Confusing English Words

When you pronounce a word, do you worry that it sounds like a different word? Have people been confused or have they misunderstood you?

Here are some that my students often confuse:

can and can't
Doug and dog
Brett and Brad (men's names)
series and serious
staff and stuff
sheet and shit
this and these
of and off

Which ones can you add to this list?

Great New Site for Practicing your Pronunciation

An English teacher from Brazil, whose name is Mayli Brasil (yes, that's really her last name!), came to LA to take American Accent classes with me for a few weeks. (that's a photo of Mayli and me.) She told me about a great new website which can help you with practicing your pronunciation. It's wonderful because it's got many video clips with captions that you can pause after each line. There is a great feature for you to record your voice after each sentence. Then it gives you a score. You can click on the individual words to hear the pronunciation or to see the meaning. You can also enter your TOEFL score and it will give you videos which are at your proficiency level.

I highly recommend this site for practicing your pronunciation! It has so many interesting videos to watch.

Thanks Mayli! It was great meeting you. Say hello to your English students in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Here is the site. Let me know how you like it:

http://www.englishcentral.com/

Does "Siri" on your IPhone 4S understand your accent?

Some of my accent reduction clients have complained that the new voice recognition technology doesn't understand their heavy accent. I would like to hear your experiences with Siri and other similar applications.

Here is an excerpt from an article on Huffingtonpost:

"It can be frustrating because Siri forces me to pronounce my questions over and over again and sometimes the app won't understand me at all," said Latina Sandra Ortiz, new owner of the iPhone 4S, after recording the video, "but it always understands my husband!"

Here is a comment from Apple:

"The more you use Siri, the better it will understand you. It does this by learning about your accent and other characteristics of your voice. Siri uses voice recognition algorithms to categorize your voice into one of the dialects or accents it understands. As more people use Siri and it’s exposed to more variations of a language, its overall recognition of dialects and accents will continue to improve, and Siri will work even better."read whole article

What are your experiences?

Accent Reduction Tip

Find good role models of speech. Don't imitate just any American. Some Americans mumble, they have "lazy lips" and don't make an effort to speak clearly.

For example, in your native language a poet and a computer programmer may speak very differently. Right?

Same thing in English. Who are your role models for American English speech? A football player being interviewed on TV often speaks differently from a lawyer in court. What are your goals? Do you want to sounds like an American rapper or like an American CEO?

20 Reasons for taking accent reduction lessons

This is what my student have said. Why do YOU want to reduce your accent?

1. “My boss told me that some clients are complaining that they don’t understand me.”

2. “I am an actor and I my agent told me I have to get rid of my accent.”

3. I am tired of always being asked “Where are you from?”

4. “People treat me differently because I don’t sound like them.”

5. “I am ambitious and driven in every area of my life. I believe in self-improvement and I know that I can improve the way that I communicate in English.”

6. “My American friends are not able to correct me. I need a professional to help me. I know the mistakes that I am making but I don’t know how to fix them.”

7. “I went to an audition and I didn’t get the part in the film because my accent was too strong.”

8. “I think people have negative stereotypes about my accent.”

9. “I get the impression that people take me less seriously at work because of the way that I speak.”

10. “I am a nurse and sometimes my patients complain to my supervisor that they don’t understand me.”

11. “I love the American culture and the way the accent sounds. I want to learn to sound like that.”

12. “My boss told me I need this class. He told me to call you and that he would pay for the classes.”

13. “I want to feel more confident when I give presentations in English.”

14. “I get nervous to speak at work meetings because of the way that I sound.”

15. “Everyone else in my company is American. I feel that I am seen as different.”

16. “I am a college professor. My students complain that they don’t understand me. Sometimes they also use it as an excuse for not doing their assignments.”

17. “My kids make fun of my accent.”

18. “People love my foreign accent and I don’t want to lose it, but I just want to reduce it a bit.”

19. “I want to learn the rules of correct English pronunciation.”

20. “I hate speaking on the phone in English.”

Video Lesson - How to reduce vowels

Here is a new video that I just posted on YouTube. It will teach you the very important rule vowel reduction. English vowels can be pronounced differently, depending on whether they are stressed or reduced.

Some books I recommend for advanced speakers of English

My accent reduction students usually have an advanced knowledge of English, but they still occassionally make mistakes with English grammar or vocabulary usage. Here are some books that I recommend that they purchase to perfect their skills. I have also included the links to Amazon.com where you can purchase the books. I have used these books when teaching college ESL classes as well as with my private clients who need to brush up on their skills.

"Understanding and Using English Grammar" by Betty Azar. This is an excellent grammar book. I have used it in my classes for many years. Very detailed.

The Article Book by Tom Cole and Three Little Words by Elizabeth Claire. I recommend buying these together. If your native language does not have articles (a, an, the) these two books will be helpful to you. They are pretty short but they cover a lot of the rules and exceptions of article usage.

Speak Business English Like an American by Amy Gillett. This book has very useful idioms and expressions that are used in the workplace. Great self-study and audio.

More advice for reducing your accent

1. Slow down your speech. Actually, you can speak as quickly as you wish, as long as you are pronouncing every sound of every word and you are following the rules of good stress and melody. You will notice that newscasters often speak quickly but clearly. If you cannot do that, you need to practice. Meanwhile, slow down!

2. Make sure your articulators fully touch. What are your articulators? Your lips and your tongue - the parts of your mouth used to create sounds, specifically consonant sounds. Don't get lazy and don't allow them to touch only half way. For example word "general" if said quickly and in a lazy way can be very unclear. The sounds, N R and L in the word "general" require the tongue tip to be in the front for the N, and then curled back for the R and then in the front again touching the top of your mouth for the L. That's a lot of work! Good speakers do that quickly and correctly. If you practice your tongue will get stronger, and some of these difficult sounds will require a lot less effort to produce.

To learn the correct mouth movements of the most difficult American English sounds, you can get my DVDs, "American Accent Course - 50 Rules You Must Know."

3. Dont' stop practicing!! Read aloud every day for 20 or 30 minutes. Record your voice. How does it sound? Are you pronouncing every word clearly or are you mumbling?

Best wishes!
Lisa Mojsin

American Accent Course for Japanese Speakers

The new DVD course is available. It helps Japanese speakers of English speak more clearly and learn to fix all of the most common pronunciation mistakes. Learn to correctly pronounce the difficult American consonant sounds. Fix the most common mistakes. Purchase the videos here:

http://accurateenglish.com/dvds_for_japanes_speakers.htm