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Are you a native Farsi/Persian speaker who:
- struggles to pronounce the American English TH /θ, ð/ consonants in words like this, these, and something?
- has trouble speaking American English smoothly, with natural linking and intonation?
- isn't sure how to pronounce the long EE /i/ vowel in leave and the short IH /ɪ/ vowel in live?
American English Pronunciation for Farsi/Persian Speakers: Top 5 Pronunciation Challenges
Here are the five pronunciation challenges that come up most often with my Farsi/Persian-speaking students. I explain what happens with each one, and my free video lessons show you how to fix it.
And don't forget to download your free Guidebook to the Sounds of American English, too!
Farsi/Persian Challenge #1: The TH /θ, ð/ Consonants
The TH /θ, ð/ consonants don't exist in Farsi/Persian, so they can be hard to say in English. Many Farsi/Persian speakers use /t, d/ or /s, z/ instead. So the, this, and that sound like "duh/zuh," "dis/zis," and "dat/zat," and think, thing, and three sound like "tink/sink," "ting/sing," and "tree/sree."
Some of these swaps make a different real word, like three/tree and thing/sing, and that can confuse the listener. Others, like the/zuh and this/zis, may not cause a misunderstanding, but they can pull the listener's attention away from your message: "Where is that person from?"
How to Pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ Consonants in American English
For TH /θ, ð/, the tongue tip comes out between your upper and lower teeth. Your teeth come together lightly to hold the tongue tip in place (don't bite it!). Keep the body of your tongue wide. The air flows out over the top of your tongue, where it touches your upper teeth. Your cheeks gently push the corners of your lips toward each other.
TH /θ/ is voiceless: you only release air, and your vocal cords don't vibrate. This is the "th" in think, thing, and three. TH /ð/ is voiced: your vocal cords vibrate. This is the "th" in the, this, and that.
To learn how to pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ consonants, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ Consonants; Place, Manner, and Voicing of the American English Consonants; English Made Easy: The TH /θ, ð/ Sound.
Farsi/Persian Challenge #2: Syllable Stress
Many non-native speakers find it hard to put the stress on the right syllable in English. For Farsi/Persian speakers, it's especially hard, because Farsi/Persian stress follows its own, more predictable rules.
In Farsi/Persian, it's fairly easy to guess which syllable gets the main stress. In American English, the stress can fall on different syllables, and it's often hard to know where it goes.
Download a free PDF: Syllables and Stress in American English
Stress on the wrong syllable can make a listener hear a different word. Some English words are spelled the same, and only the stress tells you which word it is.
Take the word object. As a noun, like in I see an object on the table, the stress is on the first syllable: "OB-ject." As a verb, like in I object to that rule, the stress moves to the second syllable: "ob-JECT."
Stress matters in sentences, too. Look at these two sentences:
They’ll sell fish.
They’re selfish.
The vowels and consonants are almost the same, so they can sound alike. Native speakers make them sound different with stress:
They’ll sell FISH.
They’re SELfish.
If the stress goes in the wrong place, sell fish can sound like selfish, and the listener may get confused.
Download a free PDF: Stress in Sentences in American English
How to Pronounce American English Syllable Stress
In English, you show stress with pitch, volume, and length. A stressed syllable is usually higher in pitch, longer, and a little louder than the syllables around it. Unstressed syllables are often reduced, and their vowel usually changes to the schwa /ə/ or the IH /ɪ/ vowel.
To start learning American English stress patterns, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: The Three Types of Syllable Stress; Pronounce BIG Words in American English; Unstressed Syllables and Word Reductions.
Farsi/Persian Challenge #3: The EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels
The EE /i/ vowel in beat and the IH /ɪ/ vowel in bit are very common in American English. Farsi/Persian has the EE /i/ vowel, so EE usually isn't hard for Farsi/Persian speakers.
The IH /ɪ/ vowel is different. It only exists in some dialects of Farsi/Persian, and that's where the difficulty comes from.
EE /i/, as in seat, is a long, tense vowel. You can feel the tension: say "eee" with your hand under your chin. Do you feel the muscles there tighten?
Download a free PDF: How to Pronounce the EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels
IH /ɪ/, as in sit, is a short, lax vowel. Your muscles stay relaxed when you say it. With your hand under your chin, you shouldn't feel any tension at all. IH should feel very different from EE.
Many Farsi/Persian speakers say the relaxed IH /ɪ/ like the tense EE /i/. As a result, sit can sound like seat, and similar (sih-mih-ler) can sound like "see-mee-lar."
How to Pronounce the EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels in American English
The biggest difference between EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ is tension. For IH /ɪ/, relax your mouth and tongue. Use a mirror to check that you stay relaxed. Then say the tense EE /i/ and add as much tension as you can. Can you feel the difference?
To learn how to pronounce the EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ vowels, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the EE /i/ Vowel; How to Pronounce the IH /ɪ/ Vowel; EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels: Minimal Pairs Listening Quiz.
Farsi/Persian Challenge #4: The UH /ʌ/ and AH /ɑ/ Vowels
The UH /ʌ/ vowel is the vowel in butter, front, and money. It's a central vowel: the tongue sits in the middle of the mouth, and the lips are relaxed. Farsi/Persian doesn't have this vowel, so it can be hard to say accurately.
Download a free PDF: How to Pronounce the AH /ɑ/ and UH /ʌ/ Vowels in American English
UH /ʌ/ is used in stressed syllables. Its unstressed partner, the schwa /ə/, sounds almost the same. Because the two are so similar, Farsi/Persian speakers often find both of them difficult.
Many Farsi/Persian speakers use a different vowel for UH /ʌ/ and the schwa /ə/. It might be the AH /ɑ/ in father, or a similar vowel like /ɔ/ or /ɒ/, depending on their dialect.
This makes bug sound like bog, and mother sound like "mahther." Since bug and bog are both real words, you might say bug while your listener hears bog, and the meaning of your message changes.
How to Pronounce the UH /ʌ/ and AH /ɑ/ Vowels in English
UH /ʌ/ and AH /ɑ/ sound a lot alike. Two things make them different: how far your jaw opens and where your tongue is. For UH /ʌ/, open your jaw only halfway and keep your tongue relaxed in the middle of your mouth. For AH /ɑ/, open your jaw wide, with your tongue low and tense.
Watch the videos below to learn how to pronounce the UH /ʌ/ and AH /ɑ/ vowels, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the UH /ʌ/ Vowel; How to Pronounce the AH /ɑ/ Vowel; AH /ɑ/ and UH /ʌ/: Minimal Pairs Listening Quiz.
Farsi/Persian Challenge #5: V /v/ and W /w/ Consonants
The /w/ and /v/ sounds vary a lot across the dialects of Farsi/Persian. In some dialects, the letter و has shifted from /w/ to /v/. In others, it's still /w/. And in some, the /w/ is dropped when it comes after a consonant and before a vowel in the same syllable.
Because of this, Farsi/Persian speakers may not be sure when to use W /w/ and when to use V /v/ in English.
Some Farsi/Persian speakers swap the two sounds, so very sounds like wary. This can confuse listeners, because English has many word pairs like this: west/vest, very/wary, and went/vent.
Others drop the /w/ from a word completely. If that happens, the listener may not recognize the word at all and wonder, "What did they say?"
How to Pronounce the V /v/ and W /w/ Consonants in American English
The key to a clear V /v/ and W /w/ is your lips. For W /w/, your lips don't touch anything. Shape them as if you're about to say the OO /u/ vowel in blue: round them into a small circle and push them forward, away from your teeth.
For V /v/, lift your upper lip a little to show your upper teeth. Then let your upper teeth lightly touch the inside of your lower lip. Teeth to lower lip; not lip to lip.
Watch the videos below to learn more about the V /v/ and W /w/ consonants, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the F /f/ and V /v/ Consonants; How to Pronounce the W /w/ Consonant; Place, Manner, Voicing of American English Consonants.
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Nicky found her own voice in English, and her confidence grew a lot.