To keep in touch, please subscribe to my mailing list.
This website was created to help people improve their American English pronunciation. At the core is a series of videos explaining in detail how each sound is created, as well as a blog.
Click the +1 icon!
Though I highly recommend learning via video :), sometimes a book is a nice resource to have. I especially like this one:
Imitation Exercise: Midnight in Paris
American English Pronunciation :: Imitation Exercise
This is an imitation exercise for American English accent training. The goal here is to mimic sounds, don't worry if you don't understand every word you say! There is no transcript attached for this very reason. As you might have ideas attached to certain words that are wrong, this exercise focuses simply on imitating.
Things to notice and study:
The idiom 'freeload' is used. Based on context, what do you think it means?
LOTS of stops! Stop T with the word 'what' numerous times. The phrase "What time did you get in last night?": notice that there is not a release of the T in what, so there is just 1 T sound: what|?time. The phrase "not that late": none of the T's are released! All stops. The phrase "hike tonight": the final K sound of hike is not released (as well as the final T of 'tonight'). See my video on stop consonants. Also, see my video on T pronunciations.
The phrase "I need a little fresh air": The T is pronounced as a D in 'little'. T in 'quite' also pronounced as a D in the phrase "I'm not quite as taken with him as you are".
Also, the word 'are' is reduced in the phrase: Why are you so dressed up? See the video on the reduced 'are'.
What did you notice? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Bookmark/Search this post with
Just announced! Rachel will hold an 8-week online course in July and August. See courses page for details and to sign up.
10 slots left.
Students in the current class are saying:
"The style and habit of my speaking English have been dramatically improved through the class. The learning approach and materials are great! Rachel's comments on hand-ins have been especially helpful for removing Mandarin-tones from my speaking and adding quality of native speakers into my speaking."
"[T]he feedback is super helpful and also I learned a lot in the course on how to work on pronunciation. This will be super helpful to help me with the process even beyond this class."
"I've picked up quite a few pointers on how to improve on my accent, in no small measure by dint of the feedback, and I think I've managed to put some of the pointers into practice, so I think I've made some headway, all told, and I'm plenty satisfied with that."
If you cannot view the videos, click here.
Check out this site ...
... I think it is a GREAT resource for studying pronunciation. You can slow down videos without the pitch changing, you can loop sections, you can look up words. It's an amazing resource, and I've enjoyed playing around with it.
Write on my Facebook page to tell me what you think!
Get fun IPA gear here!