Thread: Mastering general American pronunciation step by step

Originally Posted by Seraph

Are car father box.

Warm form torn bore/boar.

Well, the words are:
arm car father box
warm form torn born

Two mistakes then, but I won't be upset though as long as you can hear good vowels there, because they are what I'm working on right now and it seems that I only messed up with some consonants, didn't I? The course covers all the vowels, all the consonants, consonants clusters and so on, so one thing at a time I think, I didn't work on any consonants yet.

Originally Posted by Seraph

Am I hearing them right? If those are the words, then you are very very close

It seems that I'm not that close since you even have to ask what you heard.

Originally Posted by Seraph

There are some artifacts of the recording process that interfere with the sounds. Mic too close?

It's just darn too sensitive, it detects even noises from other rooms, not to mention the ones from outside

Originally Posted by fortheether

The 'a' sounds are too long. If you want to list the words, I'll record them.


Scott

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate that. I think I will be needing someone to record something for me when I have completed all the sounds from the course, and that something will most likely be some sentences and not just individual words. So right now I'd say I more need that you just keep giving me feedback until then, if that doesn't bother you much, of course

Any time!


Scott

Originally Posted by iCake

Well, the words are:
arm car father box
warm form torn born

Two mistakes then, but I won't be upset though as long as you can hear good vowels there, because they are what I'm working on right now and it seems that I only messed up with some consonants, didn't I? The course covers all the vowels, all the consonants, consonants clusters and so on, so one thing at a time I think, I didn't work on any consonants yet.



It seems that I'm not that close since you even have to ask what you heard.



It's just darn too sensitive, it detects even noises from other rooms, not to mention the ones from outside



Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate that. I think I will be needing someone to record something for me when I have completed all the sounds from the course, and that something will most likely be some sentences and not just individual words. So right now I'd say I more need that you just keep giving me feedback until then, if that doesn't bother you much, of course

Though not being native speaker, but still.. I wonder how strong [a:] wormed itself into "box"?
Short [o] is suggested by each Internet resource I know.

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Though not being native speaker, but still.. I wonder how strong [a:] wormed itself into "box"?
Short [o] is suggested by each Internet resource I know.

Short [o] in box is how Brits pronounce them. Americans go with a strong [a:] or a strong [o:] as far as I know.

Compare American pronunciation with British one here
Listen to "box" pronunciation here at the most famous American dictionary
And here

'Born' was my first intuition, and then I don't know why, I guessed again and guessed wrong! It's still very good, I wasn't guessing in all cases. And yes I do need to ask if I'm hearing it right, I don't always hear native speakers properly! Lots of cues as to what words are spoken is from context, not from perfect sound formation.

Originally Posted by iCake

Short [o] in box is how Brits pronounce them. Americans go with a strong [a:] or a strong [o:] as far as I know.

Compare American pronunciation with British one here
Listen to "box" pronunciation here at the most famous American dictionary
And here

there are some regional variations. Seems there is a "Great lakes vowel shift" happening. Things like "block' are sounding more like 'black'!. Chicago etc.

Hello again. I was working on my [ae] vowel as in back today, so let's see how it worked out

As usual I pronounced the vowel itself then as a part of some words. I hope you will make out what words I said but I'm more concerned with the vowel's quality than in consonants' one. I didn't work on them yet, however, it would be nice to know if you got the words. Thanks in advance!

Listen to my [ae]

Also, I tried to hone my [o:] as I realized that I tended to move my tongue back for this vowel for no apparent reason

Listen to my honed [o:], I hope I really honed it

The first link doesn't work. The 2nd link, 2nd word, I don't know what word it is. Again, if you're stressing the vowels too much then OK. If not there too strong. IMHO.

Scott

Originally Posted by fortheether

The first link doesn't work. The 2nd link, 2nd word, I don't know what word it is. Again, if you're stressing the vowels too much then OK. If not there too strong. IMHO.

Scott

Sorry, I pasted a wrong link, now it should work!

As for overstressing I do that to get the feeling of a vowel, correct emphasis, length etc will come if you know how to pronounce the sound correctly.

Short [o] in box is how Brits pronounce them. Americans go with a strong [a:] or a strong [o:] as far as I know.

Terrible news. I don't understand then how the British and the Americans understand each other.

The link works now, I had to listen to the words a few times to understand them. The vowels on their own are good.

Scott

Originally Posted by iCake

Sorry, I pasted a wrong link, now it should work!

As for overstressing I do that to get the feeling of a vowel, correct emphasis, length etc will come if you know how to pronounce the sound correctly.

Sometimes we don't!


Scott

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Terrible news. I don't understand then how the British and the Americans understand each other.

Here you go

[a:] words, not that stressed

[o:] words, not that stressed

Father and box are not examples of the american A sound. The A in father is more like the Russian "a" (In fact, that's what the Russian learning textbooks use as an example for Russian pronunciation) and the o in box in between our a and our o.

EDIT: Oh.. wait.. [a:] is exactly what you meant. For some reason I was thinking [ae]
Disregard this.

Hello again. I've been working on the next two vowels for two days. And one of them was so darn crazy I don't even know if I'm any good at that vowel pronunciation yet.

So, today's vowels won't be named to see if you can recognize them
Also, I would like to see if you can type up the words I pronounced, there are 4 of them in each recordings.

Listen to the first vowel

Listen to the second vowel

Thanks in advance!

iCake,

Your honed [o:] is excellent! With the [ae] you are overstressing a little bit. This vowel should be somewhat shorter I think. But this kink should work out on its own. Keep it up!

I believe /aɪ/ and /oʊ/ are the diphthongs you did in that last post.

~Tara

No show dome ? ?

Why sigh right ? ?

American English alphabet pronunciation:

http://youtu.be/QHRWlFEjdzs


Scott

Originally Posted by iCake

Hello again. I've been working on the next two vowels for two days. And one of them was so darn crazy I don't even know if I'm any good at that vowel pronunciation yet.

So, today's vowels won't be named to see if you can recognize them
Also, I would like to see if you can type up the words I pronounced, there are 4 of them in each recordings.

Listen to the first vowel

Listen to the second vowel

Thanks in advance!

Know, show, dome, poke, bow... Why, shy, bright, live, pipe....

Originally Posted by fortheether

No show dome ? ?

Why sigh right ? ?

American English alphabet pronunciation:

http://youtu.be/QHRWlFEjdzs


Scott

That was so bad?

Originally Posted by Tararwen

Know, show, dome, poke, bow... Why, shy, bright, live, pipe....

That's it

It's not so bad, I only listened two times. The words I understood were fine. Keep going!


Scott

Originally Posted by iCake

That was so bad?



That's it

Hi, again

As usual I practiced two vowels today. I hope you will hear the words I said there and the vowels will be okay.

Also, I would highly appreciate if you give me honest feedback and, if you can, a suggestion what to do to improve. Don't go easy on me. If it was bad, just say so, if it was horrible, don't hesitate to say so and so on.

the first vowel

the second vowel

Thanks in advance!