Common Problems of Learning American English Pronunciation
We al are know well that American English is a main language will be used frequently with people come from different countries around the world, especially in business. According to this, it is very crucial to learn how to use American English well, particularly the right way of speaking. It is not your wrong that you were born in other countries so your mother language is not American English. But, it is worth to learn language of American English so that you can go anywhere with more confidence, especially on vacation abroad where you and the host people will use American English to communicate each others.
If you now are considering learning American English language, well. It is necessary to know how to improve your American English pronunciation and reduce your accent. But, at first, you should to know the problems of pronunciation that are very common for learners of spoken American English.
Do not have correctly sentence stress – When speaking English, the content and focus words in phrases and sentences receive strong stress only and the other words are reduced.
For example: When you are speaking English the sentence ‘The teacher is in the classroom’, you must pronounce the sentence like this ‘The TEAcher is in the CLASSroom’.
To improve the way you speak English, it is a must to know which types of words to stress in phrases and sentences.
Mispronounce vowel sounds in stressed syllables – In order to speak English correctly, you must to lengthen and pronounce the vowels in stressed syllables with a high pitch.
For example: The word ‘Student’, when saying, you must lengthen the ‘u’ sound and pronounce it with a high pitch so the word sounds like ‘STUUdent’.
When the vowel sounds in stressed syllables is stressed and lengthened, you can speak English with much more natural speech and comprehensible to American listeners.
Do not use the schwa vowel sound – The vowels in reduced syllables typically take the schwa sound in American spoken English. The schwa is a low pitched ‘uh’ sound and any vowel can sound like a schwa if it occurs in a reduced syllable.
For example: The word student actually sounds like this ‘STUUduhnt’.
In spoken English, the schwa is the most frequent vowel sound that means you must learn to use it correctly if you want to speak English like an American.
Do not use linking between words – In English speaking, two or more words spoken in a sequence can sound very different than they appear in their written form. Sometimes new sounds such as /y/ or /u/ are added between words and sometimes sounds are deleted.
For example: ‘What do you want?’ many times is sounded like ‘Whaddya want?’.
In fact, using linking will help your speech rhythm sound much more natural to American listeners.
Use incorrect intonation in ‘wh’ questions – In spoken English, questions that begin with ‘wh’ like ‘what’, ‘when’, where’, and ‘why’ are spoken with rising-falling intonation.
For example: Sentence ‘Where are you going?’, the pitch of your voice (intonation) rises and falls on the word ‘Going’ only. So, the sentence must be sounded like ‘Where are you GOing?’.
It is very important to use the correct intonation if you want to improve your English pronunciation.
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