Hello everyone!
I'd like to ask a few questions about my pronunciation. In general, I'd like to speak American English. However, I think I struggle with it a little bit. When I was in school, unfortunately, I was taught to pronounce words in an Elizabethan mannerAfter a couple of years, I decided to learn American pronunciation, however, I still have a few problems.
The 1ts issue
My /r/ sound isn't very good, I think. When I am to pronounce a word that contains just one r, it's not a problem; the problem is when there are two or more r's in a single word. AmE is said to be rhotic, so I should pronounce the r's, however, I'm afraid some of my pronunciations don't sound well (words like 'recorder', 'rarer', etc.). I can theoretically skip those sounds, like in RP, but I'm afraid that I won't be understood or I will sound even funnier.
The 2nd issue
Another issue is replacing the /ɔː/ with the /a:/ sound, like in 'bought' or 'ought'. I'm not sure if my long 'a' is correct in such words, especially that I'm still used to pronounce some words with the long /ɔː/, not /a:/.
The phonetic transcription says the /a:/ sound in words like 'got', 'not', or 'ought' has to be pronounced as a long vowel, but I didn't notice the "length" of this phoneme; in my opinion, it's rather a short vowel, not a long one.
The 3rd issue
I'm not sure if my American /t/ is correct. I don't know why, but the IPA doesn't distinguish the "standard" t and the American t; in my opinion, these are two completely different sounds.
I have decided to record a short audio file: https://vocaroo.com/15mVZNZ6EuPg Here, you can listen to my pronunciations of some words that are problematic to me. Every word from the 1st and the 2nd group is pronounced in two ways; the British and the American one. I'd like you to evaluate them and say which variants are better. The last group contains just individual words with the American /t/.
If you had any comments on my phonetics and you'd like to advise me, I'd be very glad. :)
Your American /r/ is good, but you're stretching it out too much. It may surprise you to hear that you get it perfectly in rarer.
You're using the wrong vowel in bought, oughtta, etc. Stick with your "British" version. It's much closer to the American one.
I am not a teacher.
"Rarer" has been the most difficult word to pronounce for me :DOriginally Posted by GoesStation
Ok, thanks, I'll stick to my "original" version. What about the t?You're using the wrong vowel in bought, oughtta, etc. Stick with your "British" version. It's much closer to the American one.
They're all good except for "ought to". The first /t/ should reduce to a glottal stop; the second should be fully articulated.
I am not a teacher.
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