How to Pronounce the Alphabet: American English Pronunciation

Today I’m going to go over how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet. You may find

今天要帶大家檢視一下英文字母的發音。 你可能會發現

if you speak with an accent that native speakers will ask you to spell something if they feel

如果你說的英語帶有腔調，英語母語者就會問你，你說的單字怎麼拼。

they’re not sure they’ve understood what you said. For example if you have a foreign

因為他們不太確定自己是否有誤解你說的話。例如，如果你的名字對美國人來說很少見，

name that is unfamiliar to Americans, you might find them asking you to spell it after

他們就會問你，你的名字怎麼拼?

you tell them what your name is. A. A is simply the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong [e].

A. So you can see the jaw goes from being more dropped, A, to closing more, A, as the

tongue reaches up towards the roof of the mouth for the second part of the diphthong.

A. The next letters all have the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound [i] where the

corners of the mouth pull a little bit wide, ee, and the tongue raises very high, ee, in

the front/mid part of the mouth. B. B had the B consonant sound where the lips start

together, bb B. And opens into the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound. C. C begins with

the S consonant sound, ss, and moves into the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ sound. C. D.

D begins with the D sound, dd, dd, the voiced consonant, and moves into the ‘ee’ as

in ‘she’ vowel sound. D. E is simply the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound. E.

F. F begins with the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ vowel sound [e], which has quite a drop in

F的起始音如同 bed的e聲，上顎會微微下降

the jaw, eh, eh, F. It then finishes with the F consonant sound where the bottom lip

唸: eh, eh, F. 結束點會在

moves up and touches the top teeth, ff, and you release air through that. It is unvoiced.

下唇會上移，輕觸上排牙齒。同時嘴裡釋出氣音。唸: F

F. G. G again has the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound. It begins with the ‘jj’ as

G的發音裡一樣是"she"裡的尾音"ee"聲音。 起始音是"j"

in ‘jar’ consonant sound. G. H. H begins with the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong,

如"jar"裡的子音"J"發音。H起始音是"say"裡的尾音"ay"

just like the letter A, but it ends with the ch’ as in ‘char’ consonant sound. H.

和字母A一樣，但結束點有"ch"聲。

Ch, ch where you release just air though the mouth position. H. I. I is pronounced with

the ‘ay’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong [a]. I. J. J begins with the ‘jj’ as in ‘jar’

consonant sound, jj, it then has the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. J, J. K begins

with the kk K consonant sound and then has the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. K.

The next three consonants all start with the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ vowel sound. L, L

begins with the eh sound and moves into the L sound, where the tip of the tongue, L, L,

L的起始音是 "eh" (※類似ㄟ)

moves up to touch the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth. L. M. M begins with the

唸L的時候，舌頭會往上勾到上顎牙齒後方(牙齦上處)。

eh sound and then finishes with the M consonant sound where the lips come together – M,

mm, mm – while you make noise with the vocal cords. M. N. N begins with the eh sound and

moves into the N consonant sound. N, nn, where the tongue raises to the roof of the mouth

唸N的時候，舌頭會微微翹起，碰到上顎。

and the lips remain open. N, N. The letter O is simply pronounced with the ‘oh’ as

同時維持微張的嘴型。

in ‘no’ diphthong [o]. O, O. P. P begins with the P consonant sound, pp, where the

O的唸法是"no"的尾音。

lips are together and you release air. It then goes into the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’

vowel sound. P. P. Q. Q begins with the unvoiced kk K consonant sound, and then has the ‘ew’

as in ‘few’ diphthong [ju]. Q. R. R begins with the ‘ah’ as in ‘father’ sound

[a] and then moves immediately into the R consonant sound. R, R. S. S begins with the

‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ vowel sound. Eh, Eh, S S. It then moves into the S consonant

sound. S. T. T begins with the unvoiced tt T consonant sound and then has the ‘ee’

as in ‘she’ vowel sound. T T. U. The letter U is pronounced with the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’

diphthong. V. V begins with the voiced vv consonant sound where the bottom lip moves

up to the top teeth. V, v, followed by the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound. V. W.

W begins with the D consonant sound. dd. It then moves into the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’

W的起始音是子音D的發音，再加上"uh"(似"呃"音)

followed by the B consonant sound. Double. It then has the schwa and the dark L sound.

再加上子音B發音，所以是 "double"。接下會有輕微的L音連帶出來

Double, W. And the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’ diphthong. W. The accent is on the first syllable.

"double" "W"。W尾音是"few"的"ew"。

W. X. X begins with the ‘eh’ vowel sound, it then has the K and the S consonant sounds

together. Eh kk ss. X. Y. Y begins with the W consonant sound, where the lips are in a

tight circle. It then opens into the ‘ay’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Y. Z. Z begins

with the voiced consonant, zz, followed by the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound.

Z. And now, all of the letters of the alphabet. Listen and repeat. If you can record this,

that would be helpful. You can then listen to it and compare your pronunciation with

mine to see if there are any errors.