TH Crash Course
There are a few sounds that are unmistakably English. The famous TH is one of them. You probably have heard yourself or others confuse thing/ sing , this/fis, that,dat. So, is the sound all that important? The answer is yes/no. Americans are used to hearing foreigners speak and this sound is one of the notoriously common mistakes, so sometimes Americans can guess what you want to say. The question isn’t so much if others will correct you or not; you need to ask yourself (will I feel confident knowing that I’m saying TH with a heavy accent? You want people to hear what you say, not how you say it! If you are here it is because you want to invest in yourself and improve your pronunciation to sound clear and confident. Let’s jump to it!
TH can be pronounced two different ways- voiced/ unvoiced. Both of these sounds require you to stick the tongue out between your upper and lower teeth, but inside the lip. Be careful not to bite your lip 😉 Next, voiced means the sound is vibrated while unvoiced means it is aspirated (with air).
Practice these words below:
Voiced: the, weather, smooth, clothing
Unvoiced: thanks, bath, birthday, month
Practice the minimal pairs:
1. myth miss I miss the myth my grandfather used to tell me
2. both boat We both got up on the boat
3. they day They didn’t tell me what day it was
4. there fair The fair is happening over there.
And remember…
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Keep practicing!
Your turn: What words with TH are the hardest for you to pronounce? Tell us in the comments below.