Your first language
The American accent for Italian speakers
Your English is already good. If Italian is your first language, these are the American patterns worth your time first, and why.
Start with these patterns
You may say every vowel in full, add a vowel after a last T, keep the O in go still, and roll the R.
Any vowel can become “uh”
vowel in a quick part → uh
An -le at the end sounds like “uhl”: table.
T stops, with no air
T + pause · consonant → stops
Your tongue goes up for the T and stays: no air comes out. Before an N, a T or D stops too: button, didn’t.
The O in go slides to “oo”
O as in go → slides to ooA as in day → slides to ee
It starts at “oh”, as in home and know. The A in day and make slides too, from “eh” to “ee”.
If you speak Italian, your “o” and “e” do not move. In go and day, finish near “oo” and “ee”.
R is never rolled
R touches nothingD touches once
If your tongue tip touches, even once, hiring sounds like hiding.
If you speak Italian, the R in “caro” touches once and the RR in “carro” rolls. The English R does neither.
Then, for clear pronunciation
Italian has fewer vowels and no H sound.
Ship or sheep?
i shortee long
Your mouth is relaxed for ship, with a little smile for sheep.
If you speak Italian, ship and sheep may sound the same to you. Make sheep long, with a smile, and ship short.
Bed or bad?
e half-opena wide
For bad, drop your jaw low, and make the vowel longer.
If you speak Italian, the A in bad is between your “e” and your “a”: wider than “e”, with your lips spread.
Hat or at?
H air firstno H vowel first
Without the breath of the H, hat sounds like at, and hold like old.
If you speak Italian, the H in Italian is silent, so house can sound like “ouse”. In English, breathe out for H.