When working on speaking English correctly, we often focus on correctly pronouncing all of the sounds in words.  Mispronounced sounds can make your speech difficult to understand.  It's important to understand which sounds in your speech contribute to your accent.  (To learn more, try a free screening or sign up for an assessment of your speech.)  When you want to sound more natural when speaking English, however, it is helpful to know that in flowing speech, native speakers leave out or reduce some of the sounds.  Pronouncing everything can make you sound unnatural.  Just like linking, where sounds run together, reducing is a way that speech flows more easily.  Here are some examples:

to becomes t':  today = t'day, tomorrow = t'morrow, to go = t'go
We run the word "to" into the following word or syllable, dropping the vowel oo.  Listen to the examples below.

the jumps on to the next word:  the store = th'store, the matter = th'matter, the weather - th'weather
We shorten the word the and run it onto the following word when the word after "the" is stressed.  We use vowel schwa on this word in most contexts, not vowel ee (the = thuh, not thee).  You can hear this in the recording below.

are loses its vowel sound, or sounds more like er:  what are = what'r, who are = who'er, those are = those'r
We reduce the word are and tack it on to the previous word in some cases.  It sounds more like a short vowel er.  Listen to the recording below.

Want more video tips?  Subscribe to our free online practice.

Why Speech Modification is an investment you should make in your employees

Sometimes our most valuable resources are employees who speak with non-standard American English pronunciation.  Your employee may have the best knowledge, sales skills, technical expertise or leadership potential, but be hampered by his or her ability to use clear and effective communication. Research shows that listeners are biased against speakers with foreign accents, and are less likely to judge the content of their speech as true and correct.

People who seek to improve their communication skills with accent modification are more likely to be willing to take on challenges, improve overall productivity and address other areas of professional growth.  After completing individualized speech modification training, employees are more confident, more effective in all areas of communication, and more culturally competent.  Skills gained are maintained over time and generalize to new contexts.  Interpersonal communication, telephone skills and client-facing interactions improve due to improved communication and confidence.

An investment for your employees in Speech Modification will benefit all parties involved.  Get started today.

How do you master the American Accent?  According to Emma Watson, the key is having a good coach.  And, apparently, watching plenty of TV.  If you aren't on the movie set with a coach handy, consider online accent training, either with individual coaching sessions or our self-study program.