Sounds of American English for Indians
- Laksh Patel
- Jan 30, 2023
- 4 min read
I personally don't advocate the idea of giving too much importance to the sounds of an accent over it's other more crucial elements such as stress, intonation or thought groups. But, I would be lying if I said that a few sound aren't important. Sometimes natives can get the wrong idea based on the sounds you used instead of the ones they expected to hear. NOPE, I won't be talking about rolling your R's, as it's an overrated sound in the American English. In this post, we're gonna be looking at the sounds that are generally overlooked and yet have the greatest impact on the way you sound.
Consonants:
The /t/ & /d/
These two retroflex consonant sounds are often coming out of an Indian English speaker's mouth as the /टी/ and /ठी/ or /టి/ and /టీ/ from Hindi and Telugu sounds respectively.
The main difference is that the English /t/ & /d/ sounds are produced in a more forward position.
Look are the following diagram to notice the differences, and try to articulate:
for better understanding, refer to this link to watch the movements of the articulators: https://tfcs.baruch.cuny.edu/t/ (/t/) & https://tfcs.baruch.cuny.edu/d/ (/d/)
Practice the /t/ & /d/ sound with these common English words:
- treatment, test, diagnosis, doctor, dosage, dermatology, pediatrics, etc.
The /v/ Sound This is by far the most commonly observed mistake. Even I made this mistake not too long ago, until my friend Jessica, who also happened to be an accent coach pointed it out frequently. Luckily it's also the easiest to correct. In a few weeks, I stopped mistaking my Vs for Ws for good. The key is to observe yourself throughout the day and try to make the correct sound. It will take a couple of days to get used to it, but this exercise will of observing your accent, is what yields the best results in the longer run!
Some commonly mispronounced words can be:
west instead of ---> vest and vice-versa
have can sound like ---> how or haw(in American English)
To pronounce the /v/ sound properly, follow these directions:
Lower lips lightly touch upper teeth vibration occurs on the lips from the flow of air created. for better understanding, refer to this link to watch the movements of the articulators: https://tfcs.baruch.cuny.edu/v/
Try to read the following sentences to practice:
- The wind was very weak, but the waves were quite vigorous.
- The village was very small, but the view was breathtaking.
- The vacation was wonderful, but the weather was very unpredictable.
- The vase was very fragile, but the wall was very sturdy.
- The wagon was loaded with vegetables, but the watermelons were very few.
The th(/ð/ , /θ/) Sound This is the first sound that I teach in my program. Most Indian - English speakers make this pronunciation mistake because this sound does not exist in most other languages. In fact, If I were to produce this sound in my mother tongue Hindi, it would sound like a lisp! But to me, it sounds beautiful in the American English. Once you learn to pronounce this sound, this confidence it gives you is on another level. Not to mention TH is the most common consonant sound in English!
Some commonly mispronounced words can be:
thank can sound like ---> tank
those can sound like ---> dose
mother can sound like ---> mudder
To pronounce the /v/ sound properly, follow these directions:
Tip of the tongue touches back of front teeth or edges of front teeth. Air flows out between tongue and teeth. for better understanding, refer to this link to watch the movements of articulators:
Practice the TH sound with these common English words:
that, through, bathroom, clothing, mouthwash, southern, breathe, etc.
Vowels:
The /eɪ/ Sound
I personally don't think that the modern Indian English speakers tend to make this sound completely different from the native American one, but the problem comes with the other half. This sound is made of 2 separate sounds /e/ and /ɪ/. In most cases /ɪ/ is where Indians don't stretch or emphasize this sound long enough.
taste can sound like ---> test
waste can sound like ---> west
wait can sound like ---> wet
To pronounce the /eɪ/ sound properly, STRETCH YOU LIPS WIDER! That the only thing I have to tell people to do, before they start pronouncing this sound perfectly. It's nothing very difficult.
for better understanding, check the link below:
Try to read the following sentences to practice:
- The dentist filled the cavity, removed the wisdom tooth.
- Jake makes a cake and takes it to a lake for a date with a snake.
- The snakes make a big mistake and escape from the lake.
- Taking a plane, is not how you escape the rain.
- Her name is Kate, she's always awake so makes no mistake.
The /ɔ/ Sound
This one's very common, since most Indians have a certain history(no pun intended) with learning British English. Hence, their pronunciation. For instance the word "rock" is pronounced as rok in the most common British Accents, but in American English it would be pronounced as rawk!
law can sound like ---> low
ball can sound like ---> bowl
walk can sound like ---> woke
Pronouncing this sound is probably the easiest, it's the same /आ/ sound from Hindi or /ఆ/ from the Telugu language, and of course native Bengali speakers can find their equivalent too. This sound has existed in both parent languages of the northern and the southern India, i.e. Sanskrit and Tamil(let me know if I'm wrong with the facts).
for better understanding, check the link below:
Try to read the following sentences to practice:
- The ortho evaluated joint pain, recommended an MRI.
- The cardiologist checked heart function, prescribed medication.
- The radiologist detected a growth, suggested a biopsy.
- The urologist detected a blockage.
- The pharmacist recommended a probiotic supplement to alleviate abdominal discomfort.
Got questions? Reach out and let us know: https://linktr.ee/accenttease.com
Link to the respective owners of the suggested resources in this post: tfcs.baruch.cuny.edu , https://www.youtube.com/@SoundsAmerican Image credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Alveolar_consonants , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroflex_consonant#/media/File:Retroflex.svg
Comments