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How to Speak Like an American, reduced sounds:  He, Her, Him

12/23/2015

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Americans frequently simplify or reduce sounds in words in running speech.  When pronouns beginning with “h” are in the middle and ends of phrases, the “h” is sometimes left off, as the pronouns are not stressed.  For example, “Is he busy?” sounds more like “Izzy busy?”  Try the following phrases, using a silent “h” on the words he, her and him.
Is he busy? sounds like Izzy busy?
Give him some time  sounds like givim some time.
Tell her that sounds like teller that.
Tell him for me sounds like tellim for me.
Want more like this?  Check out our REAL TALK online course!
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Accent Reduction:  American Intonation in Sentences

12/2/2015

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At the sentence level, we stress one word (or syllable of a word) for each thought group.  The typical pattern is to stress the last content word (noun, verb, or adjective) in the thought group. We raise our pitch and lengthen the vowel for the stressed word or syllable.
Listen to these examples:
 I'd like to do that, but I need to go now.
I'm really hungry, let's get sushi tonight.
I didn't have time to finish it yet.
Notice that the overall pitch pattern for each thought group is to rise to the stressed word, then fall off at the end.  When the last word of the thought group is stressed, it rises and falls on the single word, to indicate stress and the end of the thought.  For example:
I told them no.
That's what he wants.
She prefers green.
This standard stress pattern for a declarative sentence (rise in pitch to the most important word, then fall off) will vary when something needs extra emphasis.  Examples might be to change from the standard meaning, to clarify, or for other special emphasis.  Listen the sentences below.  The words are the same, but the meaning changes when the stressed word changes. 
I didn't have any.  (standard pattern)
I didn't have any. (implies someone else did)
We wanted to go. (standard pattern)
We wanted to go. (but we couldn't)
I gave them the report. (standard pattern)
I gave them the report. (implies they are responsible, not me)
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How to Learn the American Accent:  Intonation in Words

11/22/2015

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An important step in being understood and sounding more American is learning to use American intonation.  Intonation is the music of speech, the stress patterns or rhythms, the pitch changes, and the vocal tone.  Intonation is complex, but there are some simple rules that you can learn which will help you understand and use correct American intonation.
Word-Level Intonation
For words with more than one syllable, we have an intonation pattern within the word.  One syllable will have the main stress.  This syllable will have a vowel sound which is held longer, has a higher pitch, and a clear vowel tone.  Listen to the examples below.  Can you hear which syllable has the stress?

applicable

pro
gramming

familiar

organization
Now that we are thinking about the stress in words, how do we know which syllable to stress?  While there are a few rules for this, in general we need to memorize the pattern for individual words.  A good way to check on a word is to use an online dictionary, such as Miriam-Websters learner's dictionary, and listen to a recording of the word.
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Stress is marked with a small diacritic (a line similar to an apostrophe) before the stressed syllable.  For example, on the word together, the stress falls on the second syllable "ge." 
It is easiest to listen to the word and repeat, following the stress pattern that you hear.  For access to thousands of recordings of common words, technical and business words, and words sorted by sound and stress pattern, consider a subscription to our full online practice site.
One final note on word stress - you are most likely using it correctly for most words.  Error patterns are most likely to occur on words that you learned through reading rather than listening, as well as words that have a different stress pattern in the dialect of English that you first learned.  For example, many dialects of English including Indian English and English spoken in many parts of Africa and Europe are influenced by British English, which has some differences from American English.  For example, British English will stress the first syllable of French loan words, such as ballet and cafe; whereas American English will stress the second syllable, ballet and cafe.

Some languages have consistent stress patterns on words.  For example, in Spanish, the last syllable is always stressed, unless the word ends with an s, n, or vowel, in which case the stress in on the second-to-last syllable.  If your native language typically stresses the first syllable of a word, you may be likely to have errors on American English words that have syllable stress on the second or third syllables.  You can find words sorted by syllable stress for your practice on our full site. 
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How to sound American:  Linking consonants to Vowels

10/27/2015

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When we speak English fluently, we often link between words.  There are many types of linking.  We addressed consonant to consonant linking here.  Now we will turn to consonant to vowel linking.
When a word ending in a consonant is followed by a word with a vowel, we often run the words together.  It almost sounds like the consonant jumps to the next word.  For example, when we say “thank you,”  it sounds more like “thang q.”
"Thank you" sounds like thang q.
Listen to the phrases below.  First they are pronounced separately, then linked.  Practice running the words together for a more natural, American-sounding pronunciation.  Special note: when the sound “t” is linked to a vowel, it becomes a “d” sound.  So “it is” sounds more like “ih diz.”
stop it     sounds like stah pit
web ex    sounds like weh bex
it is          sounds like ih diz
hot out    sounds like ha doubt
could I?    sounds like cuh die
pig out     sounds like pih gout
pick a      sounds like pih kuh
if I           sounds like ih fi
have any   sounds like ha veny
with it      sounds like wih thit
guess again  sounds like geh sagain
was it       sounds like wuh zit
wish I       sounds like wih shy
each and  sounds like ee chand
edge of     sounds like eh juv
game of    sounds like gay muv
on every    sounds like ah nevery
feel it         sounds like fee lit
Consonant to vowel linking.  Listen and repeat to practice.
For more practice recordings, consider purchasing a subscription to our full online practice site.
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Learning American Accent:  Linking words, consonant to consonant

10/16/2015

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When we speak English fluently, we often link between words.  There are many types of linking.  We will address consonant to consonant linking first.

When the consonant sound at the end of a word is the same sound that starts the next word, we pronounce the consonant only once if it is a continuant sound.  Continuants can be held, like s can be held out: sssssssss.  Stopped sounds cannot be held, for example p cannot be drawn out to ppppp.

Continuant consonants include f, v, s, z, th, sh, m, n, l and r.
examples: 
    if friends  sounds like  iffriends 

    have very sounds like havvery   

    bus station sounds like busstation  
 
    has zero sounds like hazzero    
  
    with thought sounds like withought  
 
    wish she sounds like wishee       
 
    I’m moving sounds like I’mmoving  

    clean knife sounds like cleannife
  
    feel like sounds like feellike     
  
    or red sounds like orred      
These are not run together as one word so much as there is not a distinct stop to the ending consonant and start of the beginning consonant.

When the ending consonant is a stopped consonant, we also link to the next consonant, but instead of continuing the sound into the next sound, we stop the consonant and don’t release the air.  So when we say the word “stop” by itself, the p has a puff of air following it.  When we say the phrase “stop that,”  we stop our p sound but don’t release the puff of air.  You can listen to the recordings of the examples to hear these phrases unlinked and linked.

Stopped consonants include:  p, b, t, d, k, g
examples:
stop pointing  
    
web browser      

not today     

did do          

like candy       

big game   

For more practice recordings, consider purchasing a subscription to our full online practice site.
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