American English for Success in Business

Voiceless [p] and Voiced [b]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to:

• Correctly pronounce [p] and [b]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems
• Pronounce [p] and [b] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Identify when p and b are silent in words
• Pronounce difficult blends: [pl] [pr] [bl] [br]
• Improve intonation with phrases and idioms containing [p] or [b]

Voiceless [t] and Voiced [d]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [t] and [d]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems
• Pronounce [t] and [d] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Pronounce difficult blends: [pl] [pr] [bl] [br]
• Master the pronunciation rule for the ed ending
• Apply a “speak like an American” pronunciation tip

Voiceless [k] and Voiced [g]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [k] and [g]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems
• Pronounce [k] and [g] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Master the pronunciation rule for the letter x
• Pronounce difficult blends [kl] [kr] [gl] [gr] [kt] [gz] [kw] [gd]

Plosives Review

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Fine-tune your pronunciation of the six plosive sounds
• Practice the sounds naturally in sentences
• Correctly pronounce the different ed endings
• Improve your intonation with phrases and idioms

Voiceless [s] and Voiced [z]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [s] and [z]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [s] and [z]
• Pronounce [s] and [z] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Pronounce difficult blends [str] [skr] [sts] [dz]
• Correctly pronounce the letter s at the end of words
• Improve intonation with phrases and idioms

Voiceless [θ] and voiced [ð]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [θ] and [ð]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [θ] and [ð]
• Pronounce [θ] and [ð] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Determine which “th” sound to use in words with the letters th
• Correctly pronounce the word "the" before consonants and vowels
• Improve intonation with phrases and idioms

Voiceless [s] and voiced [z]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [s] and [z]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [s] and [z]
• Pronounce [s] and [z] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Pronounce difficult blends [str] [skr] [sts] [dz]
• Correctly pronounce the letter s at the end of words
• Improve intonation with phrases and idioms

Voiceless [ʃ] and voiced [ʒ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [ʃ] and [ʒ]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [ʃ] and [ʒ]
• Pronounce [ʃ] and [ʒ] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Improve intonation with phrases and idioms

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce the [h] sound
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [h]
• Pronounce [h] in familiar words at work
• Improve intonation in sentences with [h]

Fricatives Review

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Fine-tune your pronunciation of the nine fricative sounds
• Practice the sounds naturally in sentences
• Correctly pronounce ordinal numbers that contain [θ]
• Improve your intonation with a work-related dialogue

[w]

After completing this lesson, you will be know how to

• Correctly pronounce the [w] sound
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [w]
• Pronounce [w] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Determine when the letter w is silent
• Master intonation of interrogative questions

[r]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [r]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [r]
• Pronounce [r] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Pronounce troublesome blends: [pr] [br] [tr] [dr]
  [fr] [kr] [gr] [rz]
• Voice [r] in common phrases and idioms

[ l ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to:

• Correctly pronounce the [ l ] sound
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [ l ]
• Distinguish and produce the “clear” and “dark” [ l ]
• Pronounce [ l ] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Pronouce a more American [ l ] sound after [ t, d, n ]
• Improve intonation with phrases and idioms

[ j ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce the [ j ] sound
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [ j ]
• Pronounce [ j ] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Improve intonation in sentences containing the [ j ] sound

Glides Review

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Fine-tune your pronunciation of the four glide sounds
• Pronounce the sounds naturally in words appearing in sentences
• Improve your intonation and rhythm through a workplace dialogue
• Pronounce glide sounds as they appear in tongue twisters

[m], [n] and [ŋ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [m] [n] and [ŋ]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems
• Pronounce [m] [n] and [ŋ] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Determine when [k] is pronounced after [ŋ]
• Distinguish [ŋ] and [ŋg] using a pronunciation rule
• Improve intonation with sentences, phrases and idioms

[ʧ] and [ʤ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [ʧ] and [ʤ]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [ʧ] and [ʤ]
• Pronounce [ʧ] and [ʤ] in contrast pairs and words at work
• Improve your intonation in phrases, idioms and sentences
  containing words with [ʧ] and [ʤ]

Word Stress

Words of two or more syllables require that one of those syllables be stressed (emphasized). A word is considered mispronounced if the stress is incorrect.

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Pronounce combination nouns
• Demonstrate the rules for two-syllable word stress
• Pronounce polysyllabic words
• Understand why the stress may shift in identically spelled words
• Fine-tune word stress and intonation in sentences

[ i ], [] and [ e ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce the front vowel sounds [ i ] [] and [ e ]
• Recognize the subtle differences among the vowel sounds
• Produce the important blended sound [ɚ]
• Master the front vowel sounds in words at work
• Improve your intonation in phrases and idioms

[ɛ] and [æ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce the front vowel sounds [ɛ] and [æ]
• Troubleshoot a pronunciation problem with [æ]
• Recognize the subtle differences among the vowel sounds
• Produce the important blended sound [ɛɚ]
• Master the front vowel sounds in words at work
• Improve your intonation in phrases and idioms

[ɑ], [ɔ] and [o]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [ɑ], [ɔ] and [o]
• Distinguish regional differences between [ɑ] and [ɔ]
• Troubleshoot pronunciation problems with [ɑ], [ɔ] and [o]
• Practice the sounds in contrast pairs and words at work

[u] and [ʊ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [u] and [ʊ]
• Troubleshoot problems with [u] and [ʊ]
• Distinguish [u] and [ʊ] in contrast pairs
• Practice the sounds in phrases and idioms
• Improve intonation with a dialogue

[ʌ] [ə] and [ɝ] [ɚ]

After completing this lesson, you will know how to

• Correctly pronounce [ʌ] [ə] and [ɝ] [ɚ]
• Understand the schwa [ə] usage
• Troubleshoot problems with [ʌ] [ə] and [ɝ] [ɚ]
• Distinguish the sounds in contrast pairs and words at work
• Practice the sounds in phrases and idioms