Shawn
Community Tutor
How To Pronunce TH in English

I am posting this video here for anyone who needs help pronouncing the "th" sound in English. Anyhow, as you may or may not know, "th" has several different pronunciations in English. For instance, the "th" in "thousand" and "that" is different than the "th" in "heathen" and "fathom". In fact, in the first two words, the tip of your tongue is on the back of your top front teeth; where as in the latter two, your tongue isn't. Additionally, both of these are pronounced differently than the "th" in "Thailand" which is merely pronounced like a "t". You can hear all of these words spoken by a native speaker on http://www.forvo.com/ :)

 

The video is located here: http://www.rachelsenglish.com/videos/two-th-%CE%B8-%C3%B0-consonants

Apr 24, 2014 4:53 PM
Comments · 14
3

Shawn, can you please elaborate more on the difference between the the the FIRST "t" in "taste" and in "tip"? Now, as far as I understand, what you're refering to is called the puffing; an explosion of air with unvoiced sounds like t, k, p, yeah? I know as well that the t is pronounced as  T with a puff at the begining of the word, t as a quick d ( the tap as far as I remember) when it falls in the middle of the word like in the word "better" or "water" or "later", as a glottal stop before words like "Cotton" "written" and finally a light t or without a puff. In some accents it's pronounced as a t with a puff. What you're saying is so strange as both "Ts" are at the begining of the words " Taste" and "Tip". What's the difference?

April 24, 2014
1

I totally agree with you that most native speakers aren't aware of their own language, not only in terms of pronunciation, but even in terms of grammar. Hehehe. A few times I got stuck on how to respond to someone's English question. I understood what was going on in terms of grammar but I just could not figure out how to word it in a very simple but understandable way for this person initially. So during the whole process of writing up a response, I decided to actually run the question by some of my friends and they looked at me like I had three heads at first. Hehehehe. A few times, I even asked "If you had to say this naturally, would you use the 'present perfect' (I have bought...) or 'simple past' (I bought....) in this context and why?" They all picked the right tense but they could not explain why it was. Hehehehe :) I just can not use grammar words like "tense", "present perfect", etc. anymore. Once you start speaking about grammar, people get so confused. So I just ask "Would you say 'I have bought....' or 'I bought...' in this case?" now. I get fewer blank stares. Hehehehe :)

April 24, 2014
1

Thanks Luis. I wonder if people need help pronouncing "t" too. For instance, the first "t" in "taste" is different than the "t" in "tip". Put your hand in front of your mouth when you say them. You will feel more air blowing on your hand when you say the first "t" in "taste" than you feel from the "t" in "tip". :)

April 24, 2014

An interesting topic.

April 24, 2014

The German U definitely does sound different than an English U. Hehehehe And the French R is definitely different than the R used in English. I have trouble pronouncing it actually. Although, recently, while singing along to a French song, I got way closer to pronouncing it correctly than I ever have. There was definitely a different quality in my R that matched up more with the one in French when I sang it that time. Hehehe ....and pronunciation practice continues. Ugh...

April 24, 2014
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Shawn
Language Skills
Dutch, English, French, Gaelic (Irish), Italian, Japanese, Other, Spanish
Learning Language
Dutch, English, French, Gaelic (Irish), Italian, Japanese, Other, Spanish