, it's easy to slip and forget the correct pronunciation of this sound. So, it's really important to make it a habit.

The L, R and N sounds can easily be confused, so they need to be learned together. By learning these sounds together, it becomes easier to differentiate the sounds and start building the habits necessary to speak them correctly, easily.
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This lesson covers a number of examples, as well as a description of how to make each sound. Remember to practice the sounds over and over until you can easily do them without thinking.

The L, R and N sounds can easily be confused, so they need to be learned together. By learning these sounds together, it becomes easier to differentiate the sounds and start building the habits necessary to speak them correctly, easily.
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This lesson covers a number of examples, as well as a description of how to make each sound. Remember to practice the sounds over and over until you can easily do them without thinking.

CH and SH are different but overlapping sounds. That means, they can sometimes be the same. For example, CH can sound like SH in words like chandelier. The CH sound is typically a harder sound. It is made by bringing the teeth together and then releasing the tongue from the front of the mouth to the back.
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The SH sound is much simpler. It can be made either with the teeth touching or not, and the tongue very lightly touching the roof of the mouth, only at the edges.

These two endings can be difficult because they could sound either too long or too short. When you are making these two ending sounds, you can bring your tongue behind your teeth, but you don't have to actually make the L sound (though you can). Be careful not to stress the vowel sound, or it will sound too much like POL and BOL, rather than, PLE and BLE. The sound should be relaxed, not rushed.