Sounds painful, or uncomfortable, but getting rid of your tongue is going to help you sound more natural in American English. And at the end of the video, we’re even going to show you a technique that no other pronunciation channel really discusses. Oh, don’t worry, you don’t have to use these but at least try to keep your tongue out of the way.
Otherwise, your tongue blocks your breath. Every time you raise it to pronounce a T, or a D, or a Z, or a S, or a N, or a L….wait, those are a lot of sounds you were taught to say with your tongue high.
And you were taught this because, it’s possible. You can pronounce English sounds with your tongue up here. But, what tends to happen is these higher positions can also raise your placement. It’s like the difference between “pain” and “pain”—that second one sounds tighter, with less air flow, and projects sound up here. How do you fix this? I’ll tell you, but first more about the problem.
The problem with so many of these consonant sounds is that we can easily go back to our first language. Your first language probably has a T, or a D, or a Z, or a S, or a N...(ok, I got lazy editing and just stole that from earlier). And it sounds similar in both languages, right! But similar doesn’t mean the same.
T/D/Z/N (first time high placement, second time low placement)
And when your consonant uses a high placement, it can make entire words have a high placement.
Pain/days/sale
I know, you still want the solution and the secret technique, and we’re about to find out what they are. But first, see if you can hear a difference.
Pain/pain days sale
Could you hear a difference? Both are understandable, but that second has more breath and much lower placement.
How’d I do it? Well, here is the big secret. I got my tongue out of the way.
There are a couple of techniques for this.
The first is to use the mid-front of your tongue to pronounce sounds against your top teeth—not the very tip. The tip of your tongue actually presses your bottom front tooth down here.
T / tight N/nine Z/zoos (read twice, high then low)
The second strategy goes a bit further—limit the contact with your teeth completely. If that’s hard, curl the tip of your tongue down so it presses against the bottom of your mouth. I’ll show you—notice that the sound is going to become more muffled and softer. That means this will be especially great for reductions and quick phrases.
T / tight N/nine Z/zoos

#fluentamerican #americanenglish #pronunciation
And third, you can use….just kidding. *This video does not condone the use of applying scissors to any body part*
Warning: from this point on in the video, the tip of my tongue will never touch my top tooth. See if you can repeat what I say with your tongue down
Six friends / too little / bath soap / number one / regularly late/ didn’t investigate
There’s too little bath soap left
The detective didn’t investigate the six friends
The number one problem is I’m regularly late
But what about the secret technique? I’ve really put it here because I’m nervous. I know that this will go against…everything you have heard from other American English teachers online, but having these lower tongue positions also makes it possible to say these sentences… with your mouth mostly closed.
There’s too little bath soap left
The detective didn’t investigate the six friends
The number one problem is I’m regularly late
Try for yourself and let me know if it’s hard! There’s actually a trick to make this easier Focus less on the consonants in these words and more on the vowels. Not sure how? Try this video.


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Who am I? My name is Geoff Anderson. I got my MA in Teaching English as a Second Language in 2012, and have been teaching since 2010. I've studied Italian to around level C1-C2. I was also an IELTS examiner for the speaking/writing tests for 3 years.

Want to know what classes with me are like? Check out our Mission: English program, where we do livestreams that YOU can join Monday through Friday! It'd be great to do pronunciation exercises with you, answer your American English accent questions, and improve together in our supportive community; see what a Mission: English class is like here: [ Ссылка ]

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