8/23/2020 How to pronounce english words correctly

How to Pronounce English Words

Correctly
Wondering how to pronounce vowels and consonants in American English? Accurate
pronunciation is an important part of learning any foreign language. But the tricky thing
about pronunciation is that it is not just a question of acquiring knowledge, it's a physical
skill that you need to practice regularly. And the problem is that the English spelling
system is very complicated and typically, words are not pronounced the way they are
spelled. So how to pronounce English words correctly?

In fact, there is little consistency between the 26 letters of the English alphabet and the
sounds we use when saying them out loud. Besides, there are just 5 vowel letters (a, e, i,
u, o) and about 15 various vowel sounds. Furthermore, the English alphabet has 21
consonant letters and about 24 consonant sounds. So how can you pronounce a word
you have never read? Guessing is a terrible strategy that leads to a lot of errors and bad
habits. What is the way out? To pronounce words correctly, you need to learn to
recognize all the sounds in American English and their symbols in the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

What is the IPA?

International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA is the system to transcribe words of any
language as they sound using universal phonetic symbols. In the IPA, each symbol is
associated with a speci c English sound. If you learn all the symbols, you will know
exactly how to pronounce any word because most English dictionaries use IPA to
describe pronunciation of the words. Using the IPA, you'll be able to improve your
pronunciation and feel more con dent speaking English. Keep reading to learn how
to pronounce IPA symbols.

How to Pronounce Vowels

When it comes to pronunciation, vowels are the hardest part of American English. Vowel
sounds are produced with an open vocal tract. Here are the IPA symbols for vowel
sounds in American English.
/i / is used in beet, heat, see, read. When pronouncing this sound, you need to keep
your tongue high and form your mouth into a wide narrow shape.
/ɪ/ is used in bit, kit, sit, ll. Keep your lips and your tongue neutral and relaxed and
make the sound at the back of your throat.

/ɛ/ is used in set, bed, get, ten. Keep your lips and jaw loose and hold the middle of
the tongue slightly rounded upwards.
/æ/ is used in bad, cat, land, sad. Hold your lips apart and push the front of your
tongue further forward.

/ɑ/ is used in cot, hot, god. Hold your jaw more open and keep the back of your
tongue lower than for any other vowel sound.

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/ɔ/ is used in all, saw, want, cause. Push your tongue back and keep it low slightly
rounding upward.
/ʊ/ is used in good, book, put, foot. Raise the back of the tongue to a mid-high
position and pull your lips into a loose circle.
/u/ is used in school, too, boot, cool. Pull your lips into a small circle and raise the
back of the tongue to a high position.

/ʌ/ is used in cup, one, but. Relax the body of your tongue and keep it low in the
mouth. Keep the jaw in a neutral position.
/ə/ is used in about, people, common. The schwa sound occurs in unstressed
positions.
The next vowel sounds are diphthongs that begin with one vowel sound and
change to another in the same syllable.
/eɪ/ is used bait, make, way, say. You can make it if you form your mouth into a wide
narrow shape.
/aɪ/ is used in bite, ve, why, time. It's a diphthong that ends with brief /j/.
/ɔɪ/ is used in point, boy, oil, choice.

/aʊ/ is used in now, mouth, down, out. The sound ends in a brief /w/.
/oʊ/ is used in so, both, go.

How to Pronounce Consonants

Pronouncing the correct consonant sounds is equally as important as the vowel sounds.
Consonants are produced by pushing air through a small opening in the vocal tract or by
building up the air in the vocal tract and then releasing it. Consonants may be voiced
and unvoiced. The following IPA symbols are used for American consonants:
/p/ - pan, pen, happy. It is an unvoiced sound and vocal cords don't vibrate when it is
pronounced. It is the counterpart of /b/. Make it by closing your lips to prevent the
air from leaving the vocal tract.
/b/ - bag, ribbon, bad. It's the voiced counterpart to /p/.
/t/ - today, tea, still. Press the tip of your tongue against the tooth ridge to prevent
the air from leaving the vocal tract. The sound is unvoiced.
/d/ - day, dog, add. It is the voiced counterpart of /t/.

/k/ - kite, cat, queen. Lift the back of your tongue and press it against the soft palate
at the back of your mouth.
/g/ - got, guest, egg. It's the voiced counterpart to /k/.
/tʃ/ - chicken, much, teacher. To create this voiced sound, you need to press the tip of
your tongue against the tooth ridge. The sound is pronounced when the air is
released with friction.
/dʒ/ - jacket, age, major. It's the voiced counterpart to /tʃ/.
/f/ - fall, life, often. Hold the jaw nearly closed and press the bottom lip to the bottom
of the top teeth.
/v/ - voice, give, ever. It's the voiced counterpart to /f/.
/θ/ - three, death, nothing. It's an unvoiced sound. Place the tip of your tongue
behind the top front teeth or between the bottom and top front teeth.
/ð/ - this, smooth, mother. It's the voiced counterpart to /θ/.
/s/ - sun, also, so. To produce this voiceless sound, keep the tip of your tongue near
the upper backside of the top front teeth.
/z/ - zoo, does, music. The z sound is voiced and is the counterpart to /s/. To produce
it, you need to keep the front of your tongue close to the tooth ridge.

/ʃ/ - shoe, sh, social. Keep your lips tense or slightly protruded when producing this
sound.

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/ʒ/ - genre, vision, garage. It's the voiced counterpart of /ʃ/.

/h/ - he, how, perhaps. You should slightly constrict your throat and breathe out
through the mouth.
/m/ - milk, man, summer. Press your lips together and make this sound with your
vocal cords. The soft palate drops and some air passes through the nose.
/n/ - nine, know, penny. Press the tip of your tongue against the tooth ridge. The air
moves through the nose as when producing /m/ sound.
/ŋ/ - thing, think, sing. This is a nasal sound as well. Raise your tongue and keep it
further back in your mouth.
/l/ - lip, last, fell. There are 2 allophones: the light l and the dark l sound. To create the
l sound, place the tip of your tongue against the middle of the tooth ridge.
/r/ - red, wrist, rat. Raise the tip of your tongue and curl it back behind the tooth
ridge while keeping the back of your tongue low.
/j/ - yes, million, yet. Hold the body of your tongue near the tooth ridge and the hard
palate and keep your lips mostly closed.
/w/ - wine, wet, why. To produce this voiced sound, imagine you are whistling or
blowing a candle.

Simple and Useful Strategies to Master Your

Pronunciation
Now you know how to pronounce all American English sounds correctly so it's time to
train your pronunciation skills. Here are some tips on how you can effectively master your
American accent.

Listen as much as possible

Get your ear used to the way native speakers sound. Watch TV shows, movies,
nd free videos on YouTube, and listen to songs and podcasts. Focus on the
sounds that don't exist in your native language and learn to distinguish them.
Besides, you should pay attention to dif cult words and focus on rhythms,
breaks, and intonation.

Read out loud and record yourself

The best way to achieve success in any challenge is to keep track of your
improvements. Find interesting English texts and practice reading them
aloud. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the sounds and try to follow
certain intonation patterns. Record yourself reading and you will have
reference to assess the progress. Ask a native speaker to listen and tell you
what errors you have made. You should focus on the areas that are most
dif cult for you, practice a lot, and record yourself regularly to see the
improvements.

Practice with Accent Hero

Take a free pronunciation improvement course from Accent Hero and master
the pronunciation of 200 tricky English words that are commonly
mispronounced by non-native speakers. The online course lasts for 4 weeks
and you can practice anytime and anywhere. The course uses advanced
speech recognition tools to provide you with immediate feedback and help
you understand which mistakes you typically make. With Accent Hero, you are
sure to learn to speak like an American.

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Biases of Your Native Language

When we learn a second language, our pronunciation is in uenced by our mother
tongue. And the closer your native language is to the language you are learning, the
better you'll be able to speak the target language. English learners whose native
language is Spanish or French face fewer dif culties when learning English than those
whose native language is Japanese or Chinese. Still, every native speaker of another
language has his or her issues with English pronunciation.

Typical mistakes of Russian speakers

Russian speakers face many of the same obstacles to the correct English
pronunciation that learners from other countries do but they also have their
own share of pronunciation dif culties.
Russian speakers tend to pronounce dark l sound even darker than native
English speakers. Besides, they pronounce dark l in all positions, even
where light l should be pronounced.
Russian speakers often substitute /w/ which doesn't exist in their native
language with /v/.
They often pronounce “th” as s and z sounds because there are no /θ/ and
/ð/ in Russian.
They often replace /h/ with its closest Russian equivalent /x/.
Russians typically say /n/ or /ng/ instead of /ŋ/ which doesn't exist in the
Russian language.

Russians nd it challenging to pronounce various vowels and diphthongs,

particularly, they struggle to pronounce /æ/ and often use /ɛ/ instead.

Typical mistakes of Chinese speakers

Chinese speakers usually face a number of pronunciation errors because many
English sounds don't exist in Chinese and are new to them. Here are some of
the most common problems that cause miscomprehension.
Consonant clusters don't exist in Chinese and Chinese speakers nd it
challenging to pronounce a group of consonants especially if it contains
“r” or “l” sounds. They often add vowel sounds between consonants or
substitute consonants that are easier for them to pronounce.
In Chinese, words and syllables never end with consonants except with
/n/ and /ŋ/. Chinese speakers often add an extra schwa sound after a
consonant or omit the nal consonant.
In Chinese, there is no word stress. That's why most Chinese speakers
have problems with vowel reduction and schwa sound.
English sounds /r/ and /v/ don't exist in Chinese. Chinese speakers often
replace /r/ with /l/ and /w/. Sound /v/ is typically replaced with /b/ or /w/.
Chinese learners often confuse /l/ and /n/ sounds.

Typical mistakes of Spanish speakers

English and Spanish have a lot of differences in terms of phonetics and one of
the most important of them is that there are 5 vowel sounds in Spanish and 15
vowel sounds in American English.
Spanish doesn't have a distinction between short and long vowels so
Spanish speakers often confuse pairs of short and long vowels like /i/ and /
ɪ/, /u:/ and /ʊ/.
They often substitute the schwa sound /ə/ for another vowel sound,
pronouncing the English letters as in Spanish.
In Spanish, words never start with consonant clusters such as /sl-, sm-, st-,
sn-, sk-, sp-/ so Spanish speakers commonly insert a schwa sound before
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words that begin with /s/+ another consonant.

Spanish learners often voice and devoice consonants. They may have
dif culties with z pronunciation in a combination /z/+ vowel and s
pronunciation in /s/+ consonant.

Typical mistakes of Japanese speakers

Japanese speakers can have a dif cult time with English pronunciation due to
the signi cant differences between English and their native language. The
most common pronunciation problems for Japanese speakers are:
They confuse l sound and r sound because /r/ doesn't exist in Japanese.
They insert vowel sounds in consonant clusters.
They add vowel sounds at the end of English words.
They often replace /θ/ and /ð/ which don't exist in Japanese with /s/ and
/d/.

Bias for Action?

We have identi ed the most common problem areas in English pronunciation for non-
native English speakers. So now you know which sounds require additional practice if
you want to perfect them. Of course, making changes in your American English
pronunciation will not come overnight. That's why we recommend that you take a free
accent training course at Accent Hero. With proper effort and practice, you will be able to
master new sounds, reduce your accent, and learn to speak English like a native faster
than you can imagine.

TRY OUT ACCENT HERO

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