Let's learn some helpful tips for learning American English pronunciation. [MUSIC] We've asked some English teachers to give you advice on learning American English pronunciation. Let's meet today's teachers. >> Hi, everybody, my name is Safineh Tamassebi. And I'm an ESL instructor at UC Irvine Continuing Education. >> My name is Mara. I teach English as a second language at UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education. My native language is Farsi. >> Hi, my name is Jolanta, and I teach English as a second language here in Irvine. And I am also a non-native speaker. My first language is Polish. >> Hi, my name is Vera and I've been teaching at UCI for 18 years now. I'm originally from Brazil. >> Today's question is, which consonant sounds were most difficult to produce when you were first learning American English? >> The T-H sound. >> Different pronunciations of the T-H sound. >> As you can probably guess, today we'll focus on the voiced and voiceless T-H sounds. [MUSIC] >> The T-H sound seems to be a big challenge for many non-native speakers. Because both the voice and the voiceless sounds are challenging for us because they do not exist in most of the languages in the world. >> Two sounds that were very difficult for me to learn in English were the different pronunciations of the T-H sound. As in, that or this or thick or thin. Those were really difficult for me to learn because my native language does not have those sounds. [MUSIC] >> So, in Portuguese we pronounce T-H like F, so a word like think, I would say fink. And I remember that that was a struggle for me to train myself to not say fink. >> I was not able to pronounce the sound thuh, and it always came out as fuh. F or duh and it was not really correct. [MUSIC] >> When I was learning English back in Iran, my native country, I remember my English teachers would tell us to stick our tongue out and, and make the T-H sounds like th. But then when I came to this country I realized that nobody actually stuck their tongue out and I couldn't see anybody's tongue when they were making the T-H sound. So I asked, I said what are you doing with your tongue when you want to make the T-H sound? And so they told me that you have to bring your upper teeth and lower teeth together. But right before they meet just simply touch your tongue and don't allow your teeth to touch. Touch your tongue right in the middle. Bring it right in the middle of the upper teeth and lower teeth. Like this, [SOUND]. So, as you can see, you don't see my tongue but you do hear the T-H sound. This is very important. So don't stick your tongue out to native speakers. They're not going to like it. [MUSIC] >> What helped me was actually looking at diagrams and trying to look at people's mouths. And that's how I teach pronunciation. >> So I found again in the dictionary or I asked my teacher for words that have those sounds. And I made a list and I just practiced them, practiced them over and over and over in front of the mirror. I would record myself, as well, listen to myself to make sure that the sound was pronounced carefully. And that I could be understood by other people. >> So, to sum up, look at diagrams to see how [SOUND] and [SOUND] are formed. Make a list of words with these sounds. Use a mirror and record your voice to make sure that you're saying the sounds correctly. And remember, keep practicing the T-H sounds. Don't give up, you can do it. [MUSIC]