Hi there American English language learners! How are you? Did you know pronunciation is just as important as basic grammar and vocabulary skills? Did you know that even if you have real good grammar and know a decent amount of basic vocabulary.... if your short vowel sounds are completely not pronounced well it can make you possibly sound not understandable. Which can lead to confusion and assumptions. Have you ever been taught letter sounds from someone from the United States? Did you know our vowel sounds are not like any other international country? Maybe you want to say: I went for a walk. But you end up pronouncing: I went for a work. Or maybe you want to say: I want to visit the US. But you end up pronouncing: I want to wisit the US. This can and sometimes does lead to your listener maybe not directly saying to you "I don't understand." And sure they could "Figure it out" most likely due to context of what you're saying. But really you're making your listener do more work to understand you. Becoming a fluent American English speaker is so much more than just.... learning some vocabulary...for most students they've never learned American English letter sounds. Being a fluent English speaker or C1/C2 as I would call it... is a combination of being really good at pronunciation, grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary. You don't have to be 'perfect.' but you should at least learn letter sounds. It's part of the American English language. It's a part of our language culture. It's how we are able to understand one another here in the US. It's how we here in the US are able to speak so quickly but still clearly understand one another. Because we naturally move our mouth/lips/tongue/jaw frequently when we speak. Which most international countries are not trained do to at all. So many students want to become fluent but don't realize mouth movement and letter sounds are a part of it.