Are you a native Arabic speaker who:
- struggles with pronouncing the American English R /ɹ/ consonant in words like her, hair, and around?
- has difficulty speaking American English with appropriate fluency, connections, and intonation?
- is confused about how to pronounce the final -s and -ed endings in words like eyes, watched, and hugged?
American English Pronunciation for Arabic Speakers: Top 5 Pronunciation Challenges
If you are a native speaker of Arabic and you struggle with American English pronunciation, then this resource is for you. Here you’ll learn 5 of the most common pronunciation challenges that native speakers of Arabic experience when speaking English, and you’ll learn how to improve your pronunciation of American English.
Read about the top 5 pronunciation areas below, and then watch the free English pronunciation video lessons to learn how to pronounce each sound. Don’t forget to click here to download your free Guidebook to the Sounds of American English, too!
Arabic Challenge #1: Intonation
There are many different dialects within the Arabic language, as well as regional differences in pronunciation in Iraq, Egypt, and Libya. Even with these variations in pronunciation, there is a common thread that can be heard in the speech patterns used by Arabic speakers when they speak American English.
The first main challenge for most speakers of Arabic is with intonation. Intonation refers to the melody of speech: the highs and lows of the pitch of the voice. It's helpful to think of the highs of the voice as "peaks" and the lows of the voice as "valleys".
Native speakers of Arabic may use intonation patterns that can be perceived as heavy or flat to the ears of a native speaker of American English. This is a result of Arabic speakers not using enough contrast between the highest pitches of intonation (which typically fall on stressed syllables) and the lowest pitches of intonation (which typically fall on unstressed and/or reduced syllables).
Using the incorrect intonation pattern can lead to confusion for a native speaker of American English, as simply changing the inflection (or intonation) of the voice slightly can convey completely different meanings. A slight rise in intonation changes a statement to a question. Make the voice rise even more, and this can convey surprise, doubt, or even annoyance.
How to Pronounce American English Intonation
There are many guidelines that one can follow when pronouncing American English with appropriate intonation patterns. To begin learning about American English intonation patterns, watch the videos below. Or you can read about American English intonation by clicking here: Advanced Intonation: American English Intonation of Statements and Questions; Sound Natural and Native with Intonation Templates; 3 Powerful Techniques to Boost your Intonation.
Arabic Challenge #2: Linking and Connected Speech
Linking refers to the way in which syllables and words connect with each other in spoken English. For example, the word doing is linked between the two syllables do and ing. The sound continues between these two syllables: it’s doing not do ing. Say the word doing and feel how it sounds like one word, not two. This is due to the linking that occurs between the two syllables.
There are many ways in which words and syllables connect with each other in spoken American English. You have consonant to consonant links, like in the word KitKat; consonant to vowel links, like in the phrase get it; and vowel to vowel links, like in the word pronunciation. You can also have connections that result in completely different sounds being pronounced, such as the CH /ʧ/ sound that can occur when linking a final T /t/ consonant to a Y /j/ consonant, like in the phrase got you. This phrase is typically pronounced as “gotcha”, with a CH /ʧ/ sound linking the two words together.
Arabic speakers may struggle with any or all of these forms of linking when speaking American English. When syllables aren’t linked together (i.e., an extra vowel is inserted between them or the connection is broken by turning off the vocal cord vibration), this results in a disruption of flow, fluency, and rhythm.
Native speakers of Arabic may also have difficulty comprehending spoken English because it may be challenging to know when one word ends and one word begins.
How to Pronounce Linking and Connected Speech in American English
It’s helpful to rewrite words and phrases phonetically so that native speakers of Arabic can see how the word connections are pronounced. For example, seeing the phrase got you spelled phonetically, like “gotcha”, is very beneficial when learning how to pronounce this phrase like a native speaker.
There are many rules related to linking in American English, so to begin learning about the various forms of linking in connected speech, watch the videos below. Or you can read about linking and word connections in American English by clicking here: Consonant to Consonant Linking; All About the Flap /ɾ/ (aka Flap T); Vowel to Vowel Linking.
Arabic Challenge #3: The American R /ɹ/ Sound
The American R /ɹ/ sound can function as both a consonant and a vowel, depending on where it occurs in a word. When the R /ɹ/ comes at the beginning of a word or syllable or is part of a consonant cluster, like in the word bread, the R /ɹ/ functions as a consonant. When the R /ɹ/ comes after a vowel in the same syllable, like the word party, the R functions as a vowel. Both the consonant R and the vowel R can be challenging for native speakers of Arabic to pronounce in American English.
Click here to download a PDF of How to Pronounce the American R /ɹ/ Sound
When pronouncing the American R /ɹ/ sound (both the consonant and the vowel R), the tongue tip NEVER touches the roof of the mouth. However, in Arabic pronunciation, the R sound is typically tapped or trilled, which means the tongue tip makes quick contact with the roof of the mouth as the R is pronounced.
While most native speakers of American English are used to this type of tapped/trilled R pronunciation (it is used in many languages like Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese), it can distract the listener from your message and lead them to think, "Hmm, I wonder where that person is from?"
How to Pronounce the American English R /ɹ/ Sound
The key to pronouncing the American English R /ɹ/ is in the tongue position. The tongue is wide, with the sides of the tongue bracing against the inside of the upper back teeth or gums. The tongue tip is typically neutral and pulled into the tongue body (called the bunched tongue position) or it may curl up (called the retroflex tongue position), but either way, the tongue tip does not make contact with the roof of the mouth.
To learn how to pronounce the American R /ɹ/ sound, you can watch the videos below. Or you can read about the pronunciation of the American R by clicking here: How to Pronounce the R /ɹ/ Consonant; How to Pronounce the ER /ɝ, ɚ/ Vowels; An Introduction to R-colored Vowels.
Arabic Challenge #4: Final Consonants and the -s and -ed Endings
Arabic speakers tend to overstress the final consonant, such as the final T /t/ in the word liked or the final G /g /in the word big. This type of speaking pattern can result in several pronunciation challenges: it can make that word stand out to the ears of a native speaker of American English, as if the speaker had intended to emphasize that word on purpose; it can break the link between words and syllables, which breaks the flow and rhythm of American English; and it can lead to mispronunciations due to the non-phonetic spelling of English words.
The most noticeable of all three challenges is the potential for mispronunciations due to the non-phonetic spelling of American English, as this stands out the most to the ears of a native speaker. Non-phonetic means that the spelling of the word doesn’t always match with how it is pronounced, and this can be especially frustrating for native speakers of Arabic to master.
For example, the word please is spelled with the letter “s”, so one might guess that this word is pronounced with /s/, as in “plees” /plis/. However, this is not the pronunciation; instead, the “s” is pronounced as /z/, as in "pleez" /pliz/.
How to Pronounce Final Consonants and the -s and -ed Endings in American English
To know how to pronounce final consonants in American English, it's helpful to begin with two common endings: the final -s and -ed endings. The pronunciation of these endings depends on the infinitive form of the word, which is when the word is in its root form without any special endings. Once you have the infinitive form of the word, then you can apply the following rules to the pronunciation.
The rules of the final -s ending are as follows:
- -s is pronounced as /s/ when a word ends in any voiceless sound other than S /s/, SH /ʃ/, or CH /ʧ/. The words cat, ship, and kick all follow this rule: the final -s in cats, ships, and kicks is pronounced as /s/.
- -s is pronounced as /z/ when a word ends in any voiced sound other than Z /z/, ZH /ʒ/, or J /ʤ/. The words shoe, dog, and love all follow this rule: the final -s in shoes, dogs, and loves is pronounced as /z/.
- -s is pronounced as its own syllable /ɪz/ when a word ends in the following sounds: S /s/, Z /z/, SH /ʃ/, ZH /ʒ/, CH /ʧ/, and J /ʤ/. The words class, watch, and push all follow this rule: the final -s in classes, watches, and pushes is pronounced as its own syllable /ɪz/.
The rules of the final -ed ending are as follows:
- -ed is pronounced as /t/ when a word ends in any voiceless sound other than /t/. The words kiss, type, and look all follow this rule: the final -ed in kissed, typed, and looked are all pronounced as /t/.
- -ed is pronounced as /d/ when a word ends in any voiced sound other than /d/. The words travel, brag, and apply all follow this rule: the final -ed in traveled, bragged, and applied is pronounced as /d/.
- -ed is pronounced as its own syllable /ɪd/ when a word ends in /t/ or /d/. The words vote, divide, and grade all follow this rule: the final -ed in voted, divided, and graded is pronounced as its own syllable /ɪd/.
To learn how to pronounce the -s and -ed endings in American English, watch the videos below. Or you can read about their pronunciations by clicking here: Pronounce the Past Tense Like a Native Speaker; Never Delete This Sound!; Speak Smooth and Easy English Using the Flap T.
Arabic Challenge #5: The F/V and P/B Consonants
The V /v/ consonant, as in the word very, and the P /p/ consonant, as in the word please, don’t exist in Arabic; therefore, Arabic speakers may struggle with pronouncing these sounds correctly in English.
Native speakers of Arabic may substitute the F /f/ consonant in the place of V /v/, so a word like very sounds like ferry to the ears of a native speaker of American English. What’s missing here is the voicing: F /f/ and V /v/ are pronounced with the same lip and tongue placements; the only difference is voicing. F /f/ is a voiceless consonant (meaning no vocal cord vibration occurs when you say it), and V /v/ is a voiced consonant (meaning the vocal cords vibrate when you say it). So if a native speaker of Arabic pronounces the word very as ferry, they need to “turn on” their vocal cords.
Click here for a PDF of the International Phonetic Alphabet of the American English Consonants
Similarly, native speakers of Arabic may substitute the B /b/ consonant for the P /p/ consonant, so a word like park may sound like bark. Similar to F and V, the B /b/ and P /p/ consonants also share the same lip and tongue placements and also only differ by voicing: B /b/ is voiced, while P /p/ is voiceless. However, native speakers of Arabic tend to use the voiced B /b/ instead of the voiceless P /p/, and to fix this pronunciation pattern they need to “turn off” their vocal cords.
How to Pronounce the F/V and P/B Consonants in American English
In order to pronounce the V /v/ consonant, the mouth should be in the F /f/ consonant position: upper lip pulls up to expose the upper teeth; upper teeth touch the inside of the bottom lip. The air travels out of the mouth and makes a hissing noise. This makes F /f/; now to make V /v/, the vocal cords must turn on and the air must vibrate slightly where the upper teeth touch the inside of the lower lip.
In order to pronounce the B /b/ consonant, the mouth should be in the P /p/ consonant position: lips together. The vocal cords turn on in the throat, and the lips are blown open to release the air and voice.
To learn how to pronounce the F /f/, V /v/, P /p/, and B /b/ consonants, watch the videos below. Or you can read about their pronunciations here: 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.
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