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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Hardest pronunciations
Just wondering what do you consider as the hardest word/expression to pronounce. I am particularly having problems with the following:
'Sheet/Shit' I always mess up these two and end up making joke of myself. Sometime I meant to say 'a sheet of paper', but to my friends it was like 'shit of paper'. I had the same problem with 'live/leave' too. I hate to always repeat myself to make my friends understand. This is really annoying.
'Statistically' This word is purely evil. I can never say this word in one breath. I need to pause before the 'tis' part to get the pronunciation correct.
'Not at all' or simply 'at all'. I am talking about the American accent here. I could never got this one right. Should I pronounce it as 'no-ta-tall', 'no-da-tall' or something else?
Can anyone point me a way?
'Sheet/Shit' I always mess up these two and end up making joke of myself. Sometime I meant to say 'a sheet of paper', but to my friends it was like 'shit of paper'. I had the same problem with 'live/leave' too. I hate to always repeat myself to make my friends understand. This is really annoying.
'Statistically' This word is purely evil. I can never say this word in one breath. I need to pause before the 'tis' part to get the pronunciation correct.
'Not at all' or simply 'at all'. I am talking about the American accent here. I could never got this one right. Should I pronounce it as 'no-ta-tall', 'no-da-tall' or something else?
Can anyone point me a way?
Top answer
I hear and feel you. ' I also struggled with these when beginning to learn American English. I found it especially difficult to say the unaccentuated 't' in pattern, lattern, quarter, ardor, harder, and herder.
- I hear and feel you.
- ' I also struggled with these when beginning to learn American English.
- I found it especially difficult to say the unaccentuated 't' in pattern, lattern, quarter, ardor, harder, and herder.
- Especially, herder!
- org/links/ESL/Pronunciation /
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8 Answers
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I hear and feel you. The difference between full and reduced 'i' sounds is one of the more difficult to master for many non-native English speakers, as is the unaccentuated 't' in between vowels in American English that becomes a soft 'd.' I also struggled with these when beginning to learn American English. I found it especially difficult to say the unaccentuated 't' in pattern, lattern, quarte
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Difference is in the length of vowels(short vowel vs the long one). These little sounds are the ones which make you being misunderstood by others.So short vowel /I / in 'live' is pronounced very fast while /i: / in 'leave' is longer /prolonged.
Apart from 'statistically' there are of course othere suchlike words which present problems for learners.Some are 'exactly','s
Apart from 'statistically' there are of course othere suchlike words which present problems for learners.Some are 'exactly','s
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Hi,
in Italy, most people (and I could say "almost everyone") don't even know that live and leave are pronounced differently. They pronounce both of them like leave. Anyway, when I started to correct my pronunciation I often pronounced both of them like live, because I tended to hypercorrect everything in my speech in order not to ma
in Italy, most people (and I could say "almost everyone") don't even know that live and leave are pronounced differently. They pronounce both of them like leave. Anyway, when I started to correct my pronunciation I often pronounced both of them like live, because I tended to hypercorrect everything in my speech in order not to ma
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KooyeenSame problem here, I really hate this word!!! I'm not able to pronounce it!
- obviously (it needs some practice, I have to control my mouth when I say it)
Cescuccia
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It's a common problem.
My boyfriend does the short i instead of ee sound (non-native speaker).
Most of the time people still understand him. It's just unfortunate we live in a town with Green in the name as when he says Grin-etc it does confuse people as it's not the sort of place that most people have already heard of anyway.
My boyfriend does the short i instead of ee sound (non-native speaker).
Most of the time people still understand him. It's just unfortunate we live in a town with Green in the name as when he says Grin-etc it does confuse people as it's not the sort of place that most people have already heard of anyway.
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Hello everyone,
I would like to highlight that it is possible for anyone to learn to distinguish between the different sounds of any variety of English. You just need to study the sound-system of an accent of English carefully enough. What you need to do is to train your ear and imitate native speakers. You might also find studying English phonetics from a more theoretical point of view u
I would like to highlight that it is possible for anyone to learn to distinguish between the different sounds of any variety of English. You just need to study the sound-system of an accent of English carefully enough. What you need to do is to train your ear and imitate native speakers. You might also find studying English phonetics from a more theoretical point of view u
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Thanks for all your help. I've decided to get American Accent Trianing and give a good shot at it.
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Americans, depending on where you live, will usually not bother unvoicing when there is a t with vowels on either side.
For example, we tend to say "congraDulashunz" for congratulations.
Not at all, which you asked about - noddit-all
For example, we tend to say "congraDulashunz" for congratulations.
Not at all, which you asked about - noddit-all
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