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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.
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Though I highly recommend learning via video :), sometimes a book is a nice resource to have. I especially like this one:
The 'g' and 'k' Sounds
How to make this sound:
Video Text:
The kk and gg sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. Kk is unvoiced, meaning you pass only air through your mouth, and gg is voiced, you make a sound with your vocal cords. The position of the mouth: the back of the tongue rises to meet the very back of the top of the roof of the mouth, the soft part, called, the soft palate. Kk. What you don't do is bring your tongue back in the throat. It goes up. The sound is then made when you build up a little bit of air and let your tongue go. That release is the sound. Kk, gg, kk, gg. As you can see, the jaw is slightly dropped. Word pairs: cool, ghoul ... curl, girl ... cap, gap ... kill, gill.
International Phonetic Alphabet symbols: [
], [
]
For more detailed information and a list of these sounds' occurrences in other languages, see the Wikipedia pages here for [] and here for [].
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Hey Guys, I'm REALLY EXCITED about a way to get you more feedback on your accents. The videos are great, but they're also passive, and to speak better English you have to speak!!
I really hope some of you will take advantage of a new kind of exercise I'm trying out where you actually GET FEEDBACK FROM ME! Check out the details, record yourself, and send it in!
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.
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Get fun IPA gear here!