Best way to practice the voiceless "th" sound

For me the best way to practice the voiceless "th" sound is by practicing with words ending with the voiceless "th". Why do I say that it is the best way? Because I found it very hard to make the voiceless "th" when it is at the end of a word. My favorite example would be the word "depth". Whenever I tried to pronounce the word "depth" I would either end up pronouncing "dep" or "dept".

Can you imagine if you cannot pronounce the voiceless "th" properly? This could lead to some confusion for your listener or to the person you are talking with. Instead of hearing "bath", without the voiceless "th", your listener would hear "bat". Or a "booth" would become a "boot". And how about "death"? Without the voiceless "th" your listener is going to hear "debt". It is a big difference to hear, "His DEATH was a big surprise to all." rather than, "His DEBT was a big surprise to all."

However, do not worry.  By practicing with words ending with the voiceless "Th" sound, you will be able to prevent such miscommunication. Hopefully, you have read my post about "How to pronounce the voiceless "th"" and would already know how to use the proper tools to make the sound.

After  I learned how to properly place my tongue between my teeth and to feel my tongue touching my lower lip, when I try to make the voiceless "th" sound, I was able to finally pronounce "DEPTH". Although I have to admit that sometimes, I still have to make a conscious effort to pronounce "Depth" and other words ending with the voiceless "th" correctly.

One way you can practice with words ending with the voiceless "th", is to practice with ordinal numbers. These are numbers that  tell the order of things in a set, like "first", "second" and so on. So you can practice with "fourth", "fifth", "sixth", "seventh", "eighth", "ninth", and so forth.

Here are other words that you can practice with. These words come from a list of the most common words used in English. If you encounter a word you are not familiar with you can go to http://dictionary.reference.com/ to learn the meaning of the word as well as listen to the correct pronunciation of the word or click on some of the words.

	mouth	forth	myth
month	strength	tooth	sixth
	faith	length	cloth
health	path	beneath	bath
both	worth	smooth	seventh
death	youth	fifth	booth
north	birth	depth	eighth
south	fourth	wealth	warmth
growth	breath	worth	twentieth
truth	earth	math

I hope this has been useful for you. I will be making more pronunciation exercises in the future. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Video on how to pronounce the sounds of "Th"

I recently found this nice video by Heather Hansen  on how to pronounce the sounds of "th" both voiceless and voiced. Basically she also points out how to use your teeth, tongue and voice box/ throat properly in order to make the sounds of "th" 

How to Pronounce 'TH' - English Sound Practice (Heather Hansen)

I would like to add that you should try and feel your tongue touching your lower lip as you keep it between your teeth.

Click here for the Voiced "Th" blog entry to review how to make it or click here for the Voiceless "Th" blog entry.



I hope that this has been helpful. Let me know if you need any more help in improving your english pronunciation. 

How to Pronounce the Letter "K" and "C"

Although the letter "k" and the letter "c" are two different letters, when it comes to the way they sound, they actually make the same sound. That's why when you look into the transcription, or the way the sound of a word is represented in symbols, you will find the letter "k" to represent the letter "c". So, I will be referring to the sound of the letter "c" and "k" as the sound of the letter "k".

The letter "k" sound  is a voiceless sound. The sound is created by a sudden explosive breath of air and without the use of the throat area or the larynx. You should not feel a vibration in your throat when making the letter "k" sound.

 In making the letter "k" sound we actually us the back of our tongue to cover the opening from our throat. We trap the air in our throat and then suddenly release the air and the sound by dropping our tongue. If you will take a look at the posts on how to pronounce the letters "p" and "t", you will see we are using different parts of your mouth to trap the air for different sounds. We use our lips to trap the air in order to make the letter "p" sound, while with the letter "t" sound we use our tongue against the roof our mouth to trap the air. This time we trap the air right at the opening of out throat. 

Things to remember:

1) The letter "k" or "c" sound is a voiceless sound so we use air to make the sound.

2) You should not feel your throat area vibrating when making the letter "k" sound.

3) Use the back of your tongue to block the opening from your throat to block the air.

4) Build air pressure in your throat.

5) Make the letter "k" sound with a sudden explosive breath by releasing your tongue.

Here are words you can practice with.

can	class	call	cultural	critical	claim
come	control	close	contain	corner	cry
could	care	current	control	concerned	critic
call	carry	certainly	camera	concept	comment
keep	center	color	candidate	client	coffee
country	couple	common	conference	conduct	cross
case	court	concern	cause	conversation	commit
company	cost	career	commercial	completely	construction
kind	cover	central	cancer	conflict	kind
car	clear	cup	coach	camp	cook
city	certain	crime	collection	crisis	connection
continue	catch	compare	civil	complete	context
community	computer	clearly	kitchen	communication	committee
kid	cause	claim	consumer	club	clothes
create	century	close	capital	contract	complete
consider	culture	cold	citizen	crowd	combine
cut	course	card	key	contribute	cool
college	condition	cell	customer	collect	category
course	Congress	care	cost	count	key
kill	campaign	close	credit	competition	classroom

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

How to Pronounce the Letter "T"

The letter "t" sound is created or made very closely like the letter "p" sound. The letter "t" sound is a voiceless and explosive sound. The difference between the  letter "p" and the letter "t" sound is the way you trap the air in your mouth. With the letter "p" sound you trap the air by keeping your lips together. On the other hand, with the letter "t" sound, you trap the air in your mouth by creating a seal with your tongue against  the hard palete or the roof of your mouth.

To make the letter "t" sound, you should feel your tongue pushing against the area where the hard palete or roof of your mouth and your upper teeth meet. By pushing against this intersection of your upper teeth and roof of the mouth, you will create a tight seal so that air will not escape your mouth. Just like in the letter "p" sound, the letter "t" sound needs a sudden explosive release of air through the mouth. Build pressure in your mouth and then suddenly make the letter "t" sound by releasing your tongue downward to the back of your lower teeth. The letter "t" sound is voiceless so you should not vibrate your throat area or vocal chords.

Things to remember:

1) Feel your tongue pushing against the area where your upper teeth and the roof of your mouth meet.

2) Use an explosive or sudden release of air to create the letter "t" sound.

3) Release your tongue with a downward motion towards the back of  your lower teeth.

4) The letter "t" sound is voiceless so you should use only air to create the sound and you should not feel a vibration in your throat area.

Here are some words you can practice with.

to	test	trip	title	tooth
time	technology	trouble	tomorrow	topic
take	type	tough	technique	telephone
two	tree	test	twice	tank
tell	term	total	tour	tear
try	top	tend	tape	totally
too	treatment	task	tie	travel
talk	television	travel	train	tip
turn	TV	troop	tall	terrible
today	training	track	ticket	tired
team	trade	touch	temperature	tie
together	ten	turn	teaching	tone
teacher	truth	truck	trail	towards
toward	trial	tradition	train	typically
town	tonight	target	trend	talent
true	talk	terms	traffic	taste
tax	traditional	text	truly
table	top	tool	typical
teach	treat	tiny	trust

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

How to Pronounce the Voiceless or Soft "Th"

As the title suggests, the "th" sound can be voiced or voiceless. This means that the "th" sound can be made by an exhalation of air or with a vibration in the throat area.

The voiceless or soft "th" sound is made with an exhalation of air. You should not feel a vibration in your throat area. You should feel your tongue lightly touching your lower lips and 
in-between your teeth. So, it is as if you are lightly biting your tongue while at the same time touching your lower lip. With this formation, you make the voiceless or soft "th" by exhaling or blowing air through.

Things to remember:

1) Feel your tongue touching your lower lip.
2) Lightly bite your tongue with just enough pressure to allow air to pass through.
3) Blow air through your lip, tongue, and teeth formation to make the soft "th" sound.
3) The soft "th" is a voiceless sound so you should just use air to make the sound.
4) You should not vibrate your throat area to make the voiceless or soft "th" sound.

Here are some words you can practice with.

think	thought	fourth	fifth	southeast
thing	growth	athlete	depth	enthusiasm
through	authority	thin	wealth	thumb
three	truth	breath	worth	health-care
something	theory	theme	thirty	theology
month	throughout	thanks	athletic	bath
both	method	earth	math	therapist
nothing	mouth	thick	wealthy	seventh
anything	threat	ethnic	strengthen	northeast
health	through	Catholic	myth	thoroughly
everything	strength	forth	Catholic	thigh
death	faith	tooth	ethics	mathematics
thank	path	length	hypothesis	earthquake
north	worth	beneath	northwest	sympathy
third	threaten	therapy	ethical	aesthetic
south	youth	bathroom	monthly	booth
thousand	healthy	smooth	sixth	eighth
throw	birth	birthday	cloth	Thanksgiving
author	theater	throat	southwest	thread

You might also want to read my post of  Best way to practice the voiceless "th" sound.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.