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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 'uh' as in 'butter' Sound
How to make this sound:
Video Text:
The uh sound. This is a vowel sound, a back vowel, which means it feels like it's coming from here in the thoat, uh. It's very related to the ah sound, the only difference being: ah, the jaw drops more. Uh is actually the sound that we use when we are thinking: uuuuhhhhhh... So as you can see, in American English it is an extremely neutral sound. To make this sound, the jaw drops just a bit and the tongue rests in the bottom of the mouth with the tip of the tongue touching the bottom teeth in the back. Uh, uh. Very neutral, very simple sound. Sample words: mother, brother, buttercup. Sample sentence: I love my younger brother, but sometimes he bugs me.
International Phonetic Alphabet symbol: [
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This sound occurs in just a handful of other languages. For a list, see Wikipedia's page.
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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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