difficulty with "th" sound

wasee   Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:13 am GMT
I have difficulty in pronouncing the "r" sound after the "th" sound in words like father ,mother ,other ,either ,neither etc. Can someone help me?
Adolfo   Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:08 pm GMT
I'm a non native speaker and hence my oppinion is quite worthless, but I don't pronounce those r at all , just the vowels which precede them. Anyway, I don't understand how it would be difficult to pronounce the r after the th pair. Many people experience problems pronouncing the "th" sound itself. I don't since this sound is quite common in Spanish
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:03 pm GMT
Don't some dialects in England dispense with th, replacing it with "f". maybe using "f" would help?
Skippy   Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:23 pm GMT
Th isn't too bad... Just look in the mirror, put your tongue between your teeth, and go for it... Using an "f" or a "t" instead would be ok as a non-native speaker, but you should really try and make the sound.
Geezer Init   Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:40 pm GMT
I say "Farver, Muvver, Uvver, Eyever, Neyever".

Laaaverlee-jubberlee.
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:17 pm GMT
<<I say "Farver, Muvver, Uvver, Eyever, Neyever".

Laaaverlee-jubberlee.>>

a li'uh bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'uh on i'
Gabriel   Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:51 pm GMT
<<Many people experience problems pronouncing the "th" sound itself. I don't since this sound is quite common in Spanish >>

True enough, but in Spanish the sound in question, [D], is an allophone of /d/. So the problem is that for many Spanish speakers it may be quite natural to use [D] in "mother" but not so in "them" or "these" (since [D] is rarely word-initial in most varieties of Spanish). Similarly, they are also likely to use [D] incorrectly in words where /d/ occurs between vowels; so they can have *["VDr\=] (assuming the standard quality for the vowel and the rhotic) for both "other" and "udder".
Geezer init   Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:37 pm GMT
<< a li'uh bi' of bread wiv a bi' ov bu'uh on i'>>

yeh nchips n tmar'o kichup.
mmm init
Bubbanator   Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:56 am GMT
Rightly or wrongly, substituting an "f" or "v" sound for the "th" in words such as "father" and "mother" would strike most native American English speakers as sounding like a (perhaps somewhat uneducated) British English speaker. Would it be understood? Almost certainly! Could it ever sound like native American English? Definitely not!
Guest   Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:23 am GMT
<<Rightly or wrongly, substituting an "f" or "v" sound for the "th" in words such as "father" and "mother" would strike most native American English speakers as sounding like a (perhaps somewhat uneducated) British English speaker>>

If you want to sound like an American, I guess you'll have to use the authentic and traditional "th" sounds.

If you want to avoid sounding English, another possibility is to subsitute 'z' for the 'th' in 'the' and 'that', and perhaps 't' for the 'th' in thin. You won't sound English, but you won't sound American either.
Travis   Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:41 am GMT
In dialects in the Upper Midwest, it is very common to realize word-initial /D/ (the "th" sound in Standard English "the") as [d], [d_d], or [d_dD]. Also, word-initial /T/ (the "th" in Standard English "thin") may be sporadically realized as [t_d], and also may be realized as [t_d] or [t] in "with". Also, some more extreme dialects in the far north of the Upper Midwest may also realize /D/ as [d] and /T/ as [t] in all positions rather than just word-initially and word-finally in the case of "with".
wasee   Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:49 am GMT
I am trying to learn American accent ,so it means I have to make the traditional "th" sound if I want to be understood?
Bubbanator   Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:15 pm GMT
wasee Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:49 am GMT
I am trying to learn American accent ,so it means I have to make the traditional "th" sound if I want to be understood?

No, the correct "th" sound isn't necessary to be UNDERSTOOD--but it IS essential to sound "American"
Travis   Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:17 am GMT
I hear the [f] realization of /T/ in sporadic use in medial positions amongst non-AAVE speakers here as well.
Liz   Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:27 am GMT
<<I hear the [f] realization of /T/ in sporadic use in medial positions amongst non-AAVE speakers here as well.>>

An American using "amongst"? :-)