American accent training: a guide to speaking and pronouncing colloquial American English, 4th edition

Introduction : read this first -- Telephone tutoring: Preliminary diagnostic analysis -- The American sound -- Pure sound -- Voice quality -- The American speech music -- Four main reasons for intonation -- Can or can't -- Intonation and attitude -- Squeezed-out syllables -- Syllable stress -- Complex intonation -- Phrasal verbs -- Word linking & phrasing -- Word groups and phrasing -- Cat? Caught? Cut? -- The miracle technique -- The American T -- The American R -- The El -- Reduced sounds -- Grammar in a nutshell -- Tee aitch -- S or Z? -- Telephone tutoring: mi-point diagnostic analysis -- Review and expansion -- More reduced sounds -- "V" as in victory -- Tense and lax vowels -- The ridge -- The verb map -- Grammar in a bigger nutshell -- Practical application -- Nasal consonants -- Throaty consonants -- Telephone tutoring: final diagnostic analysis -- Review and expansion -- Nationality guides -- Answer key -- ESL teacher's guide -- Index. Optimized for use as an eBook, American Accent Training is a great training tool for classroom or for personal use! In recent years, this title has gained wide respect as a self-teaching program, but more and more speech trainers, teachers, and speech therapists report that they are also using it as a valuable teaching tool in their speech classes. This new edition now comes with audio. The program goes where no American accent training tool has gone before, providing highly innovative instruction for both students and business people. The structure of the book has been reorganized, offering students a much more clear and direct sequence of lessons and a path to better understanding. The downloadable audio component features professional male and female voices that have been carefully selected to represent authentic American pronunciation and intonation. Pronunciation exercises encompass all vowel sounds, consonants, blends, and diphthongs -Emphasis on linking, or phonetically transcribed sound liaisons, help students "see" the correct sounds. Designed for foreign-born students and business people working, traveling, or studying in the United States and Canada. Supplementary materials include detailed nationality guides for 11 languages (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Korean, Arabic, the U.S. Southern accent, and African languages). More valuable features include access to a comprehensive website, and referral to a qualified telephone analyst for an individual diagnostic speech analysis Optimized for use as an eBook, American Accent Training is a great training tool for classroom or personal use! American Accent Training has not only gained wide respect as a self-teaching program among students and business people, but more and more speech trainers, teachers, and speech therapists also use it as a valuable teaching tool in their speech classes. In this book, you will find: A linguistically logical structure that follows a direct sequence of lessons and an easy path to understanding Pronunciation exercises that cover all vowel sounds, consonants, blends, diphthongs, and much more The online audio, accessible via Barron's Online Learning Hub, features professional male and female voices that have been carefully selected to represent authentic American pronunciation and intonation. Makes a great training tool for classroom or personal use! This new edition comes with downloadable audio that features professional male and female voices that have been carefully selected to represent authentic American pronunciation and intonation; easy-to-follow lessons; pronunciation exercises; invaluable supplementary materials; and more. Specifically designed for foreign-born students and business people working, traveling, or studying in the United States and Canada.