Placement and American English Pronunciation

ESL: Learn about placement in American English.

AMAZING tips to sound more natural speaking English

Improve your American Accent / spoken English at Rachel's English with video-based lessons and exercises.

Cải thiện nói tiếng Anh Mỹ / 미국 영어 발음 향상 / 話されているアメリカ英語を向上させる / Сделай свой разговорный американский английский лучше / Meningkatkan berbicara bahasa Inggris Amerika / Melhorar a fala Inglês Americano / Mejorar el habla Inglés Americano / 美語 / बात अमेरिकी अंग्रेजी में सुधार / تحسين لهجتك الأمريكية الإنجليزية / שפר את המבטא האמריקאי שלך

...with Rachel's English!

subscribe:

[ybt]

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❤

[rachelsenglish]

Yes, Spanish speakers tend to have a higher placement. But remember that placement shouldn't affect pitch, so if you try to lower your placement but are just speaking on lower tones, it's not the same thing. Since this is probably a totally foreign concept to you, I encourage you to begin with just playing around with different placements, as described in this video.
Best, Rachel

[rachelsenglish]

There are different ways to make the placement more nasal and higher: one, by lowering the soft palate, so air comes through the nasal passage, and two, by tensing muscles in the front of the throat.

[rachelsenglish]

Actually, the throat should not be engaged in any of the vowel sounds. So I would stay they are all mouth-controlled. What we do with the mouth/throat changes the placement. Once the throat is brought it, it throws off the placement.
Best,
Rachel

[corynicolas]

Hey, Rachel. I love your videos. I have seen several of them. I teach English and Spanish and my students who are learning English love your videos. I have noticed this placement problem with my students, especially the ones from Brazil. They have a lot of nasality and twang in their voice. I am also a singer and my ear is very tuned to placement and color tone. Uh is much brighter than Ah. When I want to have a brighter tone while singing I use more uh than ah. When I hear my Brazilian student speak English, I hear a lot of cord closure (twang) in their vocal cords and a higher placement which I think has to do with their vocal cords. They also use a lot of nasality which has to do with their soft palate. As I was writing this I discovered a video of yours that talks about the soft palate. Very cool. Maybe it will help my students.

Greetings from Washington State.

- Cory

[ssh]

more lessons like this one, please. It' very helpful especially for Koreans whose language doesn't use that much deep chest voice for vowels or consonants.

[jestonypacunio]

I watched almost all of your video tutorial and it really helps me a lot to improve my pronunciation , it really helps me to speak more effectively and accurately, please make a video that could help on how to avoid stuttering. thank you so much, this video is more than what i've got in school.
 

[alinn]

the really important placement which makes just difference between UH and AH 🙏🙏🙏

[leninastrojildo]

Rachel For President ♦2012♦
I ♥L♥O♥V♥E♥ Rachel's English.

[Maywind]

This video is amazingly useful! It's just sad that I don't know which American sounds are supposed to be throat-controlled and which are supposed to be mouth-controlled, so it's kind of difficult to apply the concept outside of the schwa and [a] sound as in "not", as demonstrated in the video... will there be a "sequel" to the video, perhaps to elaborate a bit on the placement of other vowels? As usual, thank you so much for everything you're doing, you are an amazing teacher!

[rachelsenglish]

Hi, um, I have a website with a video describing each sound specifically in terms of the tongue/lip position, as well as videos on the IPA. See my IPA and Sounds playlist on my YouTube channel to start.
Best,
Rachel

[hearingaidupdates]

Helo Rachel mam i wud like to c more video on various position of english alphabet waiting for ur best response

[davide]

But how can you place your voice lower without stressing out your throat? Are there any exercises in order to not feel tension and relax those organs (larynx and its parts)?
I feel constraint and mostly I sound robotically when I try placing the voice lower.

[leonardoleo]

Rachel, I love your way to teach, but sometimes is so dificult to see the difference between sounds.

[GUERREIROMENINOGIL]

A explicação é um pouco complexa. Se alguém souber de algum Canal que tenha um professor brasileiro ensinando essa questão do placement, por favor me indique o nome do Canal, ou o nome do professor. Gostaria de ver essa explicação na minha língua nativa, Português. Thank you in advance!

[nicoachkasov]

I just realized that why I sound different when I speak half-voice. I sound native when half-voice and not native when full voice. When you speak half-voice your sound placement is in your chest but you can control it. When you speak full voice, you control the placement. I didn't.

[norbertomoritz]

Hi! In [ɑ] vs. [ʌ] should I don't feel any vibration on my throat wen trying a low placement? After some training I can make both sounds, but doesn't feel like that I accomplish lower my placement! I'm Brazilian by the way, so your previously answer to a Spanish student in this class it's very useful l to me. French, Spanish and Brazilian are just Latin branches. I just don't know how to figure out if I'm doing this right or not. Sorry bother you, but is far far way to our Latin way to speak. Thank you very much.

[Pipso]

So, Rachel, can american natives hear the difference in sounds when they say, for example, words like "wonder" and "wander"? Because to my ears it sounds the same..

[siwanithapa]

Does your voice or sound resonate in the center of your mouth or the upper chest low I don’t get it can someone explain or maybe Kim can you please I’m so hard with this????

[mottahead]

Ah, aa, ahhh, ah, aa, ahhh, I was doing it while taking a shower and my wife got curious and asked what was going on in there (an awkward situation).