I'm Julie Cunningham, MA, CCC-SLP, a licensed speech-language pathologist. I help Arabic speakers speak American English clearly and confidently.
Words like pie and by can sound alike to many Arabic speakers. Choose Arabic in the free 2-minute American English accent test to check the sounds that are often hard for you.
To see which sounds in your own sentences are often hard for Arabic speakers, type them into my free American English IPA translator. It marks those sounds for you, like the P in park and the V in very.
Prefer one-on-one help? See my private accent reduction training.
You can start for free with English Pro Lite, my online American accent course, with 45 lessons and 2.5 hours of video.
English Pro is my full program, for intermediate learners and above. It's $49.99 a month or $479 for lifetime access, with a 10-day money-back guarantee.
Are you a native Arabic speaker who:
- struggles to pronounce the American R /ɹ/ in words like her, hair, and around?
- has trouble speaking American English smoothly, with natural linking and intonation?
- isn't sure how to pronounce the -s and -ed endings in words like eyes, watched, and hugged?
American English Pronunciation for Arabic Speakers: Top 5 Pronunciation Challenges
These are the five pronunciation challenges I see most often in my Arabic-speaking students. Below, I explain each one, and my free video lessons show you how to practice it.
Arabic Challenge #1: Intonation
Arabic has many dialects, and pronunciation varies from region to region, for example in Iraq, Egypt, and Libya. But when Arabic speakers speak American English, I often hear the same pattern.
The first big challenge is intonation. Intonation is the melody of speech: the way the pitch of your voice goes up and down. It helps to think of the high pitches as "peaks" and the low pitches as "valleys."
Many Arabic speakers don't use enough contrast between the peaks, which usually fall on stressed syllables, and the valleys, which usually fall on unstressed or reduced syllables. To an American listener, this can sound heavy or flat.
Intonation also changes meaning. A small rise in pitch can turn a statement into a question. A bigger rise can show surprise, doubt, or even annoyance. So the wrong pattern can send a message you didn't mean to send.
How to Pronounce American English Intonation
To start learning the intonation patterns of American English, watch the videos below.
Read more:
Arabic Challenge #2: Linking and Connected Speech
Linking is the way syllables and words connect in spoken English. In the word doing, for example, the syllables do and ing are linked. The sound keeps going from one syllable to the next, so it's doing, not do ing. Say doing and notice how it sounds like one smooth word.
Words and syllables connect in several ways in American English:
- consonant to consonant, like in KitKat
- consonant to vowel, like in get it
- vowel to vowel, like in pronunciation
Sometimes linking even creates a new sound. When a final T /t/ links to a Y /j/, you often hear a CH /ʧ/ sound. That's why got you usually sounds like "gotcha."
Arabic speakers may find any of these links difficult. Sometimes an extra vowel slips in between two words, or the voice turns off between them. Either way, the flow and rhythm of the sentence break up.
Linking can also make spoken English harder to understand, because it's hard to hear where one word ends and the next one begins.
How to Pronounce Linking and Connected Speech in American English
It helps to write words and phrases the way they sound. When you see got you written as "gotcha," it's much easier to say it the way a native speaker does.
To start learning the main types of linking, watch the videos below.
Read more:
Arabic Challenge #3: The American R /ɹ/ Sound
The American R /ɹ/ can work as a consonant or as a vowel, depending on where it is in a word. At the beginning of a word or syllable, or in a consonant cluster like bread, R is a consonant. After a vowel in the same syllable, like in party, R acts like a vowel. Both kinds of R can be tricky for Arabic speakers.
When you say the American R, as a consonant or a vowel, the tongue tip never touches the roof of the mouth. In Arabic, R is usually tapped or trilled: the tongue tip quickly touches the roof of the mouth.
Most Americans are used to hearing a tapped or trilled R, because many languages use it, like Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese. But it can pull the listener's attention away from your message and make them think, "Hmm, I wonder where that person is from?"
How to Pronounce the American English R /ɹ/ Sound
The key is the tongue position. The tongue is wide, and the sides of the tongue press against the inside of the upper back teeth or gums.
The tongue tip either pulls back into the body of the tongue (the "bunched" R) or curls up (the "retroflex" R). Either way, it doesn't touch the roof of the mouth.
To learn how to make the American R /ɹ/, watch the videos below.
Read more:
Arabic Challenge #4: Final Consonants and the -s and -ed Endings
Arabic speakers often put too much force on final consonants, like the final T /t/ in liked or the final G /g/ in big. This causes three problems:
- The word stands out, as if you meant to emphasize it.
- It breaks the link to the next word, so the flow and rhythm of the sentence break up.
- It can lead to mispronunciations, because English spelling doesn't always match the sound.
The last problem is the one listeners notice most. English spelling isn't phonetic, which means the letters don't always tell you how to say the word. For example, please is spelled with an "s," so you might expect "plees" /plis/. But the "s" is pronounced /z/: "pleez" /pliz/.
How to Pronounce Final Consonants and the -s and -ed Endings in American English
A good place to start is with two very common endings: -s and -ed. How you pronounce them depends on the last sound of the base word (the word without any ending).
Here are the rules for the -s ending:
- -s sounds like /s/ after a voiceless sound (except S /s/, SH /ʃ/, and CH /ʧ/): cats, ships, kicks.
- -s sounds like /z/ after a voiced sound (except Z /z/, ZH /ʒ/, and J /ʤ/): shoes, dogs, loves.
- -s becomes its own syllable, /ɪz/, after S /s/, Z /z/, SH /ʃ/, ZH /ʒ/, CH /ʧ/, and J /ʤ/: classes, watches, pushes.
Here are the rules for the -ed ending:
- -ed sounds like /t/ after a voiceless sound (except /t/): kissed, typed, looked.
- -ed sounds like /d/ after a voiced sound (except /d/): traveled, bragged, applied.
- -ed becomes its own syllable, /ɪd/, after /t/ or /d/: voted, divided, graded.
To learn how to pronounce the -s and -ed endings, watch the videos below.
Read more:
Arabic Challenge #5: The F/V and P/B Consonants
The V /v/ in very and the P /p/ in please don't exist in Arabic, so they can be hard for Arabic speakers to say in English.
Many Arabic speakers use F /f/ in place of V /v/, so very sounds like ferry. F and V use the same lip and tongue position. The only difference is voicing. F /f/ is voiceless (your vocal cords don't vibrate), and V /v/ is voiced (your vocal cords vibrate). So if your very sounds like ferry, you need to "turn on" your voice.
Download a free PDF of the International Phonetic Alphabet for the American English consonants
In the same way, many Arabic speakers use B /b/ in place of P /p/, so park may sound like bark. B and P also use the same lip position and differ only in voicing: B /b/ is voiced, and P /p/ is voiceless. To fix this, "turn off" your voice when you say P.
How to Pronounce the F/V and P/B Consonants in American English
For V /v/, start in the F /f/ position: your upper lip lifts a little to show your upper teeth, and your upper teeth touch the inside of your bottom lip. Blow air out, and you'll hear a hissing sound. That's F. Now turn on your voice, and you'll feel a light buzz where your teeth touch your lip. That's V.
For P /p/ and B /b/, start with your lips together. Then open your lips to release the air. For P, keep your voice off and let out a small puff of air as your lips open, as in pear. For B, turn your voice on before your lips open.
To learn how to pronounce the F /f/, V /v/, P /p/, and B /b/ consonants, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the F /f/ and V /v/ Consonants; How to Pronounce the P /p/ and B /b/ Consonants; American English Linking with the B /b/ Consonant.
Common questions from Arabic speakers
What are the biggest American English pronunciation challenges for Arabic speakers?
The five I see most are intonation, linking and connected speech, the American R, final consonants and the -s and -ed endings, and the F/V and P/B consonants. Each one has a free video lesson on this page.
Why is intonation the first challenge for Arabic speakers?
Many Arabic speakers don't use enough contrast between high pitches (on stressed syllables) and low pitches (on unstressed syllables). To American listeners, this can make their English sound heavy or flat.
Is American English pronunciation hard for Arabic speakers?
Some parts are. P and V don't exist in Arabic, so park can sound like bark, and very like ferry. The American R and English intonation are also new for most Arabic speakers. These patterns are predictable, so you can practice exactly the ones you need.
Should I use an app or work with a speech-language pathologist?
An app can give you practice and a score. A speech-language pathologist can hear why, for example, your P sounds like B, show you how to change your tongue, lips, or jaw, and track your progress over time. You can do both: practice with my free English Pro Lite course, then get feedback in private training or the 5-Week Intensive Accent Class.
Meet Nicky
Nicky found her own voice in English, and her confidence grew a lot.