English for Italian Speakers

Italian Challenge #2: Adding Final Vowels Between Words

American English words and syllables can end in a variety of ways: with consonants, clusters of consonants (i.e., two or more consonants together), or vowels. But in Italian, consonant-final words and syllables aren't as common, and it's much more likely that an Italian word or syllable will end with a vowel sound. Therefore, native speakers of Italian may struggle with pronouncing the final consonant sound in American English words, commonly resulting in the addition of an "uh" vowel after the consonant. This type of pronunciation pattern results in the pronunciation of words like stop, want, and kick as "stop-uh", "want-uh", and "kick-uh", respectively.

How to Eliminate the Addition of Vowels in American English

The best way to improve the pronunciation of the final consonant sound in English words (and eliminate the additional of vowels between words) is to work on linking and word connections in American English as this will improve the smoothness of your speech.

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.

Italian Challenge #3: The H /h/ Consonant

The H /h/ consonant can be tricky for Italian speakers because in the Italian language, the "h" is silent, so Italian speakers tend to apply this rule in English as well. But unfortunately, the pronunciation of the "h" isn't as clear-cut in American English.

Sometimes the "h" is silent in American English words, like honest and hour. Yet more commonly, the "h" is pronounced as /h/, like in the words hello, history, and upheld. When native speakers of Italian omit the /h/ from a word like hello, this results in the pronunciation sounding like "ello". While this type of pronunciation pattern isn't likely to cause any confusion for a native speaker of American English, it may distract from the message and cause the listener to think, "Where is this person from?"

However, when it comes to conversational English, there are some h-words that consistently drop the initial "h" consonant: pronouns that begin with the H /h/ consonant, like he, him, her, his, and hers, and the word have when it's an auxiliary verb. 

Sometimes the initial /h/ is dropped from the pronunciation of these pronouns, which results in the word he sounding like "ee" and her sounding like "er". You can use this reduced pronunciation when those pronouns are unstressed in a sentence or phrase, such as Is he busy? and Give it to her.

And the initial /h/ is often dropped from the pronunciation of have when it's used in phrases like could have, would have, should have, might have, etc.

How to Pronounce the H /h/ Consonant in American English

There are two ways to pronounce the H /h/ consonant in American English. The first way is to make the H /h/ consonant in the throat as you lightly squeeze the vocal cords together. The tongue is relaxed. This is how I make the H /h/ consonant.

The second way is to make the H /h/ consonant with the back of the tongue as you lightly squeeze the back of the tongue towards the soft palate.

I don’t prefer the second way of pronouncing the H /h/ consonant because if you squeeze the tongue too much, then the H /h/ will sound too heavy or constricted, and this is not how the H /h/ consonant sounds in American English. It’s a light constriction of airflow, just barely shaping the air as it travels through the throat and mouth.

To learn how to pronounce the H /h/ consonant and when to omit the initial H /h/ consonant in pronouns, watch the pronunciation videos below. Or you can read about their pronunciations by clicking here: How to Pronounce the H /h/ Consonant; English Rhythm: Pronoun Reductions; Top 10 Reductions of the Word "Have".

Italian Challenge #5: The TH /θ, ð/ Consonants

The TH /θ, ð/ consonants do not exist in Italian, so these can be particularly challenging for native Italian speakers to pronounce in English. It can be common for Italian speakers to substitute a /t/ or a /d/ for the TH consonants in English words, which results in the words the, this, and that sounding like "duh", "dis" and "dat", and think, thing, and three as "tink", "ting", and "tree".

While these types of pronunciation substitutions aren't likely to cause that much confusion for a speaker of American English, it can distract the listener from the message and cause them to think, "Where is that person from?"

How to Pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ Consonants in American English

To pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ consonants, the tongue tip comes out between the upper and lower teeth. The teeth lightly come together to anchor the tongue tip in place (don't bite the tongue!). The body of the tongue is in a wide shape. The air flows out of the mouth along the top of the tongue, between the space where the upper teeth make contact with the upper surface of the tongue. The cheeks come together to push the corners of the lips in towards each other.

The TH /θ/ is voiceless, meaning just air is released as you make this sound (no vocal cord vibration). This is how the "th" in think, thing, and three is pronounced. But the TH /ð/ is voiced, meaning the vocal cords vibrate as you say this sound, and this is how the "th" in the, this, and that is pronounced.

To learn how to pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ consonants in American English, watch the videos below. Or you can read about their pronunciations by clicking here: 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.