How to speak with an American accent  Remember: there is no “right” way to pronounce English, simply different accents. “I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast.” Let’s try a sample sentence:

PRONUNCIATION: What the scholars say… “...Traditionally, Filipino English is described as syllable timed with each syllable coming with even beats, rather than following the stress timing of American and British English where the stress is on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.” --Roger Thompson, “Filipino English and Taglish” (2003)

PRONUNCIATION: Word Stress “I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast.” Filipino: even rhythm American: uneven rhythm

“Instead of pronouncing unstressed vowels as a schwa, Filipinos pronounce each syllable with the full value indicated by the spelling.” -- Gonzales (1983) PRONUNCIATION

PRONUNCIATION: The “Schwa” “I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast.” Filipino: ter Filipino: fast American: fust American : tur In other words, Filipino speakers have more precise pronunciation than American speakers.

PRONUNCIATION: The “Schwa” In American pronunciation, the schwa, or “uhh” sound, is the most common vowel sound. Examples:  'a' in about [ ə ˈ ba ʊ t]  'e' in taken [ ˈ te ɪ k ə n]  'i' in pencil [ ˈ p ɛ ns ə l]  'o' in eloquent [ ˈɛ l ə kw ə nt]  'u' in supply [s ə ˈ pla ɪ ]

PRONUNCIATION: The “Schwa” Americans tend to omit medial posttonic syllables. Examples:  Sep(a)rate  “Seprate”  Choc(o)late  “Choclate”  Cam(e)ra  “Camra”  Elab(o)rate  “Elabrate”

TRY TALKING LIKE AN AMERICAN I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast. tuh turfur fust