Accent Training Podcast

English vowel sounds are difficult considering each vowel letter has multiple vowel sounds. Today's episode considers the Long A sound, and how you can make it to have a clearer spoken English.

The long "A" makes the sound of the letter itself. This is heard in words like "Day", "Make", "Able".
 
Learn to use a clear Long A sound is not a terribly difficult task! Tune in to see just how easily you can pick this up.

Practice with these phrases here:
Work before play
First aid
Able to stay
A big mistake


Get a feel for the Long A with these idioms:
Rain or shine No matter the circumstances, something will happen
Rain or shine, we will go for a hike tomorrow. 

Piece of cake Something done with ease
I’ve studied hard, this test should be a piece of cake. 

Face the music To confront a difficult but inevitable situation
I had to face the music and admit that I broke it.

I can’t make heads or tails of it I don’t understand what I’m seeing 
Can you explain this bill to me? I can’t make heads or tails of the charges.

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Dr. Solis is a medical doctor specialized in integrative medicine, and a professor at the University Tecnologico de Monterrey, and a skilled English speaker. Tune in to hear what tips she has for both your physical health, and language learning capabilities!

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The letters CH and SH are difficult if you don't have an ear for each individual sound. Listen in and follow along with the phrases below to get the hang of the CH and SH sounds!


Practice with these phrases here:
The beaches are finally open!
I’ll send my truck to the chop shop.
Give the dog on the chain water to quench her thirst.

And these tongue twisters:
Irish wristwatch
If Charlie chews shoes, should Charlie choose the shoes he chews?

Enjoy!

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Today I bring on Estefania, my wife and a talented singer, to discuss music. Learn how you can listen to American songs to see changes in your accent, and what songs to listen to!
We listen to three songs, and discuss each of them here.

Links to YouTube videos of each song with lyrics can be found below:

California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas
Seasons of Love - Rent
Hotel California - Eagles

Enjoy!

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Some consonants in the American accent combine together to make a sound that flows, rather than pronouncing each letter individually. Today, we consider the combination of the letters T and R, and what you can do to pronounce it the American sounding way.


Practice with these sentences:
Local transit
Interest payments
Trip to Toronto
A tractor trailer is a transport truck.
 
Practice these idioms in your daily life!
Tread lightly / Carefully Speak with caution to avoid offending someone
He’s not happy, I suggest you tread lightly to keep your position.

Constructive criticism Feedback that helps you improve your work
I can take a little constructive criticism, but that was harsh!

Straight from the horse’s mouth To hear something of interest from a particular person of interest.
He admitted he was wrong, I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth. 

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Work on more than just your pronunciation of certain words. Enhancing your muscle memory is our goal, so repeat these phrases regularly!

Considering the lip movement to make a W, and the movement to make a Stressed R are the same, stretching them out in these sentences will help improve the uses of BOTH sounds. 

Follow along with the example sentences here:

We were right!  |  When were we wrong?  |  We were really worried. 

What went wrong right where we were? 

Why were the rocky roads overwhelmingly winding? 

Why risk wasting away, when we would rather remain without worries. 

Wrongdoers risk witnessing relentless wrath over wrongdoings throughout rural roads.   

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The Stressed R is found when R begins a word, or follows a consonant. This is a difficult one to pick up, because it employs your entire mouth to produce it. You are totally capable of doing it, however, you just need some time to focus on your lip movements!

Practice along with me reading the text below:

Practice These Phrases to get a clear Stressed R
Road trip to Rhode Island.
Bring Rob’s red book to read on the road.
Ricky really has a great reason to reap rewards.  
Read and write the right way before taking a right.

Listen for these idioms and practice your Stressed R!
Give a run for their money Make someone work hard to achieve
We didn’t win, but we gave them a run for their money!

Ruffle Fathers People being offended by an action or remark.
He ruffled feathers with his comments about the budget. 

Bring to the table What you have to offer or contribute
Let us know what you can bring to the table if you want to join.

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Today's episode considers 4 components of your speech development which made learning an accent particularly difficult. We also consider just HOW you might get started at overcoming these difficulties, and retraining your speech. 

Listen on in for some great tips!

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Today, I give a few tips on how the R sound can be enhanced, and the muscle memory practiced effectively. The R sound is by far the most difficult in the English language, and will require MUCH practice and patience to get clearly.

Practice by reading the story on the following link, and stressing each R with extreme exaggeration.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DV4U0jCL0Yc790CLLfg699YrrHCItWtM5FDc112MVSw/edit

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Today, listen in while I have a fascinating chat with a friend of mine from the U.K, Lorraine.

Lorraine is an English teacher, entrepreneur, podcaster, writer, and linguist. She is the founder of the British English school, Intrepid English, and the host of the Intrepid English Podcast. 

Here we get into a good chat about our professions, we learn a few tips about word stress, and consider some differences between the British accent and North American standard accent. 

Enjoy!

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