Placement Is How to Speak American English Like a Native Speaker
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- Never heard of placement? The concept is simple: placement is where the vibration and sound comes from. For many languages, placement tends to be high in the mouth or even around the nose. To learn how to speak American English more like a native speaker, however, you'll need a different placement, which we'll discuss in more detail, along with techniques that will immediately help you sound more natural.
Add more breath to your placement here: • YOUR American English ...
See all our placement videos here: • How to Sound American:...
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What sounds do my students struggle with the most?
The short i (like in "big"): • Fluent American Englis...
The voiced th (like in "this"): studio.czcams.com/users/video_Kfj...
Consonant clusters (like "twelfth"): studio.czcams.com/users/videoelkF...
The a (like in "hot"") • Fluent American Englis...
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Our Fluent American English pronunciation videos help you improve your American English pronunciation or American English accent for IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, or other English exams. Of course, you may just be studying for business reasons, travel, or fun; regardless, we are here to help.
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Who am I? My name is Geoff Anderson. I got my MA in Teaching English as a Second Language in 2012, and have been teaching since 2010. I've studied Italian to around level C1-C2. I was also an IELTS examiner for the speaking/writing tests for 3 years.
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Improve your American English accent! बात अमेरिकी अंग्रेजी में सुधार ! 改善美式英語的發音! 改善美式英語的發音 ! 미국 영어 발음 향상 ! Cải thiện nói tiếng Anh Mỹ ! Улучшение произношения американского английского языка ! שפר את המבטא האמריקאי שלך Meningkatkan berbicara bahasa Inggris Amerika ! アメリカ英語の話し言葉のアクセントを向上させる ! pronúncia do inglês americano ! pronunciación en Inglés Americano ! تحسين لهجتك الأمريكية الإنجليزية !
#placement #english #fluentamerican
Guys very use information. I struggled with placement a lot until I discovered this one trick: When practicing shadowing/imitation place your hand gently on the Chest and lower your pitch and feel the vibration. It automatically fixes your focus on chest (lower placement)
Please try it. I wish you all the best❤
thanks for sharing your experience yasht!
Thank you! That's useful 😃
thanks man
Thank you so much, this was new to me.very helpful ,now I am liking my voice,🎉😅
Definitely works wonders. Something curious, I realized that I can just keep this placement for 30 mins tops, at the beggining I just could do it for a couple of minutes. I guess it's because I'm not used to using this placement. It's muscle memory I would say. Still practicing of course. Thanks a bunch for the video ☺ this is a Spanish speaker.
that's great you're 1) noticing placement 2) able to tell when you are doing it versus not 3) seeing improvement in duration. It's learning a completely knew way to talk, so patience is always key! Also, recognize your growth; that's wonderful
Subscribed. Thanks for this amazing video. Loved it. Cheers
thanks so much for the kind words Sergio! so glad you could find the channel
That's super helpful i need more practice sentence like this.Thanks
appreciate it Mabrur! happy studying!
Thank you so much for your sharing .this is great video which I've seen so far.
thank YOU for the kind words and support
When I saw this video by chance, I was gratefully surprised that it works your recommendation, and the curiosity bits me to dive into your channel, I'll tell you later.
hey Ricardo, so glad you found the channel! I'd definitely be interested in hearing more!
Geoff, I really like your approach to English pronunciation. I've always been cautious about tongue position or lips but never really focused on pitch or vocalization when speaking English. I thought vocal exercises were for singing opera, but now I realize why I struggled. I will practice them. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
great to hear from you again Apple! I'm so glad you feel like you're finding a concept that works for you!
No one tells this.
Great content as always. I love this!
Thanks so much Muhammad! Yeah, I wish pronunciation topics were covered more when people start learning!
Thanks a lot, I was looking for this video long time ago
hello Kelly, thanks for the comment! How did you first find out about placement?
Hey man, it’s really nice. Thanks for all your help. 😃
thanks so much! how'd you find the video?
Thank you for making this video! I loved it!😍
thanks so much for letting me know! comments like this are super helpful
@@FluentAmerican of course!🤗🧡
Great video. I've to watch this videos again, thanks...
thanks so much Richard! it's been great hearing from you recently
This is what I was totally need it, Keep going sir, your methods useful 😊
great to hear from you again KD!
If you're looking for more practice, here is a video that only has placement exercises:
czcams.com/video/cjqpEEx6rmE/video.html
@@FluentAmerican for sure, thanks a million times
Oh my goodness you're My engine God for real,i gotta lay off learning engineer from other teachers cos you have been juicing up My level about speaking or sounding like an American,my engine God last time i was at My brother's party and i was given a mic to speak in front of the people and when i finished to speak,i was told that I'm tryna sound like an American,i asked em about how i was speaking English,they told me my English is so correct but i was faking American accent,i was a little bit down...
thanks for writing! I think one of the hardest situations is learning a new accent while surrounded by people from our old, familiar community--they won't always like the changes you are pushing for because you are changing how they perceive you. It's hard. You have to make a decision--will you let them impact your goals, or will you continue pursuing your goals?
Great video as always!
thanks so much! this was the video that started a whole new journey for the channel
This is exactly what I have been looking for. Even though I believe I have mastered pronunciation, linking, intonation and rhythm of American accent, I still feel like something is missing and I have never sounded 100% like a native speaker. I will try to practice speaking with low placement and will see how it changes my voice quality.
thanks so much for writing; keep me posted on your progress!
Thanks so much for the great lesson 👏
so happy to hear you enjoyed it Robert! How did you find the video; were you looking for placement help?
This is mind-blowing! I've never seen this content on YT before. Once I start to practice those recommended exercises it'll be game changer in my fluency. Thanks for sharing us this precious tip.
it's just one of those things that completely changes how you think of languages. I'm excited to hear the results!
@@FluentAmerican Absolutely! I'm so excited to make the changes I need and sound more natural. You know, I'm kinda perfectionist.... haha I'm also gonna to pay close attention to the listening exercises to notice it, with both non-native and native speakers. 🤭😁
@@larapereira658 I think perfectionists are often drawn to pronunciation! I mentioned it in my last video: it certainly can be an asset in terms of motivation; just don't let it ever push you to feel discouraged. I'm so happy you found the channel!
@@FluentAmerican So am I! :)
Hey Goeff! What a great video! Thank you!
great to hear from you again Ibrahim; and thanks!
@@FluentAmerican you're very welcome, Goeff 😀 and sorry for my absence
@@ibrahimali9564 ha! you never have to apologize, just happy to have you here
Loved this video!
Hi Dorothy, thanks soo much! How did you find it?
Great content!
thank you; glad you found us!
Great tips. I love the way you focus on sound production, relaxation and tonality.
thanks so much Mottahead! How'd you find the channel?
@@FluentAmerican It found me : most probably due to the fact that I was already watching channels on American English and Accent Reduction.
@@mottahead6464 haha that's great. Rachel's English and similar ones?
@@FluentAmerican Yep. Tryinna do my best tuh improve my English pronunciation. Miss the target a coupla times but I guess that's part of the process.
@@mottahead6464 as a man from Philadelphia, all I can say is trust the process!
You're definitely one of the best teachers here on CZcams.
Thank you so much for your extinguished videos you've established, and i hope if you could pay more focusing on doing some of the conversational practices videos, with most common & long sentences. Coz way too much, most of us still need to improve our vocabulary with right words those used by the native speakers in real life.
Thank you & all best sir.
thanks so much Muha! really appreciate your kind words; how did you find the channel?
Regarding conversational practice/vocab, I'll definitely keep that in mind! There is already some content that may help:
czcams.com/video/Ug2MooG4k7w/video.html -- practice saying the most common sentences in English
czcams.com/video/AYddxIkf4Vc/video.html -- practice saying the most common questions in English
Thank you for the reply. okay, I'll check out the links you shared here & I'd give you my comments if there's, later on. Thanks again
@@M-Ali-Yemen thank YOU!
That's a great video! Really, really rare to find such stuff on CZcams!
Does it help to start lowering the placement in my native language, so that it becomes a habit for me? Also, I feel some pain in my throat when doing it. Is that a good sign that my placement is going lower? Thanks!
Hi Sycamore, thanks so much for the kind words!
Great questions, too! I personally wouldn't suggest altering the placement in your own first language, though I don't know what exactly the research would say. Instead, I would say continuing to focus on it whenever you can as you speak in English. Different languages have different patterns, so I don't think it's necessary to carry over one to the others.
In terms of pain, my guess is that while the placement may be lowering, you may be making things too tense! Remember: it's low, but it's also relaxed and open.
I recommend recording yourself saying some of those sentences I have at the end of the video and comparing your sound to my sound and the other examples from other speakers.
Let me know if you have other questions! Thanks again
Great job 👌
thanks so much for the kind words Rais!
Thanks for the tips!
ciao Mauro, thanks for the message!
I'd like to know more about your program! I'm new to your channel.
so we're a bit different from most pronunciation resources because we focus less on mouth position and more on placement, breath, pitch, and weak consonants. I've made a free, foundational video course that explores each of these concepts here: www.fluentamerican.com/4stepamericanaccent The goal is to completely change how you approach pronunciation in order to achieve a more natural sound
Nice demo. 😘
Appreciate your kimd words Ryan!
Hey Geoff! Brazillian follower here. You've helped me a lot already. Do yo have any kinda English course? Pls lemme know!
Hi Bruno! Thanks so much for letting me know!
I have a range of options:
$5/month Telegram group where we do quick corrections every day
$30/month Mission: English--we do 30 livestream classes every month in a private Facebook group that you can join me on to ask questions and get feedback--see an example here: czcams.com/users/live4DC_W3NE0LY
4-Step American Accent--a video course that goes over the 4 major components of an American accent
Private coaching
Everything is at www.fluentamerican.com
Let me know if you have any questions! It'd be great to work with you!
Great video
appreciate it! great to hear from you
This is a good news for me i speak lower pitch i create voice from my diaphragm and chest i can feel that maybe i do shadowing practice everyday or maybe I've learned indian classical music 5 or 6 years
music training certainly helps! thanks as always for writing
much obliged. sir
thanks as always Kishor!
hi Kishor! your comment was picked for our Wednesday Giveaway, which grants you a free 7 days in our Telegram Pronunciation group. If interested, send a message to me on one of our social media pages. Congrats!
@@FluentAmerican sure sir. would you tell me your social media page?
Maybe you have the right placement, but the sound still isn't quite right? Try adding more breath and air here: czcams.com/video/wXW4Wvyrz6g/video.html
🔶Channel Memberships🔶
JOIN our channel to get access to our Pronunciation Group on Telegram, where you receive feedback and suggestions for YOUR pronunciation EVERY DAY. See what it is like here: czcams.com/video/FDwPuwstUEo/video.html
High level members get access to our weekly Livestream where we analyze native speaker conversations for stress, intonation, linking, and American English pronunciation. See an example here: czcams.com/video/VP3tS-DUs-k/video.html and czcams.com/video/-DduKv7VuHM/video.html
🔶 🔶
See all of our placement videos: czcams.com/play/PLlZ0dlSbrSXj9ykrH-gU6ZJe1NKsXC9H5.html
Looking for daily pronunciation practice and feedback? Join our Telegram group! www.patreon.com/fluentamerican
Can u make a video on the combination of S + T sounds? (like in words like star, master, etc)
Hi! Great question. I would start here; it covers this and similar sounds: czcams.com/video/eoSA7R7345A/video.html
😳😲👋 Thank you!
thank YOU Monica! How'd you find us?
That's extremely important, Geoff. Thank you!! Do you native speakers do all that naturally??
thank you! I think people pick up these things in their first languages intuitively, yeah. I don't care what the language is, most native speakers aren't aware of everything they are doing linguistically
I realized that whoever I ask native speakers to show me how they say a sound for example, they get confused and most of the time I do not get answers !!!
@@ranamustafa7838 yeah, most people don't know what they're doing!
Hi, thank you for these tips, they're very helpful but- is it possible that I already have a lower placement? I'm Italian and I speak with a low placement... it's kinda weird, I know, but I realized that while doing your exercises, my throat and upper chest vibrate when I speak. I should improve my italian placement, not the English one. 😅
Ciao mic, grazie per avermi scritto! Per caso vieni dal Sud?
I would say if you feel your placement is already in a great spot to then make sure you get enough airflow through your throat. While Italian tends to be more open than American English in the mouth, it tends to be much more closed through the throat and chest than American English likes. Here is more info on breath if you are curious: czcams.com/video/wXW4Wvyrz6g/video.html
@@FluentAmerican Yes, I'm from South Italy! :-) I just watched the video...this is a very interesting characteristic about English that sadly my professors didn't teach me when I attended linguistics/phonetics classes at university (I've studied foreign languages), so maybe it's something I've been doing naturally or I'm just lucky? I don't know.
I'm definitely gonna check out your other videos though, thank you! Ciao!
I push down my vocal cords, kinda tensing them. I'm sure what I'm doing is wrong.. it feels forced.. I guess there is an easier way to bring the sound down to the throat/chest area.. excellent video!
thanks for your comment, Ed! Yeah, if it feels forced, that's a sign that you may be making it a bit too strong
I do the DOWBA Trick, its like this, you say ,DOWWWWWBAA Very low, "Dow" as in low. And open your jaw wide but relaxed.
this is great; I never heard of it before, but that "baa" at the end is very effective. I also found that pronouncing "dow" like in "town" helps open the mouth a bit wider and get more air through the back of the mouth
@@FluentAmerican thank you very much,😁.
I teach a man from Morocco, and his placement is too low. I don't think American placement is as low as you suggest. Where you're pointing is where even he points to show where he feels his voice is resonating from. He is much clearer when he speaks higher in pitch. I would put typical American English placement more in the middle, around the Adam's apple.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to write! It is definitely possible for a student to push the placement too low, though I've personally encountered this with few students.
Without actually hearing the student it's really hard to gauge what the issue is. Placement is really only 1/4th of the battle. I have suspicion that there may be some breath issues involved/relying more on the lungs than the diaphragm and/or he's forcing things so low it's causing tension.
Regardless, the beauty of CZcams is that students can find the teacher that they feel fits their needs best. There's more than one way to get a natural sound.
Take care!
Yes, this video is misleading, American placement is high pitch, and that sound is produced by using the upper part of your mouth and a little bit of nasal inflection! Americans don't speak from their throat or chest
@@jeremiah9632 glad you've found success with your own approach, just as I have with mine
In my opinion, it doesn't matter what accent you have what matters most is the clarity of the spoken language.
thanks for the comment and for sharing your perspective Rowell!
my own take is that it completely depends on your own language goals. For some people, the only concern is clarity/being understood. Others have a natural desire to come as close to sounding native as possible. There are other goals that are in-between these. I don't think any of them are wrong
@@FluentAmerican Here in our country, the Philippines we speak as clear as possible. I think most Filipinos have neutral accent since English is our second language. In schools, the medium of instruction used is English.
I think because there are more people who learned English as a second language than people who are native speakers, you've seen the creation of a wider variety of standard Englishes. The English in the US is a bit different than English in the UK, which is different from the English in India, and that is different from the English where you are. None are wrong I'd say, but if you are interacting with people from a different community, it can help to understand their standards.
@@FluentAmerican Yes you're right. For me, the uniqueness of our accent was caused by the colonization of Spaniards and Americans. The Philippines was colonized by Spaniards for more than 300 years and by Americans for more than 48 years.
@@FluentAmerican Thank you for your sincere effort to respond to my comment. Keep up the good work.
Oh my dear finally the reason of my accent not sounding like a native speaker
Hope this was helpful!
Nice stuff.
I have a question. Do you inhale or exhale when speaking or does it NOT matter? or It depends on the words you speak? Thank you!
I'd say you exhale--that's how you get sound for vowels out!
@@FluentAmerican thank you for your prompt reply. Doesn't your soft palate get closed when inhaling tho? like when you suck a straw? Based on that, shouldn't you inhale? Thank you again
@@John2corner I'll be honest, with regards to the soft palate, I've never personally heard that. However, especially as this is a video on placement, the goal is exhalation when speaking--making sure to do it long enough and low enough, especially on vowel sounds. There is a tendency among students to pronounce vowels too quickly and rush words--exhaling longer on vowels can help with clarity when speaking
@@FluentAmerican To speak without nasal sounds, the soft palate needs to be lifted. Based on that, I wonder exhaling while speaking is helpful to stop the nasal sounds. I was curious if you had an answer to that. Thank you for your reply!
I would definitely consider asking around with others who have even deeper applied linguisics backgrounds! also a note that your comment was picked for our Wednesday Giveway; you receive a free 7 days in our pronunciation Telegram group. If interested, send me a message on one of the social media pages!
(my native language is Turkish) My throat hurts when I speak lower. I can't relax. What can I do ? And a lot of listening practice is really improve the English?
hi, thanks for checking the video! It sounds like we may be having a lot of tension/strain in our throat, which needs to remain open. These breath exercises may be helpful: czcams.com/play/PLlZ0dlSbrSXgVsDS0JCDFIztN9-v2iYdj.html
Listening practice with pronunciation videos will help you begin to notice sounds that are specific to English
What about female voice placement? I do feel American women have much stronger nasal resonance than American men.
Good question! There can be differences between genders in language usage and pronunciation forms. That said, I still believe you will find that women speaking American English usually have lower placements than women speaking many other languages
also, congrats on almost reaching 1k subs!
I’m actually a native English speaker trying to improve Russian pronunciation, but came to this video because I couldn’t find a resource specific to Russian. How might one find the placement for a particular language? Which features do I need to pay attention to?
hi WK, thanks for stopping by! I would say, when imitating Russian accents, try to really pay attention to where you feel the vibration heaviest when you produce the sounds. Record yourself moving your placement around (e.g., low in the throat vs top of the throat vs front of the mouth vs near the nose) until you feel you have something close to what native speakers sound like. In general, my Russian students seem to have a placement that is around the back/middle of the mouth and very high (in contrast, many American accents tend to be lower in the throat and have much more air pass through the throat). I would also say trying to find a Russian teacher who is aware of the concept would be super helpful! Thanks for writing; hope this can help some!
@@FluentAmerican I think that’s a pretty accurate description. I’ve noticed a sort of nasal/constrained quality to Russian speech (which becomes more obvious when they speak English) but haven’t been able to pinpoint where exactly the sounds are coming from. I’ll try my best to imitate this, thanks so much for the detailed feedback!
I'm indian, so naturally my voice placement is in the mouth area. With practice though, I have brought it down to the mid of neck area. Do you have any exercises to bring it down further? Or will it come with more practice? For some reason it's not going anymore lower. I can't feel the vibrations in the chest area.
Hi Nano, thanks so much for writing! Even the middle of the neck can work if your throat is relaxed enough--you really want to push as much air through as possible.
Doing those exercises I did in the video can help--e.g., practice saying the vowel in a tense way, then gradually relaxing it. Also, lowering the pitch can help. Really try to exaggerate.
See my other videos too where I focus on the placement of specific vowels:
czcams.com/video/ibWsZ3q_mcc/video.html for the /ei/ like "take"
czcams.com/video/huCjPCG7OEE/video.html for the /ae/ like "cat"
czcams.com/video/osXpzikHuC0/video.html for the /U/ like "book"
Lastly, record yourself saying a vowel relaxed and tense, and try comparing it to how I sound in the exercises in the video.
These things take time as they are new ways of speaking, so patience is key.
Hope this helps!
@@FluentAmerican thanks for the reply. Will definitely check out these videos. Can I ask you to please check out one video? Here is an Indian guy Raj Gokal talking in a pretty good American accent: czcams.com/video/uHoxveeoHbw/video.html ( timestamp: 01:00) . He used to talk in a typical Indian accent before. Can you compare his way of talking with another guy who has a typical Indian accent? Can you see what he is doing differently, in terms of voice placement, resonance, etc? I'd like to sound like that - so would appreciate if you can give your feedback. Thanks!
@@cryptodeveloper I wasn't able to find a video of him speaking with a heavier accent to use as a comparison. Regardless, he speaks well. The things he is doing differently from typical Indian speakers include:
1)stresses the right words in his sentences
2) raises the pitch on stressed words
3) reduces words in sentences so not every word receives stress
4) correct intonation patterns
5) vowel sounds are open, relaxed, and low
hey Nano, you won our Wednesday Giveaway this week! You receive a free 7 days in one of our Telegram groups (pronunciation or speaking). Send me a message on one of our socials if interested; congrats!
@@FluentAmerican thanks, sounds cool! I'd like to check it out. Shall I message you on gmail?
my voice gets very raspy when I go down. Should that happen?
hi Lexis! thanks for the comment
it could be that you're still too tense; make sure that your throat is relaxed enough. A lot of students find that it takes time to adjust to the sound, so definitely be patient
@@FluentAmerican In my native tongue I'm quite raspy as well. I just don't want to kill my throat to go even deeper. But your right, I am quite tense. So I guess I'll start throat relaxation exercises, which might even help with my native language. Btw you sounding the words in closed vs open position was very helpful. Thanks.
@@alexis.kiyoko thanks so much for the kind words! also, if you feel you naturally have a raspy voice, something that could be helpful is finding native speakers with raspy voices to model: Al Pacino, Bryan Adams, etc.
Hey @lexis your comment was picked for our Wednesday Giveaway! You receive a free 7 days in our pronunciation Telegram group; if interested, send a message to one of our social media pages. Congrats!
Is it normal that when I do this my voice has a kind of vocal fry effect?
I wouldn't say it is unusual, though you can probably actually raise the placement slightly to avoid it. It's not necessary to have a vocal fry
@@FluentAmerican gotcha , I'ma try raising my placement and see how that pans out , I appreciate you for answering my question.
I appreciate the question! thanks so much; hope this helps!
Oh so that's why most male world leaders sound funny when they speak english. When they speak in their native language, it's with a deep voice and they sound strong. When they speak in english, it's with a higher pitch and it sounds weak.
One Question: the placement for british english will be the same right? From the throat?
It's extremely common for people learning English to project from higher in the mouth, which definitely affects the sound.
British English actually has a bit higher of a placement than American English and is slightly tenser. Thanks for your time as always!
Are you a native speaker /teacher ?
Yep! From the US
@@FluentAmericanAre your parents or spouse Dutch / Scandinavian? Your voiced “th” sounds like how they tend to pronounce it (like a “d”)
Hi@@gergelylukats3167! On my mom's side of the family, there is a lot of Danish blood...but my family hasn't spoken Danish for about two generations now!
I almost choked
appreciate the effort! definitely not intending to cause bodily harm here
@@FluentAmerican Heyyyaaa
You have been a great help!! Your tips work effectively, it doesnt create a dramatic change as I expect since I use my mother tongue more than American English and i havent gotten used to the new placement, i feel a bit uncomfort down there in my throat growing up speaking with a much higher placement. Might sound exaggerated for "choked" but i wanna deliver a special thank to you 😊
@@steff_funny713 definitely takes time to adjust, but like I said, that's really great you are pushing yourself as many people aren't willing to try exaggerating enough when practicing. Really appreciate the kind words!
Hi Poppy! Your comment was picked for our Wednesday Giveaway this week! You receive a free 7 days in our Telegram pronunciation group; if interested, message one of the social pages
@@FluentAmerican Thank you so much for the giveaway! I'll contact you on Instagram
I will smoke a blond before this class, might be helpful
There are many ways to relax!