Do I have to learn how to say the “th”?

The “th” or /ð/ and /θ/ sounds don’t exist in German or many other languages. Notoriously difficult to produce, to make them you have to find the right spot with your tongue on your front teeth. It takes a lot of practice and can take many months or even years to perfect. The question is:Continue reading “Do I have to learn how to say the “th”?”

Test your English pronunciation

Try my online test for German speakers for free Why should I work on my English pronunciation Chances are that pronunciation work wasn’t a large, or any, part of your English lessons at school. Learning grammar and vocabulary was probably the driving force behind the curriculum, but does this mean that work on how toContinue reading “Test your English pronunciation”

Pronunciation: Do you have a case of terminal devoicing?

When you say “peas” and “peace” do the words sound the same? What about “pick” and “pig”? or “dug” and “duck”? If they do you might be suffering from terminal devoicing. It sounds serious, but don’t worry, despite its name, there is a cure. We’ll get to that later. First, what is it, and whoContinue reading “Pronunciation: Do you have a case of terminal devoicing?”

Tekamolo v.s. Svompt: Word order

Sometimes two languages can live inside one person peacefully, they complement each other and don’t get in each other’s way. Unfortunately, sometimes the opposite is true and we get … L1 interference! Sounds nasty, but it just means though that you use rules that apply to your native language, and apply them to your foreignContinue reading “Tekamolo v.s. Svompt: Word order”