Category: Russian

The American R

6/6/2015

The American R can be a challenging sound for non-native speakers, even those who speak other English dialects. In some accents, the r sound is rolled or trilled. In others, it sounds more like vowel schwa, or the sound "uh." Did you know that the "r" sound is different depending on where it falls in the word? You may have no trouble saying the "r" in red or really, but struggle with the "r" sounds in bird or forever.

Whatever your difficulty, this may be a sound that needs practice at the phoneme and syllable level. Rather than trying to start by saying words with r, practice the sound by itself and in nonsense syllables. You might find the trouble is not with making this sound, but rather with breaking the habits of your old pronunciation in words. Use the recordings below to try the sound, syllables, and words in a new way.

r sound, vowel ER

R syllables

R words

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American Accent training for Russian Speakers

6/3/2015

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The sound system of your native language affects how you hear and pronounce other languages. When speaking American English, native Russian speakers have accent patterns based on first hearing and speaking Russian. You can use this chart to learn more about the Russian accent in English. Click on the individual sounds for recordings and help with pronunciation.

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Pronouncing American English: the W and V sounds

5/31/2015

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Pronunciation errors on the "w" and "v" sounds are common for those with a variety of language backgrounds. For most, learning how to clearly differentiate the two sounds is an important step in pronouncing them correctly. These sounds can be distinctly identified and produced by how they are formed with the mouth.

The American W

The American V

The American W is made with pursed, rounded lips. The lips should have no contact with the teeth. Make sure your lower lip protrudes as much as your upper lip as you make this sound.

Use the recording below to try making the w sound in the syllables wah, wee, woo, why and woah.

The American V is made with the top teeth touching the lower lip. Lips should not round. Make sure you can feel your teeth against your bottom lip as you make this sound.

Use the recording below to try making the v sound in the syllables vah, vee, voo, vai and vo.

Next, try these minimal pair words with w and v. Make a clear distinction between rounded lips w, and lip on teeth v. Practice with the recording below.

wet    vet
wary    very
worse    verse
wine    vine
wiper    viper
west    vest
wheel    veal
whale    veil
rowing    roving
while    vile
whim    vim
wiser    visor
went    vent
wow    vow
Walt     vault

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How to pronounce American English: Voiced vs. voiceless sounds

5/23/2015

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Vowel sounds are always voiced (the vocal folds buzz when saying these sounds). Consonant sounds can be either voiced or voiceless, and they come in pairs called cognates. Why is it helpful to know about voiced and voiceless cognate sounds? A frequent error in accented speech is the de-voicing of final consonants. What this means is that the speaker does not use any or enough voicing (buzzing of the vocal folds) on the last sound of the word, so it sounds like the voiceless cognate. This occurs for various reasons. The speaker's native language may not have words that end with voiced sounds. The speaker may be listening to American English speech, and not really hear or notice the voicing on the ends of words when listening to Americans. Or the voiced sounds might be part of a group of consonants at the end of the word, and the challenge of producing this consonant cluster makes using correct voicing difficult.

Whatever the reason, attention to this error is important because you may sound like you are saying a different word than you are. Your listener will likely understand based on the context, but having to interpret what you are saying puts an increased cognitive load on the listener, and they may struggle to follow what you are saying as a result.

The pairs of consonant sounds are as follows:
voiceless: t    voiced: d     Examples: to, do
voiceless: p    voiced: b     Examples: poor, boor
voiceless: k    voiced: g    Examples: came, game
voiceless: f    voiced: v        Examples: fan, van
voiceless: s    voiced: z       Examples: sip, zip
voiceless: sh    voiced: zh    Examples: mesh, measure
voiceless: ch    voiced: j       Examples: choke, joke
voiceless: th (IPA /θ/) voiced th (IPA /ð/) Examples: thigh, thy

One helpful way to ensure you are pronouncing the final consonant with the correct voicing is to lengthen the vowel sound before the voiced consonant. For example, when we say the word "bead," we hold the vowel ee for a little step down because the "d" is voiced. When we say the word "beat" we don't hold the vowel ee for any additional length. Listen to the pairs below and try making a longer vowel and voiced sound to end the word. Then try some of the words in the list on your own.

beat   bead
bop    Bob
pick    pig
leaf     leave
bus     buzz
mesh    measure
rich    ridge
breath    breathe

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Learning American Accent: how to change pronunciation

5/21/2015

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Do you have some words which you find difficult to say? Do you know which sounds are different in your accent? Whatever your pronunciation difficulties, understanding the approaches to changing pronunciation can help you address your goals.

While accented speech is comprised of several elements, pronunciation is one aspect which many speakers and listener can identify as sounding different. Some sounds in American English are infrequent or nonexistant in other languages and must be learned and practiced in a hierarchy to develop the sound. Others are easier to say, but hard to use in running speech. Understanding the levels of practice is an important step to changing your speech.

1. Sound level (phonemes): This level is single sounds. Practicing at this level is usually only necessary when the sound is new to you, but knowing how to say a sound by itself correctly is helpful and can be used as a tool when working at more challenging levels. Use the recordings below to try some of the American English phonemes which are most frequently mispronounced in accented speech.

Voiced th. IPA symbol: /ð/ Example words: those, that, breathe. Tongue between teeth, air flowing, voice on. Common error patterns: stopping (sounds like d) or alveolar tongue placement (sounds like z).

Voiceless th. IPA symbol: /θ/ Example words: thing, this, bath. Tongue between teeth, air flowing, no voice. Common error patterns: stopping (sounds like t) or alveolar tongue placement (sounds like s).

Vowel ɪ. IPA symbol: /ɪ/ Example words: it, is, different. Common error pattern: use of vowel ee (IPA /i/), the vowel in the words eat and need.

Vowel er. IPA symbol; /ɚ/ or /ɝ/. Example words: third, word, her, paper. Common error patterns: rolled r, use of vowel schwa (uh sound).

2. Syllable level: This level is target sound plus an additional sound. If the target is a consonant, the additional sound is a vowel, and vice versa. While two sounds together can make a word, syllables can also be part of a word or just a nonsense word. Practice at this level is useful when breaking down difficult words, integrating a difficult target into words, or changing a habitual pattern with the target sound. The recording below demonstrates how to add various vowels to the challenging target voiceless th (IPA symbol: /θ/).

3. Word level: This level is the target sound in real words. The target could be in the beginning, middle or end of the word (initial, medial or final position). Depending on your native language, you may only need to practice one word position. Sometimes speakers have an accurate phoneme in the initial position, but make errors when the target sound is in word-final position. For example, you may be able to use your voiceless th sound correctly in the word "think," but have an error pattern on the word "teeth."

You can try some words with initial, medial and final voiceless th sounds using the recordings below.

4. Phrase or Sentence level: The next step to changing a pronunciation pattern is to use the target sounds at the phrase or sentence level. Once you have achieved accurate productions at the word level, you can imitate or create sentences using the same words you practiced at the word level. This is more challenging because you are having to hold the new target in your mind as you say the sentence. If needed, you can practice at different levels within this step. Easiest, imitate a sentence with the target word at the beginning of the sentence. Next easiest, imitate a sentence with the target word in the middle or end of the sentence. Next, create your own sentence with the target word at the beginning of the sentence, and last, create a sentence with the target word in the middle or the end of the sentence. Use the recordings below to try the target voiceless th in imitated sentences. Then make your own sentences with voiceless th words.

5. Conversational level: This is the goal and the final step in changing pronunciation. Sometimes transitions between steps 4 and 5 are necessary, such as practice while reading aloud. There are many techniques to moving from the sentence to the conversational level, including raising awareness of where your targets occur and repeat motor practice to gain automaticity.

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The American R

American Accent training for Russian Speakers

Pronouncing American English: the W and V sounds

How to pronounce American English: Voiced vs. voiceless sounds

Learning American Accent: how to change pronunciation

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