3 tips on how to rock your pronunciation!

I just got back from Brussels where I spent a few days recording with the Belgian band Hooverphonic.  You can see some behind the scenes shots and even see what my studio pronunciation coaching looks like here.

My job as an English coach is to make you feel like a rock star, whether it’s in the boardroom, in the studio, on stage, or in your office. So many people struggle with sounding natural and confident in their English pronunciation, so I’d like to share 3 concrete tips with you today!

1. With words that start with TO, we often pronounce this like ‘te’. So today sounds like ‘te-day’, tomorrow sounds like ‘te-morrow’, and tonight sounds like ‘te-night’. ‘To’ is also often pronounced like ‘te’ when it’s followed by a verb. So ‘I want to see that movie’ sounds like ‘I want te see that movie’ or even ‘I wanna see that movie’ if you are American!

2. Words that start with PSY sound like ‘sy’. Psychologist is ‘sy-KO-lo-gist’ and psychiatric is ‘sy-kee-A-trik’. Psychic is ‘SY-kik’. The P is always silent for these fun words!

3. Watch out for the TH sound – this is often not taught at school, but did you know we actually have 2 different forms of the TH? One is buzzed, where you use your vocal chords. Try to hear it in these words – ‘them’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘there’, and ‘other’, ‘brother’, ‘mother’. The other form of the TH is blown, meaning you don’t use your vocal chords when you make this sound – think of ‘think’ ‘with’, ‘something’ and ‘three’. I have made a nifty video about this which goes into more detail. You can watch it here.

I hope this helps you rock that mouth, and speak with confidence!

Enjoy today, it’s only here once!