Category Archives: Accent reduction

• Are you going to wear green?

  Many people wear green on March 17 in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day. The “ee” sound (as in the word “green”) is usually spelled with a letter “e” alone or in combination with other vowel letters (examples: ee, ea, ie); whereas the letter “i” in American English is usually NOT pronounced “ee”, as it is […]

• March wind

  March is known to be a windy month in some areas of the United States. The noun, “wind” has a different vowel sound than the verb, “wind”. Just as a sea “bass” has a different vowel sound than a “bass” drum. Same spelling — pronounced differently! In American English, you can’t be sure how a […]

• Let it snow

  In some parts of the U.S., February is full of this fluffy, white stuff! In the phrase “let it snow”, the “t” at the end of “let” is pronounced the same as “d”. This is because it links into a vowel sound. When “t” at the end of a word connects to a vowel sound […]

• Link

  Connecting your words together as a continuous stream of syllables will help you sound more like a native speaker. Just the way you link syllables together within a word, syllables between words are connected as well.

• Imitate

  If you were an actor trying to imitate an American speaker, how would you talk? Pretend you are a native speaker. Imitate the sound. Play with it. Practice it. Have fun with it! Most people considerably reduce their accent with this technique.