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English Accent Coach Tour
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English Accent Coach is an online tool for developing English pronunciation skills - focusing on vowels and consonants. For those who were brought up speaking a language other than English, it can be as difficult to recognize English speech sounds as it is to produce them. In fact, research has shown that pronunciation can improve when learners are coached to better recognize English sounds. More accurate and rapid recognition of sounds can also help learners to more quickly acquire English vocabulary.
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English Accent Coach allows you to learn English vowels and consonants using an interactive game approach. During play, you will hear syllables or words with English sounds and you must click on the symbol for the sound you hear. The next two pages of the tour will allow you to familiarize yourself with the symbols that are used. These are the same symbols found in many English dictionaries.
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Click the symbols in the grid above
to hear sample sounds.The orientation of vowel symbols on the left reflects how they are perceived. Those that are closest to each other tend to be most confusable with each other.
The vowel symbols are also oriented in terms of how they are produced. The vowels that are higher are produced with a more closed jaw position and/or higher tongue.
The vowels toward the left are produced with the tongue tip near the front of the mouth, and those on the right are produced with the tongue pulled back slightly.
Examples:
- he
- week
- these
Simplified description
Jaw only slightly open, tongue high and front; unrounded lips
Technical IPA description
Unrounded, close, front vowel
Examples:
- hid
- his
- live
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more open and tongue slightly lower and more back than for
unrounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Unrounded, near close, near front vowel
Examples:
- hay
- make
- game
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more open and tongue slightly lower and more front than for
unrounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Unrounded, close mid, front vowel
Examples:
- head
- pet
- dress
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more open and tongue slightly lower and more back than for
unrounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Unrounded, open mid, near front vowel
Examples:
- had
- man
- grass
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more open and tongue slightly lower than for
unrounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Unrounded, near open, near front vowel
Examples:
- pot
- walk
- clock
Simplified description
Jaw quite open and tongue quite back compared to
unrounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Unrounded, open, back vowel
Examples:
- cut
- some
- much
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more closed and tongue slightly higher than for
unrounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Unrounded, open mid, back vowel
Examples:
- hoe
- spoke
- those
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more closed and tongue slightly higher than for
rounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Rounded, close mid, back vowel
Examples:
- hood
- book
- full
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more closed and tongue slightly higher and more front than for
rounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Rounded, near close, near back vowel
Examples:
- who
- food
- choose
Simplified description
Jaw slightly more closed and tongue slightly higher and more back than for
rounded lipsTechnical IPA description
Rounded, close, back vowel
Vowels Summary -
Click the symbols in the grid above
to hear sample sounds.Like the vowel grid, the consonant symbols on the left are roughly grouped to reflect how they are perceptually related. However, since people do not perceive consonants using the same processes they use for vowels, consonant patterns cannot be described in exactly the same way.
The consonant symbols are only roughly grouped together in terms of how they are produced. Unlike vowels, their groupings do not indicate jaw and tongue position, but places of contact, degree of contact, and whether the vocal folds are vibrating.
Examples:
- put
- happy
- drop
Simplified description
Lips closed before release. Burst of air upon release at the beginning of stressed syllables. Vocal folds not vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiceless bilabial stop
Examples:
- book
- table
- job
Simplified description
Lips closed before release. No burst of air upon release. Vocal folds may vibrate, but only consistently do when produced between two vowels.
Technical IPA description
Voiced bilabial stop
Examples:
- take
- later
- put
Simplified description
Tongue tip firmly touching ridge just behind teeth before release. Burst of air upon release at the beginning of stressed syllables. Vocal folds not vibrating. In unstressed syllables between vowels, rapid tap of tongue causes it to sound more
-like (e.g., better, cutter, heater).Technical IPA description
Voiceless alveolar stop
Examples:
- down
- body
- wood
Simplified description
Tongue tip firmly touching ridge just behind teeth before release. No burst of air upon release. Vocal folds may vibrate, but only consistently do when produced between two vowels.
Technical IPA description
Voiced alveolar stop
Examples:
- car
- local
- black
Simplified description
Back of tongue firmly touching roof of mouth before release. Burst of air upon release at the beginning of stressed syllables. Vocal folds not vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiceless velar stop
Examples:
- good
- began
- bag
Simplified description
Back of tongue firmly touching roof of mouth before release. No burst of air upon release. Vocal folds may vibrate, but only consistently do when produced between two vowels.
Technical IPA description
Voiced velar stop
Examples:
- face
- office
- wife
Simplified description
Top teeth gently resting on bottom lip. Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds not vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiceless labio-dental fricative
Examples:
- van
- ever
- love
Simplified description
Top teeth gently resting on bottom lip. Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiced labio-dental fricative
Examples:
- thank
- nothing
- with
Simplified description
Tongue tip just behind but not touching top teeth (in some cases may slightly protrude between teeth). Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds not vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiceless dental fricative
Examples:
- the
- this
- mother
Simplified description
Tongue tip just behind but not touching top teeth (in some cases may slightly protrude between teeth). Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiced dental fricative
Examples:
- sit
- decide
- face
Simplified description
Tongue tip pulled back to ridge found behind top teeth, but not touching that ridge. Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds not vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiceless alveolar fricative
Examples:
- zoo
- visit
- his
Simplified description
Tongue tip pulled back to ridge found behind top teeth, but not touching that ridge. Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiced alveolar fricative
Examples:
- hi
- home
- behind
Simplified description
No constriction in mouth, only in open vocal folds. Just breath out noisily. Vocal folds not vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiceless glottal fricative
Examples:
- make
- remove
- some
Simplified description
Lips closed before release as for
and , but air escapes through nose. Vocal folds are vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiced bilabial nasal
Examples:
- need
- final
- man
Simplified description
Tongue tip firmly touching ridge just behind teeth before release as for
and , but air escapes through nose. Vocal folds are vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiced alveolar nasal
Examples:
- finger
- hung
- wrong
Simplified description
Back of tongue firmly touching roof of mouth before release as for
and , but air escapes through nose. Vocal folds are vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiced velar nasal
Examples:
- show
- nation
- wish
Simplified description
Front of tongue pulled back well past ridge behind teeth, but not touching. Even further back than for
. Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds are not vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiceless alveopalatal fricative
Examples:
- pleasure
- treasure
- enclosure
Simplified description
Front of tongue pulled back well past ridge behind teeth, but not touching. Even further back than for
. Noisy air escapes during production. Vocal folds are vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiced alveopalatal fricative
Examples:
- choose
- teacher
- such
Simplified description
and produced at the same time. Vocal folds are not vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiceless alveopalatal affricate
Examples:
- jet
- enjoy
- bridge
Simplified description
and produced at the same time. Vocal folds are vibrating.Technical IPA description
Voiced alveopalatal affricate
Examples:
- wind
- week
- away
Simplified description
Lips rounded, but not so close the sound becomes noisy. No other constriction. Vocal folds are vibrating. Hint: Position your lips as though you’re tour to produce an
, but then release into another vowel.Technical IPA description
Voiced bilabial glide
Examples:
- your
- young
- beyond
Simplified description
Front of tongue approaching roof of mouth, but not so close the sound becomes noisy. No other constriction. Vocal folds are vibrating. Hint: Position your lips as though you’re tour to produce an
, but then release into another vowel.Technical IPA description
Voiced palatal glide
Examples:
- loud
- follow
- call
Simplified description
At beginning of syllables, tongue tip touches ridge just behind teeth before release, but with sides curled up to allow easy airflow around edges of tongue. Hint: Try breathing out easily while holding tongue in position. At end of a syllables (e.g., in ‘ball’), tongue tip does not need to touch; instead back of tongue raises slightly towards roof of mouth, without causing noisy sound. Vocal folds are vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiced alveolar lateral approximant
Examples:
- room
- around
- for
Simplified description
Tongue is pulled back and bunched up, with easy airflow over top and around edges. Some speakers curl tongue tip back and allow it to move forward rapidly upon release, without touching, and with easy airflow. Vocal folds are vibrating.
Technical IPA description
Voiced alveolar approximant or retroflex
Consonants Summary -
See Consonants
See Vowels
Your Vowel Report Card
When you have completed a game session, individual vowel scores will be illustrated in the vowel grid, while your overall score and time can be seen to the right. In this example, the learner has mastered vowels in green, is doing satisfactory with vowels shown in yellow, but is advised to continue playing at this level in order to further improve vowels shown in red. If further improvement is not realized after an additional ten or more sessions, we recommend proceeding to the next level.
Your Consonant Report Card
In this example, the learner has mastered consonants in green, is doing satisfactory with consonants shown in yellow, but needs improvement on those shown in red. Those lacking color were not in play. For this learner, it would be advisable to spend more time focusing on just those consonants that cause confusion. Individual consonants for focus can be selected at the beginning of each session.