English Pronunciation for Czech Speakers

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Areas of Difficulty for Czech Speakers
Consonants:

I.   /t/

Pronounce the /t/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Be sure to aspirate it in word-initial position and in consonant clusters. Do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of your tongue. Make sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge.

Tackle        tangle               tango               tickle                trace
Between    automatic         fleeting instigate           litigate
Want          lint                   flint                  stunt                mart
Stand         strand              start                 stride               stake 

II.    /d/

Pronounce the /d/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Do not aspirate this sound in word-initial position and in consonant clusters, and do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of your tongue. Make sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge.

Dollar        dealer               denigrate          dissuade          diligent
Murder      harder              glider               adult                bladder
Stride         crowd              broad               scrod               greed
                              Strand        blind                bland               blonde             scald

III.    /p/, /t/, and /k/ in word initial position
Practice aspirating these consonants in word initial position as follows:

Paper         point                painting           persecute         prosecute
Talk           tainted              temple              temptation        tranquil
Carry         carriage            curse                cartoon            chronicle

IV. /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, / /, /z/, and / / in word final position
Pay special attention to the final sound in the following words as you pronounce them.  Do not devoice the final sound.

Slab           crab     grab     grub     scrub   flab      snub    strobe  globe
Sled           fled      grad     stud     scrod   crud     flood    mud     breed
Brag          drag     flag      snug    smug   slug     log       slog     clog
Glove        cave     five      strive   cleave  sleeve  rave     brave   slave
Breathe      teethe   clothe   filth      stealth  blithe   lathe     with     scathe
Graze         amaze  blaze    sneeze  breeze  sleaze   braise   browse crows
Beige                     mirage             garage                          barrage 

V.    /g/ and /k/ in word final position

Practice pronouncing the following minimal pairs.  Pay special attention to the final sound in each word.

Pig/pick     wig/wick         Stag/stack        plug/pluck       mug/muck
Brig/brick  flag/flack         lag/lack            rig/Rick           slag/slack         

VI.    /b/ and /p/ in word final position

Pronounce the /b/ and /p/ tokens in the following words clearly.  Be sure not to devoice the word final /b/ tokens.

Lab/lap      crab/crap          mob/mop         rib/rip              tab/tap
Nab/nap     hob/hop           cub/cup            nib/nip             lip/lib 

VII.   /v/ and /f/ in word final position

Pronounce the /v/ and /t/ tokens in the following minimal pairs.  Do not devoice the word final /v/ tokens.
Leave/leaf              reeve/reef         live/life save/safe         
Rive/rife                grieve/grief      strive/strife      halve/half 

VIII.     /s/ vs. /z/

Czech speakers of English often devoice /z/ and pronounce it as /s/, especially in word final position.  Practice contrasting /s/ and /z/ using the following minimal pairs:

Sue/zoo     seal/zeal           sink/zinc          sip/zip              sing/zing

Bus/buzz   muscle/muzzle             brace/braise                 grace/graze

Sap/zap      mace/maize                  rice/rise                        race/raise 

IX.   /s/ and /th/

Make the distinction between the two consonants in the following minimal pairs:

Sigh           sin       sink     seem    surd     song    saw      sank
Thigh         thin      think    theme   third     thong   thaw    thank

X.            /t/ and /TH/

Discriminate between the two consonants as you pronounce the following minimal pairs:
Latter         mutter              seat                  letter                fetter               
Lather        mother             seethe              leather              feather

XI.    /ts/

Pronounce this sound in the following words. Avoid touching the upper teeth with the tip of your tongue. Instead, try to raise the blade of your tongue and make contact with the alveolar ridge.

Situation                actual               habitual            perpetual
Mutual                   natural             fracture            saturate 

XII.   /TH/ and /d/

Pronounce the two sounds accurately in the minimal pairs below. Make sure that when you pronounce /TH/, the blade of your tongue makes contact with the upper teeth:
They          their     those    breathe      seethe     writhe         wreath
Day           dare     dose     breed        seed        ride             reed

Vowels:
I. /e/ vs. /ei/
Distinguish between the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

Met            red       led       fed       wed     med     set        fret
Mate          raid      laid      fade     wade    made    sate      freight 

II.  /U/ vs. /u:/

Pronounce the short and long vowels in the following word pairs carefully:

Full            foot      should             book                pull
Fool           food     shoot               boot                 pool

III. /e/ vs. /ae/
Distinguish between these two vowels in the following words:

Ten            bend    men     send     lend     fret       bet       blend
Tan            band    man     sand     land     frat       bat       bland

IV. / / vs. /a:/
Make the distinction between the short vowel and the long vowel in the following minimal pairs:

      curd           heard   curt      burn     hurt      bird      nerd     clerk
      card           hard     cart      barn     heart    bard     nard     Clark

V. /o/ and / /: 
Distinguish between the two vowels using the following minimal pairs:

Robe          lope     lobe     mope   hope   boat     coat      code
Rob           lop       lob       mop     hop     bought caught  cod

VI.            /^/ and /o/
Make the distinction between the two vowels as you pronounce the following minimal pairs:

Curt           herd                 bird      surd     cull      hull      mull    
Court         hoard               bored   soared  coal      hole     mole   

                  

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