Placement of American English

Placement of American English — aim your voice where natives aim it.

Placement is where the sound lives in your mouth and face. Without it, you’ll fight every sound. With it, schwa becomes easy, consonants feel lighter, and your speech stops sounding spelled-out.

What you’ll learn

• Identify your current placement vs. native forward placement (simple tests & cues)
• Switch to a compact, forward feel without extra tension
• Hear how placement drives schwa & reductions, and the UH [ʌ] vowel
• Keep placement steady while speaking phrases and sentences

What’s inside

• Short, focused lessons that show and target the placement feel.
• Physical self-checks (mirror & simple tactile cues) to confirm you’re in the right spot.
• Real-speech demos so you can hear placement in natural sentences.
• Downloadable audio for the Schwa & UH units + tongue-twister practice.
• No fluff. Just the mechanics that change how you sound.

Included lesson packs

How to practice (10 minutes)

1. Do a quick warm-up (optional): airflow + easy slides.
2. Use the placement tests to find the forward feel; hold it lightly.
3. Drill Schwa and UH [ʌ] with the audio packs; then speak short sentences.
4. Record → compare → adjust. Small daily reps beat marathon sessions.

Built for

Non-native speakers starting American accent training or stuck on individual sounds. Placement makes the rest of your training work.

Results you can expect

• Easier schwa & reductions; speech sounds natural, not spelled-out.
• Lighter, cleaner consonants with less effort.
• More consistent tone and intonation from word to sentence level.

No IPA required—coach-style cues throughout. (IPA like [ə] and [ʌ] appears where helpful.)