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Here's some tips for your general American accent. Now, general
American isn't actually a regional accent. It's just a general clear
way of speaking your American English. First of all, we look at the
oral posture of general American. In general American, the lips, the
jaw, the tongue are all pretty relaxed and the tongue is in the middle
of the mouth dropped down behind the lower teeth. 'u', 'u' (short u
sound). You can test that you're in the correct general American oral
posture if you sigh through that posture. 'Uh'. 'Uh'. And you get the
sound 'u' (short u sound).
It's a schwa. It's right in the middle of your mouth as in love, glove, above. I like
to give my students the 'duh' test. If they are not going back to
that neutral posture after speaking something, I have them go, 'duh',
'duh'. That is your American oral posture. One thing that trips up some
of my accent production students is the difference between 'u' (short
u sound) and 'oo' (sound as in good). 'u' which is your general American
oral posture sound as in I love you is different from 'oo', as in good.
I had a good time. I love you. I had a good time. Love. Good. 'u',
'oo'. It's very subtle for some people, but it's a pretty important
distinction in American English. The second distinction in American
English is between 'e' (short e sound) and 'a' (short a sound). I
went to Eddie's for some appetizers and a glass of wine. Went. Eddie's.
Appetizers. Glass. 'e', 'e' (short e sound), 'a', 'a' (short
a sound). It would be a completely different accent if you were to
say, 'I went to Eddie's for some appetizers and a glass of wine', and
that will show up in some of the other accents, but 'e' and 'a' is a very
important distinction in American English.
Then, there's the thing that trips so many people up
- it's that 'th' sound, 'th' as in thin, thick, this and that. You
want to bring your tongue in between your teeth to make that sound.
Watch my mouth. Thin. Thick. This. That. Practice and drill that
one. The next sound you want to start to explore is that American 'r'
sound. It trips up so many people that I think we want to have its own
video on the American 'r' sound.