Today I want to show you some key English pronunciation mistakes that many of my Italian students make and I’ll give you some simple tips on how to correct these and improve your pronunciation so that you’ll sound more professional in the office. So, let’s get started!

Why is pronunciation so important in English?

When a lot of people studying English, or any language for that matter, pronunciation is one thing that they typically pay very little attention to. I don’t blame them at first, there is so much to learn with grammar, verb conjugations, spelling etc but if you study how children learn, especially my 2 year old son who is learning both English and Italian at home, he repeats phrases back to us that he hears, even if he doesn’t understand what he is saying, but just to practice getting the sound right.

And this is so important when you are in the office, making a phone or video call or travelling. Native English speakers will judge you by how well you pronounce English and if you pronounce it well, they will treat you better and give you a lot more respect. This is especially important in the business environment. Additionally, a problem particular to English speakers, is that in the English world, they do not get much exposure to foreign languages, so their ears are not tuned to pick up differences in pronunciation from their own. So often they simply will not understand you at all even if you are speaking correctly but just your pronunciation is off.

The “TH” Sound

The first and probably the most noticeable problem that many Italians have is with the English “TH” sound, as used in words like: THE, THOSE, THIS, THOUGHT, THANKS, etc. They typically leave off the “H” so “THANKS” becomes “TANKS” or worse yet, they make more of a “D” sound so “THANKS” becomes “DANKS”. This is because the “TH” sound does not exist in Italian and so their mouths are not used to forming it correctly and they don’t get the tongue forward far enough between the teeth.

The trick here is that your tongue must be between your teeth whenever you pronounce a “TH” sound. Go ahead and try placing it there. Try to hear the difference saying “THANKS” with your tongue between your teeth versus just having it on your palate.

Muscle Memory

So how do you correct this? The answer lies in “Muscle Memory”. Your tongue is a muscle and just like all the other muscles in your body you can train it to become efficient at a certain movement through repetition. This is why guitar players practice the same scales over and over again so that their finger muscles remember the positions automatically and so they can play without thinking. Hence what you need to do is to practise exercises for your tongue over and over again until it becomes automatic for you.

For this, I recommend practising the tongue twisters below every day for a few minutes a day until you feel it become automatic. Start practising in front of the mirror at first so that you can really see your tongue in the correct position and then when you have got the hang of it, you can practise anywhere, such as in the car on the way to work. Of course, make sure that you practise your English pronunciation out loud, even when you are by yourself, otherwise, you are not exercising your mouth muscles!

The “H” Sound

This is another one that Italians struggle within English pronunciation, the “H” sound. It does not exist in Italian and so my students often forget to use it when speaking English. It is a sound that you must really emphasize to have the right effect in speaking English correctly. You must breathe out as if you were breathing on your glasses to clean them.”HHHH” That is the desired sound. Again, I recommend practising the tongue twisters below in front of the mirror and over-emphasizing the H sound until you are comfortable with it and then practice daily.

The “S” Sound

In Italian, the “s” sound in words such as “casa” (home) are pronounced with the English “z” sound. Thus, another common mistake made is using this same “z” sound when pronouncing English words that start with “s”. For example, the expression “that’s so sad” becomes “that’s zo zad”, which does not sound quite right to native speakers.

To correct it you need to understand the difference between the two sounds. “z” is a voiced sound meaning your vocal cords vibrate when you make it, whereas “s” is a voiceless sound, so your vocal cords do not vibrate. Practise in front of the mirror while touching your vocal cords and make an “s” sound like the hissing of a snake and then make a “z” sound like the buzzing of a bee. You should feel the vibration in your throat for the “z” and not for the “s”. When you can feel the difference, then try the tongue twisters below making sure that you keep the “s” sound in your mouth and not your throat.

Final thoughts on better English pronunciation

These common mistakes in English pronunciation may be holding you back from achieving your best at work or being understood and respected when you travel but they are very easy to identify and fix with just a little bit of practice. So, try out the tongue twisters below and let me know how it goes in the comments. Which one do you find the most difficult to master?

Tongue Twisters

Tongue Twisters starting with TH

1. I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought.
2. Three thin thieves thought a thousand thoughts. Now if three thin thieves thought a thousand thoughts how many thoughts did each thief think?
3. The thirty-three thankful thieves thought that they thanked the other thirty-three thankful thieves throughout Thursday.
4. Father, mother, sister, brother – hand in hand with one another.
5. They threw three thick things.
6. Thirty thousand thoughtless boys thought they would make a thundering noise. So the thirty thousand thumbs thumbed on the thirty thousand drums.
7. Is this the thing? – Yes, this is the thing.

Tongue Twisters starting with H

1. Herbert hates herbs, howling hounds, and hummus, but he hankers for harmonious harps, hens, and hushpuppies.
2. Good Heaven! Harry has done his whole homework at home by himself.
3. Harry the hungry, hungry hippo is happily eating ham in his house.
4. Heidi helped Harry hoist his hickory hockey stick over the holly hedge, onto a Honda’s hood.
5. Despite the heat and humidity in Harker Heights, the Honorable Harold Hinkleman hiked Hussein Hill in only half an hour.
6. Hester hoards hibiscus honey on a high shelf in the hardwood hutch next to her heirloom hope chest.
7. Harry Hunt hunts heavy hairy hares. Does Harry Hunt hunt heavy hairy hares? If Harry Hunt hunts heavy hairy hares, Where are the heavy hairy hares Harry Hunt hunts?
8. Helen and her husband, Hugh, hunkered over hot herbal tea during happy hour at the Hawaiian Hilton Hotel.

Tongue Twisters starting with S

1. New socks. Two socks. Whose socks? Sue’s socks. Who sews whose socks? Sue sews Sue’s socks.
2. She sells seashells by the seashore, The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure. So if she sells seashells on the seashore, Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
3. Sam’s shop stocks short spotted socks.
4. Sally says she shall sew six sheets for her sister Shelly.
5. Say this sharply, say this sweetly, Say this shortly, say this softly. Say this sixteen times in succession.
6. Six sausages slowly sizzled in the sun.
7. Sunshine is sweetest in the summer seasons.