Indian English: Common pronunciation Errors

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If you learned to speak English in India, your pronunciation of American English will be affected by both your native language(s) and the Indian English Dialect. Whether you first spoke Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali or another language, it is likely that you have some of the following pronunciation patterns that contribute to your accent when speaking English.

You can use this chart to identify which pronunciation targets you can work on to improve your American Accent.  Many sounds link to practice materials or further information.  If you would like to access even more pronunciation practice, consider a subscription to our full online practice site.

sound

p

t

k

b

d


g

v


th
(as in “think”)

th
(as in “those”)

z

sh

j


ng

r

w

consonant clusters



/ɪ/ “vowel ɪ”
as in “it”

/e/ “vowel ay”
as in “ate”

/æ/ “vowel a”
as in “at”

/a/ “vowel ah”
as in “hot”

/ʊ/ “vowel U”
as in wood

/ə/ “vowel schwa”
as in but


/ɝ,ɚ/ “vowel er”
as in “bird”

error pattern

can sound like “b” at the start of words

can sound like “d” at the start of words

can sound like “g” at the start of words

can sound like “p” at the ends of words

can sound like “t” at the ends of words, or be left off the ends of words

can sound like “k” at the ends of words

can sound like w at the start of words, 
can sound like f at the ends of words

can sound like t at the start or ends of words

can sound like d at the start or ends of words

can sound like s at the ends of words

can sound like s at the start of words

can sound like ch or zh at the ends of words

can have an extra g or k sound

can be rolled

can sound like v at the start of words

can have sounds left off or have the same errors listed above


can sound like vowel ee


can sound like vowel eh


can sound like vowel ah


can sound like vowel o


can sound like vowel oo


can be pronounced like the written letter rather than the American “uh” sound


can be rolled, or sound like vowel schwa

Example

pay sounds like bay

to sounds like do

cap sounds like gap

robe sounds like rope

code sounds like coat,
or we’d sounds like we

pig sounds like pick

very sounds like wary
leave sounds like leaf

thing sounds like ting
with sounds like wit

those sounds like dose
breathe sounds like breed

buzz sounds like bus

she sounds like see

ridge sounds like rich


thing sounds like think



why sounds like vie

lived sounds like live, 
want sounds like wan, 
words sounds like word 

it sounds like eat


wait sounds like wet


cat sounds like cot


not sounds like note


look sounds like Luke


banana sounds like “bah-nah-nah” rather than “buh-nah-nuh”

bird sounds like bud