American Accent

who can speak those words perfectly, pls let me know
wood, world, war, wall.
if you believe that you have no problem pronouncing them (and many other words ended with l) perfectly, pls tell me how you acquired the skill? Long time to practice and no hope for me

Well, out of the 4 words above, I can say three of them perfectly without any troubles... The three words are:
- Wood, this one is easy, I just hold the u: sound a little long and then end it with a "d" sound, like "wuu"
- World: This one used to be hard at first because of the "r" sound... However over the time, I''ve people saying it like in the movies, on the news and I just kinda got a hold of it so now I can pronounce it quite correctly... Like "w.ou.r.l.d"
-Wall: No problem here, again, hold the "uh" sound a little long not too long, before puting an "l" to it...
And "war", I always have trouble with "r" so this is quite frustrating really... I just can''t see myself sayin'' this correctly like some times I have the "r" sound too strong it makes it sound weird, some times there''s no "r" at all!

I want to know whether the above opinion is self-evaluation or not. If an American says that you pronounce them perfectly, then I would say: great! Most of the time, I have no problem with "r", but I found the word "war" is not that easy. Moreover, people can not here "l" in the word "world" from me. It sounds like "word" to them.
I didn''''t know that I had problem with "l" till I faced it. For example, look at these 2 words:
fill, and feel.
I can say perfectly the first one, but then I stuck with the second.
So all the experts here, tell me yr experience.
Pls don''''t tell me the things you got from the books. Tell me yr own experience.
Được 1u29 sửa chữa / chuyển vào 08:25 ngày 01/04/2004

I do. Well I learned to speak since I was small so I don''t remember how I did that. I guess I''m not qualified to give any advice. I was just thinking if using a tape recorder or any kind of recorder helps.

I don''t know how to explain this but for the "l" sound, you just need to curl your tounge til it touches the upper part inside your mouth... Like in "world", after you make the "r" sound, then curl your tonge right away for the "l" then the "D" to finish it off... All this happens really quick but not to fast (if that''s the reason why people can''t hear your "L", make sure you keep it long enough)...
If possible, yea use the recorder and practice til you hear yourself sound reasonable! Good luck!
Oh and yeah, not to be braggin'' but I''m told to have an excellent pronunciation (apart from the "r" problem, and only when the "r" is at the end of the word) in my class, foreign teacher approved! Since you asked!

Yeah, baby, the "R" surely takes you a lot of work if you wanna master it. I heard people learning English in America complaining about it all the time. But if you can pronounce "world" - the most troublesome word, it''s weird that how you can''t do well with "war". Should you schedule an appointment with some clinic to check your tongue, I''m just wondering

Yeah, R is the most vexing sound in American English I guess. Even I practice a lot, it''s still going nowhere. Can anyone here show me how to say OF COURSE correctly? However hard I try, I fail to pronounce R in this word thus it sounds extremely weird. Just like someone else who has posted before me, either I pronounce R so strong or therê?Ts no R at all.
The sound L doesn?Tt seem to cause as much trouble, most of the time, you just have to curl your tounge. It?Ts not that simple in American English, though. Do you know what is the right way to speak the word ?oball??
As for the two ?ofill? and ?ofeel?, I think they?Tre different. While the first one can be pronounced easily ?ofi-l?, the second should be ?ofi-ờ-l? (Let?Ts use this kind of transcription so that it?Ts clear for all Vietnamese to understand). Well in fact, when I read a paper out loud or talk to a new English learner, I can speak these words quite well for I speak slowly, but when it comes to speaking with foreigners, I always make mistakes, ?ofeel? sounds like ?ofill? and ?oworld? sounds like ?oword? as I speak much faster. It?Ts such an ugly habit yet I cannot change, anyone show me how?

Don't be afraid to open up your heartEverybody cries...

It is easy to confuse /r/ and /l/ in English. However, it is also easy to learn how to make the two different sounds. The big thing to remember is that when you say /r/, YOUR TONGUE SHOULD NOT TOUCH THE TOP OF YOUR MOUTH. It should be bunched up towards the back of your mouth with the tip pointing towards the top of your mouth (BUT NOT TOUCHING!). We do NOT move our tongue while making the American /r/ sound. This even makes it different from the /r/ in some other English dialects, like Scottish. Your lips should also be round when you say /r/, like you are getting ready to kiss someone.
There are actually two different ways to make /l/ sounds in American English. The most common way is to put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your teeth (like you were going to make a /d/ or /t/ sound). As you make the sound, the air comes out from the sides of your tongue. The second way to make /l/ is used after some vowels, like in the words call, full, toll, and walk. This sound is made way in the back of your mouth by putting the back of your tongue close to the back of your mouth so that there is only a small opening for air. (I''m the one who also fails to pronounce this sound [:l] )
Cây cu'c 'f'ng quên lo`ng mi`nh 'ang 'f'ng
Trô* hoa va`ng do.c suô'i 'ê* ong bay.

longarm, I enjoyed reading what you''ve written on American Accent. It''s cool! Why don''t you write some more articles on some realistic stuffs so I can join you.

Hey, this is not correct. Actually, when applying this proposed technique, you will ultimately speak UK English.
This is not American English accent!