Category: Uncategorized
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Milestones in Pronunciation
English Pronunciation: Measuring Improvements in Your Speech Many students arrive for tutoring with only a basic idea that they want to improve their speaking skills. One student recently told me that she felt she had no idea what was happening at first and only realized the steps she had achieved after the accent had lessened. The voice is…
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Choosing Your Voice
English Pronunciation: Choose Your Voice We choose our careers, our clothing styles, and our friends. We can also choose our voices. I enjoy studying the pronunciations of different languages. Each one is both liberating and unique. German has many wonderful “sh” combinations. French brings out the throat and nasal passages. Somali combines a heavy use…
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Chart of English Language Accents
Major English Accents: Standard American, Southern American, New York American, British RP, Australian Use this list to see how a few key sounds can cause major pronunciation changes. This list shows the most common and most diverse English language accents (or dialects). Note: the point of resonance is a linguistic term. This means the place…
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How to Change Your Speech
English Pronunciation: Can I Change the Way I Speak? Video on Learning Pronunciation Common Student Questions about Pronunciation 1) Can I really change my pronunciation?2) Since I have been in the U.S. for several years, how can I change the way I speak?3) How can I remember to change my pronunciation when I am in…
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Student Questions
English Classes: Student Questions Here are some interesting questions asked by private students during their English classes.Go to Seattle classes (for local residents) or online classes (for everyone else) to take classes with an instructor. What is the difference between “apply for” and “apply to?” You apply for a job or a position. You apply to a university or…
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Articulation: Speak Clearly
In order to speak clearly, we have to think about the physical body and give attention to the apparatus that we use for speaking. This is literally the breath, the throat, the jaw, the tongue, and the lips. Many people never give these basics much thought, but professional speakers and singers do. The Breath We…
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Prepare to Speak: Warm-Up
English Pronunciation: Prepare to Speak Meaning and Sound English pronunciation is about sound, and sound is physical. In private classes and with English evaluations, most pronunciation tips involve the physical body, i.e. open the mouth more for the vowels, take deeper breaths and send the words across the room, or move the lips more to…
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What is Standard American?
What is Standard American English Pronunciation? Languages are very regional by nature. When a language is associated with a people, it may be spoken by only a few thousand. In the past, when people associated themselves with large family groups or tribes, languages could be very diverse. Today, languages are taking a new turn: countries are…
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Learn the American Accent
The Standard American Accent The 500 Word lists include the major sounds that tend to change from one language to another. To speak with an American accent, you will need to practice these sounds regularly. The rules below will not work as well if you need to perfect a major sound, such as R or TH. See Milestones…
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Pronunciation Facts
Why do people have accents? American English has complex sounds. Many letters have more than one sound. Some letters even have five sounds. Stress also changes the way we speak. Most English classes simplify American English pronunciation. Other reasons why people have accents are: learning British English in the native country having to speak with…
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