Mastering English Phonetics as an Indian Speaker: The Complete Guide

Most Indians who use English at work speak it fluently. Grammar and vocabulary are rarely the problem. Where communication breaks down, on a call with a client in the US, in an interview, or in a meeting with colleagues in Europe, the cause is usually pronunciation: a word stressed on the wrong syllable, a v that sounds like a w, a pin that sounds like bin, or a sentence in which every word is equally loud, so the listener cannot tell which words matter.

This guide is a complete course in fixing those problems. It is long because pronunciation has many small parts, and each one is explained here from the beginning: what the sound is, why Indian speakers find it hard, how to make it, how to check yourself, and what to practise. You do not need to read it in one sitting. Read Parts 1 to 3 first, because they give you the tools that every later part uses, and then work through the rest at your own pace, one part a week if you like.

What this guide is, and what it is not

This guide is not about getting rid of an Indian accent. Indian English is a recognised variety of English, with its own history, vocabulary and sound, and it is spoken by more people than British English. An accent is part of who you are and where you come from. Nobody needs to sound American or British to be a good speaker of English.

The goal here is intelligibility: being understood easily, the first time, by anyone, whether they are from Chennai, Chicago, Berlin or Tokyo. That is a smaller and more achievable target than imitating a native accent, and it is the one that actually matters at work. A listener who has to ask “sorry, could you repeat that?” three times in a call is not judging your accent. They simply could not tell which word you said.

Research on how speakers of different first languages understand each other’s English shows that a handful of features cause most of the misunderstandings. Some features that strongly mark an Indian accent, such as the retroflex t, cause almost none. This guide tells you which is which, so you spend your effort where it pays off. Part 13 gives the final priority list.

How to use this guide

• Read with a dictionary open. Every time a word is mentioned, look it up on the Cambridge Dictionary or Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries website and press the audio button. Hearing the word is worth more than any description of it.
• Say everything aloud. Pronunciation is a physical skill, like typing or riding a bicycle. Reading about it silently does very little. When the guide says “put your tongue here”, do it.
• Use a mirror and a phone. A mirror shows your lips, teeth and jaw. A phone recording lets you hear yourself as others hear you, which is surprisingly different from how you hear yourself while speaking.
• Go slowly at first. New movements feel awkward. Practise each sound slowly and exaggerated until it feels natural, then bring it up to normal speed.
• Be patient. Habits built over twenty or thirty years do not change in a day. Most people notice a clear improvement within four to six weeks of daily practice, and the new habits become automatic after two to three months.

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Part 1: How speech works

Before fixing sounds, it helps to know how sounds are made. The good news for Indian readers is that you already learned the basics of phonetics in primary school, even if nobody called it that.

You already know a phonetic chart

The Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali and other Indian alphabets are arranged by how sounds are made. This arrangement comes from ancient Indian grammarians, who described speech sounds with great precision more than two thousand years ago. Look at how the consonants are grouped:

Group	Telugu	Hindi	Where the tongue or lips work
Velar (కంఠ్యము / कंठ्य)	క ఖ గ ఘ ఙ	क ख ग घ ङ	Back of the tongue against the soft palate
Palatal (తాలవ్యము / तालव्य)	చ ఛ జ ఝ ఞ	च छ ज झ ञ	Middle of the tongue against the hard palate
Retroflex (మూర్ధన్యము / मूर्धन्य)	ట ఠ డ ఢ ణ	ट ठ ड ढ ण	Tongue tip curled back to the roof of the mouth
Dental (దంత్యము / दंत्य)	త థ ద ధ న	त थ द ध न	Tongue tip against the upper teeth
Labial (ఓష్ఠ్యము / ओष्ठ्य)	ప ఫ బ భ మ	प फ ब भ म	Both lips

Each row moves from the back of the mouth to the front. Each column changes one thing:

1. Voiceless, unaspirated: క, త, ప. The vocal cords do not vibrate, and there is no puff of air.
2. Voiceless, aspirated: ఖ, థ, ఫ. No vibration, but a puff of air after the sound.
3. Voiced, unaspirated: గ, ద, బ. The vocal cords vibrate.
4. Voiced, aspirated: ఘ, ధ, భ. Vibration plus breath.
5. Nasal: ఙ, న, మ. Air goes through the nose.

This is exactly how phoneticians describe sounds today: by place (where in the mouth), manner (how the air is blocked or shaped), and voicing (whether the vocal cords vibrate). You have been reading a phonetic chart since you were five.

What is different about English is that it uses some places and manners that the Indian chart does not have, and it does not use some that the Indian chart does. Most of the difficulties in this guide come from that mismatch.

The parts of your mouth

Find each of these with your tongue as you read:

• Lips. Used for p, b, m, w, and for rounding vowels like oo.
• Teeth. The upper front teeth are used for f, v (with the lower lip) and th (with the tongue).
• Alveolar ridge. Run your tongue tip from your upper teeth backwards. Just behind the teeth there is a hard, bumpy ridge before the roof of the mouth rises. This ridge is where English makes t, d, n, s, z, l. Remember it: it matters a great deal for Indian speakers.
• Hard palate. The hard, smooth roof of the mouth behind the ridge.
• Soft palate. Further back, the roof becomes soft. k and g are made here.
• Vocal cords. In your throat. Put your fingers on your throat and say sssss, then zzzzz. You will feel a buzz on z but not on s. That buzz is voicing.

Three ways to make a consonant

• Stops (plosives): the air is blocked completely and then released: p, b, t, d, k, g. Every consonant in the first four columns of the Indian chart is a stop.
• Fricatives: the air is squeezed through a narrow gap and makes a hissing or buzzing noise that can go on as long as you have breath: f, v, s, z, sh, th. Indian languages have only a few fricatives (స, శ, ష, హ), and English has nine. This is one of the biggest sources of difficulty.
• Approximants: the tongue or lips come close together but not close enough to make noise: w, y, r, l.

Vowels are about tongue and lips

Vowels are made with the mouth open, and they differ by three things:

• How high the tongue is: high for ee (ఈ / ई), low for aa (ఆ / आ).
• Front or back: the tongue pushed forward for ee, pulled back for oo (ఊ / ऊ).
• Lip rounding: lips spread for ee, rounded for oo.

English has many more vowels than most Indian languages, and several of them sit in between Indian vowels. Part 5 covers each of them.

Stress and rhythm

Finally, speech has stress (some syllables are louder, longer and higher than others) and intonation (the melody of a sentence, rising and falling). These are called suprasegmentals, because they sit above individual sounds. For Indian speakers of English, they matter more than any single sound. Parts 6 and 7 cover them in detail.

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Part 2: Why Indian English sounds the way it does

Your first language shapes your English

When adults learn a new language, the brain maps each new sound onto the nearest sound it already knows. A Telugu speaker who hears English very and well files both under వ, because Telugu has only one sound in that area. A Hindi speaker who hears zoo files it under ज. This is called transfer, and every learner of every language does it. A Japanese speaker learning English struggles with r and l; a Spanish speaker adds a vowel before s (espeak); a French speaker drops h. Indian speakers have their own set, and none of them is a sign of poor English. They are a sign of a well-trained Indian ear.

The fix is not to stop using your first language’s sounds. It is to add a few new sounds, and to learn where English expects them.

Spelling pronunciation

Many Indians learned English mainly from books, and in school, words were often pronounced the way they are spelled. But English spelling is a poor guide to pronunciation, because spelling was mostly fixed centuries ago while pronunciation kept changing. Indian languages are written almost exactly as they are spoken; English is not. So Wednesday becomes Wed-nes-day, walked becomes walk-ed, and island keeps its s.

The cure is simple: never trust spelling. Check the pronunciation of any word you are not sure of in a dictionary, and learn the patterns in Part 9.

Syllable timing and stress timing

This is the single most important difference, and it is easy to miss.

In Telugu, Hindi and most Indian languages, each syllable takes roughly the same amount of time. Say నమస్కారం or नमस्ते slowly and you will hear an even beat: na-mas-kaa-ram. Linguists call this syllable-timed rhythm.

English is stress-timed. Stressed syllables come at roughly regular intervals, and the unstressed syllables between them are squeezed to fit. Compare:

• CATS CHASE MICE. (three syllables, three beats)
• The CATS have been CHASing the MICE. (nine syllables, still roughly three beats)

The second sentence takes only a little longer to say than the first, because the, have, been, -ing, the are said quickly and weakly. When Indian speakers give every syllable the same length and strength, English listeners lose the beat they use to find the important words, and the speech sounds fast and flat to them, even if it is not fast at all.

Indian English is a variety, not a mistake

Indian English has features that are simply part of the variety and are understood everywhere: retroflex t and d, the r pronounced after vowels (as in American English), single long vowels in day and go, and many words and phrases of its own. Some of these features are actually closer to American English than British English is. You do not need to change them, and many successful Indian professionals never do.

What you do need to change are the features that block understanding: wrong word stress, missing contrasts (such as v and w), missing aspiration, added vowels, and flat rhythm. Those are the focus of this guide.

What research says matters

In 2000, the linguist Jennifer Jenkins published The Phonology of English as an International Language, based on studying conversations between speakers of English from many different countries. She found that misunderstandings came mostly from a small set of features, which she called the Lingua Franca Core:

• Most consonants, especially keeping contrasts such as v/w and p/b clear.
• Aspiration of p, t, k at the start of stressed syllables.
• Not dropping sounds from consonant clusters at the start of words.
• Vowel length, such as the difference between ship and sheep.
• Nuclear stress: putting the main stress of a sentence on the right word.

Features outside the core, such as the th sounds, the exact quality of vowels, and the l at the end of words, caused few problems. Later researchers have refined these findings, and many teachers add word stress to the list as one of the most important features of all, especially for listeners who speak English as a first language. This guide follows that advice.

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Part 3: The International Phonetic Alphabet

Because English spelling is unreliable, dictionaries use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): one symbol for each sound, the same in every dictionary and every language. Learning to read it takes a few hours, and it pays back for the rest of your life, because you will never again need to guess how a new word is said.

The symbols below follow the standard British dictionaries. American dictionaries use the same system with a few differences, noted at the end.

English consonants

English has 24 consonant sounds. Fifteen of them are familiar to Indian speakers. Nine need attention, marked ★.

IPA	Example	Nearest Indian sound	Notes
/p/	pen	ప / प, or ఫ / फ at the start of a stressed syllable	See aspiration, Part 4
/b/	bed	బ / ब	Same
/t/ ★	ten	between త and ట	Made on the alveolar ridge, Part 4
/d/ ★	dog	between ద and డ	Same
/k/	cat	క / क, or ఖ / ख when stressed	Aspirated when stressed
/ɡ/	go	గ / ग	Same
/tʃ/	chip	చ / च	Similar; English lips are slightly rounded
/dʒ/	jam	జ / ज	Similar
/f/ ★	fan	ఫ / फ़ (with the dot)	Not ఫ / फ as an aspirated stop
/v/ ★	van	part of వ / व	Teeth on lip
/θ/ ★	think	none	Not థ / थ
/ð/ ★	this	none	Not ద / द
/s/	sun	స / स	Same
/z/ ★	zoo	ज़ (with the dot)	Not జ / ज
/ʃ/	shop	శ / श	Same
/ʒ/ ★	measure	none (ఝ is not it)	Voiced version of శ
/h/	hat	హ / ह	Same
/m/	man	మ / म	Same
/n/	now	న / न	Made on the ridge, close enough
/ŋ/	sing	ఙ / ङ	At the end of words, Part 4
/l/	leg	ల / ल	Darker at the end of words in British English
/r/	red	ర / र	English r does not tap or roll
/w/ ★	wet	part of వ / व	Rounded lips, no teeth
/j/	yes	య / य	Same. The IPA symbol is j, not y

Note that the IPA symbol /j/ means the y sound in yes, not the j in jam. This confuses many beginners.

English vowels

British English (the standard often called Received Pronunciation, or Southern Standard British English) has twelve single vowels and eight diphthongs. American English has slightly fewer, because some British vowels merge.

Short vowels

IPA	Example	Nearest Indian sound
/ɪ/	sit, big	ఇ / इ, but more relaxed
/e/	bed, set	ఎ / ए (short)
/æ/	cat, man	none; between ఎ and ఆ
/ʌ/	cut, love	అ / अ
/ɒ/	hot, stop (British)	between ఆ and ఒ, lips rounded
/ʊ/	put, book	ఉ / उ, more relaxed
/ə/	about, doctor	the short, weak అ at the end of many Hindi and Telugu words

Long vowels

IPA	Example	Nearest Indian sound
/iː/	see, feel	ఈ / ई
/ɑː/	car, father	ఆ / आ
/ɔː/	door, talk	ఓ / ओ, with the mouth more open
/uː/	food, blue	ఊ / ऊ
/ɜː/	bird, work	none; Part 5

The mark ː means long.

Diphthongs (two vowels glided together in one syllable)

IPA	Example	Notes
/eɪ/	day, make	Indian English often uses a single long ఏ / ए
/aɪ/	my, time	ఐ / ऐ, close enough
/ɔɪ/	boy, noise	ఓ + ఇ
/əʊ/	go, home (British)	Indian English often uses a single long ఓ / ओ. American /oʊ/
/aʊ/	now, house	ఔ / औ, close enough
/ɪə/	near, here	British only
/eə/	hair, care	British only
/ʊə/	pure, tour	British only, becoming rare

Stress marks

• ˈ (a high vertical mark) comes before the syllable with main stress: /ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf/ = PHO-to-graph.
• ˌ (a low mark) comes before a syllable with secondary stress: /ˌfəʊtəˈɡræfɪk/ = pho-to-GRAPH-ic, with a lighter stress on pho.

Reading a dictionary entry

Here is how the Cambridge Dictionary shows development:

development /dɪˈveləpmənt/

Read it symbol by symbol: /d/ + /ɪ/ = di, then the stress mark, then /v/ + /e/ + /l/ = VEL, then /ə/ + /p/ = up, then /m/ + /ə/ + /n/ + /t/ = munt. So: di-VEL-up-munt. Notice that three of the four vowels are weak (/ɪ/ and /ə/), and only one is strong. That pattern, one strong syllable and several weak ones, is the heart of English rhythm.

British and American transcriptions

American dictionaries differ in a few places:

• The r after a vowel is pronounced, so car is /kɑːr/ and bird is /bɝːd/.
• British /əʊ/ in go is written /oʊ/.
• British /ɒ/ in hot is usually /ɑː/ in American English.
• The t between vowels often becomes a quick d-like tap: water, better, city.

Choose one model and stay with it. If most of your calls are with US colleagues, follow the American audio. If you work mostly with the UK, Europe or Australia, British may suit you better. Indian English is already rhotic (it pronounces the r after vowels), so the American model is often a slightly smaller step for Indian speakers. Either is correct. Mixing them within the same sentence is what sounds odd.

Practice: read these transcriptions

Say each word aloud from the IPA alone, then check in a dictionary:

1. /ˈkʌmftəbl/
2. /ˈwenzdeɪ/
3. /rɪˈsiːt/
4. /ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt/
5. /ˈæθliːt/
6. /ˈkɒliːɡ/
7. /ɪɡˈzekjətɪv/
8. /ˈvedʒtəbl/

(Answers: comfortable, Wednesday, receipt, environment, athlete, colleague, executive, vegetable.)

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Part 4: The consonants, one by one

Each section below follows the same pattern: what the sound is, why it is hard, how to make it, how to check yourself, and what to practise. Work through them in order. Practise each one for a few days before moving on.

4.1 V and W

The problem. Most Indian languages have a single sound, Telugu వ or Hindi व, in the area where English has two separate sounds, /v/ and /w/. Indian speakers use that one sound for both, so these pairs sound the same:

/v/	/w/
vest	west
vine	wine
vet	wet
verse	worse
veil	whale
vent	went
viper	wiper
vow	wow

To an English listener, I went to the vet and I went to the wet are different sentences. Usually context saves you, but not always: the vest is dry and the west is dry are both possible.

Making /v/. Rest your upper front teeth gently on the inside edge of your lower lip. Push air out and switch on your voice. You should feel a buzz on your lip and hear a buzzing sound that can continue as long as your breath lasts: vvvvv. /v/ is a fricative, so the air never stops.

Making /w/. Round and push your lips forward, as if you are about to say ఊ / ऊ or blow out a candle. Keep your teeth well away from your lips. Then open your lips quickly into the following vowel: oo-et becomes wet. /w/ is a glide; it is really a very short ఊ.

Check yourself. Watch in a mirror. On v you should see your upper teeth touching your lower lip. On w you should see rounded lips and no teeth at all. Say very well, voice of the wind, we’ve won, vivid weather.

Practice sentences.

• We were very worried about the weather in the valley.
• Victor will visit the west wing on Wednesday. (Remember: Wednesday is WENZ-day, and the W is a real /w/.)
• The waiter served white wine and vegetable soup.
• Will the vendor deliver the van by twelve?

Note on wh. Words spelled with wh (what, when, where, why, white) are pronounced with an ordinary /w/ by most modern speakers. Do not use /v/ for them. Who, whom, whose and whole start with /h/: who is /huː/.

4.2 The TH sounds: /θ/ and /ð/

The problem. English has two th sounds: voiceless /θ/ in think, three, both, method and voiced /ð/ in this, that, mother, with. Indian languages have neither. Indian speakers usually replace them with the dental stops they already have: think becomes తింక్ / थिंक (with an aspirated dental stop, /t̪ʰ/) and this becomes దిస్ / दिस (/d̪/).

These replacements are close, because Indian dental stops are made in nearly the same place as English th. The difference is the manner: Telugu థ and Hindi थ are stops (the air is blocked and then released), while English /θ/ and /ð/ are fricatives (the air flows continuously through a narrow gap).

Making /θ/. Put the tip of your tongue lightly between your upper and lower front teeth, or just touching the back of the upper teeth. Do not press. Blow air out gently through the narrow gap between your tongue and teeth. You should hear a soft hiss, like a gentle s but flatter: thhhhh. Keep it going for two seconds. That is /θ/.

Making /ð/. Same position, same airflow, but switch on your voice. You should feel a buzz on the tip of your tongue: ðððð.

Check yourself. Hold your hand in front of your mouth. On /θ/ you should feel a steady stream of air, not a single puff. If you can make the sound last two seconds, you are making a fricative. If it stops instantly, you are still making థ / थ.

Minimal pairs.

Dental stop	/θ/	Dental stop	/ð/
tin	thin	dare	there
tank	thank	day	they
true	through	den	then
tree	three	dough	though
boat	both	breed	breathe
tent	tenth	udder	other

Practice sentences.

• I think the three of them thanked the author.
• This is the thirtieth time they’ve gathered together this month.
• Their mother and father both breathe through their mouths.
• Thursday, the thirteenth of the month, is my birthday.

Priority. Of every sound in this guide, th matters least for being understood. Context nearly always makes the word clear, and many native speakers in Ireland, the Caribbean and parts of London do not use these fricatives either. Learn them, but fix v/w, aspiration, clusters and stress first.

4.3 P, T, K and aspiration

The problem. In English, the voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ come with a puff of air (aspiration) when they start a stressed syllable. So pin is phonetically [pʰɪn], closer to ఫిన్ / फिन than to పిన్ / पिन. Indian speakers usually say these sounds without the puff, because in Indian languages ప and ఫ are different sounds and English spelling uses the letter p, which looks like ప.

The result surprises many people: to an English-speaking listener, an unaspirated p sounds very close to b. Native listeners use the puff of air, more than voicing, to tell p from b. So:

You say (unaspirated)	They may hear
pin	bin
pet	bet
tie	die
ten	den
coat	goat
cold	gold
pack	back

The good news. You already know how to aspirate. Hindi, Telugu and most Indian languages have aspirated consonants as separate letters: ఫ, థ, ఖ; फ, थ, ख. You only need to learn where English uses them.

The rule.

• Aspirate /p/, /t/, /k/ at the start of a word, and at the start of any stressed syllable: pen, top, cat, appear (ap-PEAR, the p is aspirated), attack (at-TACK), occur (oc-CUR).
• Do not aspirate after /s/: spin, stop, skill, spy, star, school. Here p, t, k sound almost like ప, త, క. This is why spin and pin sound so different to an English ear.
• Little or no aspiration at the end of a word: top, cat, back. The sound is often not even released.

Check yourself. Hold a thin strip of paper, or a lit candle, about five centimetres in front of your lips. Say pin: the paper should move. Say spin: it should stay almost still. Say bin: it should stay still. Practise until pin moves the paper every time.

Practice.

• Pairs: pin / spin, top / stop, kill / skill, pot / spot, tale / stale, cool / school.
• Peter painted the kitchen pink and purple.
• Take the car keys to the parking counter.
• Please put the paper in the top tray.

4.4 T and D: alveolar, not dental or retroflex

The sound. English /t/ and /d/ are made with the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge, the hard ridge just behind the upper front teeth. Indian languages have no stops there. They have dental stops (త, ద; त, द) a little further forward, with the tongue on the teeth, and retroflex stops (ట, డ; ट, ड) further back, with the tongue tip curled up.

Indian English mostly uses the retroflex sounds for English t and d. This is one of the most recognisable features of an Indian accent. It is also one of the least important for understanding, because English has no retroflex sounds for it to be confused with.

Should you change it? It is optional. If you want a more neutral accent for international work, try this: say ట, then slowly uncurl your tongue tip and move it forward until it touches the ridge just behind your teeth. That middle position is English /t/. Do the same from డ to get /d/.

One related habit worth fixing. Some speakers use the dental త / ద for English t and d in some words and the retroflex ట / డ in others. Neither causes problems on its own. The habit that does cause problems is replacing th with d or t (dis for this, tree for three), covered in 4.2.

The American tap. In American English, a t or d between two vowels, where the second vowel is unstressed, becomes a very quick tap of the tongue, almost like a single Telugu or Hindi ర / र: water sounds like wa-der, better like bed-der, city like ci-dy. If you follow the American model, learning this tap makes your speech sound much more natural. British English keeps a clear /t/.

4.5 F

The problem. Speakers of Hindi, Bengali, Odia and several other languages often say English /f/ as the aspirated stop /pʰ/: fan becomes phan, coffee becomes co-phee, file becomes phile. This is because the Indian letter used to write English f, ఫ / फ, is traditionally an aspirated p.

Hindi has a separate letter for the real /f/: फ़ with a dot underneath (called a nukta). फ without the dot is /pʰ/; फ़ with the dot is /f/.

Making /f/. It is /v/ without the voice. Rest your upper teeth on your lower lip and blow air through. No buzz, just a soft, continuous ffff. Your lips should never close completely; if they do, you are making /pʰ/.

Check yourself. Make the sound last two seconds. A fricative can be held; a stop cannot.

Practice. Five friendly firefighters found fresh fruit. Fill the form before the final flight. Fourteen file formats for the feature.

4.6 Z and ZH: /z/ and /ʒ/

The problem with /z/. Speakers of Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and many other languages often replace English /z/ with /dʒ/, the sound of జ / ज: zero becomes jero, zoo becomes joo, lazy becomes la-jy, rose becomes roj. As with f, Hindi has a dotted letter for the real sound: ज़ is /z/, and ज without the dot is /dʒ/.

Making /z/. Start with a long /s/: sssss. Keep everything exactly the same and switch on your voice: zzzzz. Put your fingers on your throat to feel the buzz. /z/ is a hissing sound with voice. Your tongue never touches the roof of your mouth; with /dʒ/ it does.

Minimal pairs. zest / jest, Zane / Jane, raising / raging.

The hidden /z/. English often writes /z/ with the letter s: is, was, his, has, does, these, those, music, busy, easy, reason, please, because, cheese, rose, news, cars, dogs. Many Indian speakers say all of these with /s/, which makes speech sound clipped. Say is as /ɪz/, was as /wɒz/, because as /bɪˈkɒz/.

The problem with /ʒ/. This is the voiced version of శ / श, and no Indian language has it as a regular sound. It appears in the middle of words such as measure, pleasure, treasure, vision, decision, usual, television, Asia, and at the end of a few borrowed words: garage (British), beige, massage, prestige, genre. Indian speakers usually say it as /dʒ/ (mejure) or /ʃ/ (pleshure).

Making /ʒ/. Say a long శ / श: shhhhh. Switch on your voice without moving anything: zhhhhh. It should buzz.

Practice. The usual measure of pleasure is leisure. His decision about the television was a casual one. Azure is pronounced AZH-er.

4.7 S and SH

Most Indian speakers have no difficulty here, but there are two regional patterns:

• Some Bengali, Odia and Assamese speakers use /ʃ/ for English /s/, because their languages have mostly merged స and శ into one sound: sit becomes shit, seven becomes sheven, see becomes she. This can cause embarrassing misunderstandings, so it is worth fixing. For /s/, keep the tongue tip close to the ridge behind the teeth and spread the lips slightly; for /ʃ/, pull the tongue back a little and round and push out the lips.
• Some speakers from other regions occasionally use /s/ for /ʃ/: sugar with /s/, ship as sip. The fix is the reverse.

Practice pairs. see / she, sell / shell, sip / ship, sort / short, save / shave, mass / mash, seat / sheet, sour / shower.

4.8 L: clear and dark

English has two versions of /l/. At the start of a word or before a vowel, it is a clear l, similar to ల / ल: light, love, silly. At the end of a word or before a consonant, British and American speakers use a dark l, made by raising the back of the tongue at the same time, so it sounds slightly like oo: feel, ball, milk, help, people.

Indian English uses the clear l everywhere. This is understood perfectly well, so treat the dark l as optional polish. If you want to try it: say ball, and as you reach the l, lift the back of your tongue towards the soft palate, as if starting to say ఊ.

Some Tamil and Malayalam speakers use the retroflex ళ / ള for English l. This is also usually understood, but it is worth moving towards the ordinary ల.

4.9 R

English /r/ is different from the Indian ర / र in one way: the tongue does not touch the roof of the mouth. Indian ర is a tap, a single quick touch; English /r/ is an approximant. Curl your tongue tip up towards the ridge without touching it, round your lips slightly, and let the sound flow. Think of it as a vowel-like sound.

Rhotic or not. British English does not pronounce r after a vowel unless another vowel follows: car is /kɑː/, hard is /hɑːd/, water is /ˈwɔːtə/. American English pronounces it everywhere: /kɑːr/, /hɑːrd/, /ˈwɔːtər/. Indian English is traditionally rhotic. Either approach is correct; just be consistent.

Do not roll it. A strongly rolled or trilled r, as in some careful Indian speech, can sound very forceful in English. A soft, untapped r is easier on the ear.

4.10 NG: /ŋ/

The sound /ŋ/ is ఙ / ङ, the sound at the end of sing, king, thing, long. Two Indian English habits affect it:

• Adding a /g/ after it: sing-g, king-g, thing-g. In standard British and American English, sing ends with /ŋ/ alone. The /g/ is pronounced only in some words, mostly comparatives and words where ng is followed by a vowel inside the same root: longer /ˈlɒŋɡə/, finger /ˈfɪŋɡə/, English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/. But singer is /ˈsɪŋə/, with no /g/.
• Using /n/ for /ŋ/ in -ing endings: working as workin. This is common in casual native speech too, so it is less important.

Practice. Singing, ringing, bringing, thinking, the king is coming, a long string.

4.11 H

Indian speakers generally have no problem with /h/. Two small points:

• Silent h in a few words: hour, honest, honour, heir, and their derivatives (hourly, honestly). These take an: an hour, an honest man.
• The h in wh- words is silent for most speakers (4.1). Who, whom, whose, whole start with /h/ and have no /w/ sound at all.
• Some speakers add an /h/ that is not there, or breathe heavily after voiced stops (bhig for big). If you find yourself saying భ / भ where English has /b/, practise plain బ / ब.

4.12 Consonant clusters and added vowels

English allows long clusters of consonants, at the start of words (str-, spr-, scr-, spl-) and at the end (-sts, -xths, -mpts). Indian languages allow far fewer, and speakers often insert a vowel to break them up. This is called epenthesis, and it is one of the features that matters most for understanding, because it changes the number of syllables and therefore the rhythm and stress.

Vowel before an initial cluster (prothesis). Common among speakers of Hindi, Punjabi, Haryanvi, Bengali and Urdu:

Word	Said as	Syllables added
school	iskool	1
station	istation	1
speech	ispeech	1
stress	istress	1
sport	isport	1

Vowel inside a cluster. Film becomes fil-am, glass becomes ga-lass, please becomes pa-lease. Less common, but heard in several regions.

Vowel after a final consonant. Common among Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam speakers, because most words in those languages end in a vowel:

Word	Said as
bus	bus-u
fan	fan-u
and	and-u
bag	bag-u
hotel	hotel-u
that	that-u

The fix. Practise holding consonants together. For initial clusters, start with the s alone and hold it: sssss, then add the rest without stopping: sssss-chool. Gradually shorten the s. For final consonants, end the word with your mouth still in the consonant position and simply stop: bus, with the hiss fading out and no vowel after it. Recording yourself is essential here, because you usually cannot hear the added vowel while speaking.

Practice. Street sports stars. Strong spring storms. The school’s sports streams start at six. Six texts, sixths, asks, tests, costs, desks.

Clusters at the end of words. Do not drop sounds either. Asked is /ɑːskt/ (three consonants at the end), not ask or aks. Months is /mʌnθs/. Texts is /teksts/. If a full cluster is hard, slow down rather than dropping a sound.

4.13 Endings: -ed and -s

The past tense ending -ed and the plural or third-person ending -s change their sound depending on the sound before them. Spelling pronunciations (walk-ed, jump-ed, play-ed) are among the most common Indian English habits, and they add an extra syllable that changes the rhythm.

The -ed rule.

Sound before -ed	-ed sounds like	Examples
Voiceless: /p/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /θ/	/t/	stopped /stɒpt/, walked /wɔːkt/, laughed /lɑːft/, missed /mɪst/, washed /wɒʃt/, watched /wɒtʃt/
Voiced: vowels and /b/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /m/, /n/, /l/, /r/, /dʒ/	/d/	played /pleɪd/, called /kɔːld/, saved /seɪvd/, used /juːzd/, cleaned /kliːnd/, changed /tʃeɪndʒd/
/t/ or /d/	/ɪd/, an extra syllable	wanted, needed, started, decided, created, added

The extra syllable appears only after /t/ and /d/. So wanted has two syllables, but walked, played and deployed have one.

The -s rule.

Sound before -s	-s sounds like	Examples
Voiceless: /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /θ/	/s/	cups, cats, books, laughs, months
Voiced: vowels and other voiced consonants	/z/	dogs, calls, plays, servers, nodes, files
/s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/	/ɪz/, an extra syllable	buses, sizes, wishes, garages, watches, pages

The same rule applies to possessives (the client’s, James’s) and contractions (it’s /s/, he’s /z/).

Practice. She walked to the office, checked her emails, called the client and wanted to finish before lunch. The servers, nodes and pods passed all the tests.

4.14 Added Y and W glides

Some speakers of Malayalam, Tamil and other South Indian languages add a light /j/ (the y sound) before words that start with a front vowel, and a light /w/ before words starting with a back rounded vowel:

• every sounds like yevery, eight like yeight, eleven like yeleven.
• only sounds like wonly, open like wopen.

This comes from the sound patterns of those languages, where words rarely start with a bare vowel. The fix is to start the vowel directly with your throat, without any glide. Try saying uh-oh and notice the small catch in your throat before oh. A very light catch like that, or simply starting the vowel cleanly, removes the glide.

A related habit appears in Telugu and some other languages, where English /æ/ after a consonant is written with a ya sign: bank is written బ్యాంక్ and bat is written బ్యాట్. Reading these spellings can lead speakers to pronounce a y that is not in the English word: byank, byat. English /æ/ has no glide. See Part 5.

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Part 5: The vowels

Indian languages have about ten vowels, arranged in neat short and long pairs: అ ఆ, ఇ ఈ, ఉ ఊ, ఎ ఏ, ఒ ఓ, plus ఐ and ఔ. English vowels do not line up with these neatly. Some English pairs differ in length, like Indian vowels, but most also differ in quality, the exact position of the tongue and lips. Several English vowels fall in the gaps between Indian ones.

Vowels are less important for understanding than stress, but some vowel pairs carry a lot of meaning, and getting them right makes your speech noticeably clearer.

5.1 /ɪ/ and /iː/: ship and sheep

The difference. /iː/ (sheep, seat, leave, feel) is long and tense, almost exactly like ఈ / ई. /ɪ/ (ship, sit, live, fill) is short and relaxed: the tongue is a little lower and further back, and the lips are not spread. It is not simply a short ఇ; it sits a little towards ఎ.

Indian English often uses the same vowel for both, which merges pairs such as:

/ɪ/	/iː/
ship	sheep
sit	seat
live	leave
fill	feel
hit	heat
bit	beat
still	steal
fit	feet
sick	seek
list	least

How to practise. For /iː/, spread your lips as if smiling and hold the vowel: seeeeat. For /ɪ/, relax your face completely, let your jaw drop very slightly, and make the vowel short: sit. Your lips should not move into a smile.

Sentences. Please sit in this seat. Will he leave or live here? Feel how full the pill bottle is. The ship carried sheep.

A warning about a few words. Some pairs differ only in this vowel, and saying one when you mean the other can cause embarrassment. The best-known cases are the English words for a sheet of cotton, a seaside resort, and a few everyday words with ea. If you are unsure, check the dictionary and practise the long /iː/ carefully in words such as sheet and beach.

5.2 /ʊ/ and /uː/: full and fool

The difference. /uː/ (fool, pool, food, Luke) is long, with tightly rounded lips, like ఊ / ऊ. /ʊ/ (full, pull, good, look, book, put, foot, could, would, should) is short and relaxed, with only slight lip rounding.

Indian speakers often use a long ఊ in words spelled with oo: book as boook, good as goood, look as loook. In most words spelled with oo followed by k, the vowel is short /ʊ/: book, look, cook, took, hook, brook.

/ʊ/	/uː/
full	fool
pull	pool
look	Luke
could	cooed
stood	stewed
would	wooed

Sentences. Look at the pool. The cook took a good book. You should put your foot on the stool.

5.3 /æ/: cat, bad, man

The problem. /æ/ does not exist in most Indian languages. Speakers usually replace it with ఎ / ए (so bad sounds like bed, man like men) or with ఆ / आ (cat like cart). In Telugu, the English sound is usually written with a ya sign (బ్యాంక్ for bank), which can lead to a y glide that English does not have.

Making /æ/. Start with ఎ / ए. Now open your jaw much wider, as if starting to yawn, and spread your lips slightly. Keep your tongue low and forward. The vowel should feel halfway between ఎ and ఆ, with the jaw dropped more than for either. Watch in a mirror: your jaw should drop visibly.

/e/ (ఎ)	/æ/	/ʌ/ (అ)	/ɑː/ (ఆ)
bed	bad	bud	bard
men	man
set	sat
pen	pan	pun
ten	tan	ton
head	had		hard
	cat	cut	cart
	hat	hut	heart

Sentences. The man in the black hat had a bad back. Pack the bags and catch the taxi. Thanks, that’s a fantastic plan.

Note that many and any are exceptions: they are pronounced with /e/, meny and eny.

5.4 /ʌ/: cut, love, money

/ʌ/ is close to the short అ / अ that you already have, so this vowel is usually easy. The difficulty is spelling: the sound is written with u (cut, bus, sun), but also with o (love, money, come, son, done, month, nothing, other, mother, brother, Monday, London, wonder) and ou (country, young, couple, enough, touch, double).

Indian speakers often read the o spellings with ఒ / ओ: money as mo-ney, come as kom, London as Lon-don. Learn the common o words above as a list: they all have the same vowel as cup.

Sentences. My brother’s son comes from London on Monday. Nothing is done until the money comes in. One country, one month, one hundred.

5.5 /ɒ/ and /ɔː/: hot and caught

In British English, /ɒ/ (hot, stop, dog, job, lot, coffee, office) is a short vowel with the jaw open and lips slightly rounded, between ఆ and ఒ. /ɔː/ (caught, talk, walk, law, door, four, saw, thought) is long, with lips more rounded, like a long, open ఓ.

In American English, /ɒ/ is usually replaced by a long /ɑː/ (hot is haht), and for many speakers caught and cot sound the same.

Indian English often uses ఆ / आ for /ɒ/ and ఓ / ओ for /ɔː/, which is understood well. The main point to watch is words where Indian speakers use a long ఓ for a short /ɒ/: body, copy, model, object, product, project (British). In American English these words use /ɑː/.

5.6 /ɜː/: bird, work, learn

The problem. This central vowel does not exist in Indian languages. It appears in words spelled ir, er, ur, or (after w), ear: bird, first, her, term, turn, nurse, work, word, world, worse, learn, earth, early.

Indian English often uses అ + ర (barrd), or ఎ + ర (berrd), or sometimes ఒ + ర (worrk). This is understood, but the British and American versions are quite different from all three.

Making it. British /ɜː/: put your tongue in the middle of your mouth, not high, not low, not front, not back, with lips neutral, and make a long vowel. It is like a long, relaxed version of the weak a at the end of India. American /ɝ/: the same, but with the tongue tip curled up as for r throughout the whole vowel, so the word sounds like one long r.

Distinguishing work and walk. This is a common confusion: work is /wɜːk/ (American /wɝk/), and walk is /wɔːk/. If you say both with a long ఓ, they sound the same. I walk to work should have two different vowels.

Sentences. The first nurse worked early on Thursday. Her third word was learned at work. The world turns.

5.7 The schwa /ə/: the most important vowel in English

What it is. /ə/ is a short, weak, relaxed vowel, made with the tongue and lips completely at rest. It is the sound of the a in about, the e in taken, the o in doctor, the u in supply, the ou in famous. It is the most common vowel sound in English, because almost every unstressed syllable reduces to it.

Indian speakers already have a sound very close to it: the short, inherent అ / अ in unstressed positions, as in the second syllable of కమల or the end of रमा in quick speech.

Why it matters. English rhythm depends on the contrast between strong stressed syllables and weak unstressed ones. If you pronounce every vowel at full strength, as spelled, your speech loses that contrast. Compare:

Word	Spelling pronunciation	With schwa
banana	ba-NAA-naa	bə-NAA-nə
problem	PRO-blem	PROB-ləm
support	sup-PORT	sə-PORT
today	TOO-day	tə-DAY
photograph	pho-to-graph	FOH-tə-graaf
particular	par-ti-cu-lar	pə-TIK-yə-lə
comfortable	com-for-ta-ble	KUMF-tə-bl
chocolate	cho-co-late	CHOK-lət
about	aa-bout	ə-BOUT
London	Lon-don	LUN-dən

The schwa never takes stress. Whenever you learn a new word, notice which syllable is strong and which ones reduce to /ə/.

Practice. Say each word above, first with full vowels, then with the schwa. Feel how the stressed syllable stands out once the others are weak. Then say: A banana and a tomato for the doctor at the station. Every a, o and or that is not stressed should be a schwa.

5.8 Diphthongs: day, go, and the rest

A diphthong is two vowels glided together in one syllable. English has several, and Indian English handles most of them well. Two are worth knowing about:

• /eɪ/ in day, make, late, name, table. Indian English usually uses a single long ఏ / ए: /deː/. British and American English glide from e towards i: /deɪ/. The difference is small and rarely causes problems.
• /əʊ/ (British) or /oʊ/ (American) in go, home, no, show, phone. Indian English usually uses a single long ఓ / ओ: /ɡoː/. British English starts from the schwa and glides towards oo: /ɡəʊ/. American English starts from o and glides towards oo: /ɡoʊ/.

These single vowels are a normal part of Indian English and do not block understanding. Change them only after everything else in this guide feels comfortable.

Two other points:

• /aɪ/ in my, time, file, mobile (British). Close to ఐ / ऐ. Fine as it is.
• /aʊ/ in now, house, out, cloud. Close to ఔ / औ. Fine as it is.

5.9 Vowel length before voiced and voiceless consonants

One more detail that native listeners use without knowing it: in English, a vowel is longer before a voiced consonant than before a voiceless one. So the vowel in bead is longer than in beat, in bag longer than in back, in rise longer than in rice.

At the end of words, English speakers often do not voice /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/ fully, and listeners use the vowel length to tell the words apart. If you make the vowel equally short in bag and back, the two may sound alike.

Practice. Lengthen the vowel noticeably in the first word of each pair: bead / beat, bag / back, rise / rice, prize / price, card / cart, said / set, his / hiss, leave / leaf.

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Part 6: Word stress

If you fix only one thing in your English pronunciation, fix word stress. Native English listeners recognise words by their stress pattern first and their sounds second. A word with slightly Indian sounds and the correct stress is understood instantly. A word with perfect sounds and the wrong stress often is not understood at all. Researchers have found this repeatedly in experiments, and anyone who has worked on calls with US or UK colleagues has felt it.

6.1 What stress is

In every English word of two or more syllables, one syllable is stressed. A stressed syllable is:

• louder,
• longer,
• higher in pitch, and
• clearer: its vowel keeps its full quality.

The other syllables are quieter, shorter and lower, and their vowels often reduce to the schwa /ə/ or to /ɪ/.

Indian languages also have stress, but it is weaker and more predictable, and it does not change the vowels. So Indian speakers tend to give all syllables similar weight, or to stress a syllable based on Indian patterns, which are often different from English ones.

6.2 Words Indian speakers commonly stress differently

Word	Common Indian stress	Standard stress	IPA
development	de-ve-LOP-ment	de-VEL-op-ment	/dɪˈveləpmənt/
hotel	HO-tel	ho-TEL	/həʊˈtel/
category	ca-TE-go-ry	CAT-e-go-ry	/ˈkætəɡəri/
determine	DE-ter-mine	de-TER-mine	/dɪˈtɜːmɪn/
comfortable	com-FOR-ta-ble	COMF-ta-ble	/ˈkʌmftəbl/
engineer	en-GI-neer	en-gi-NEER	/ˌendʒɪˈnɪə/
interesting	in-te-REST-ing	IN-tres-ting	/ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/
photographer	pho-to-GRA-pher	pho-TOG-ra-pher	/fəˈtɒɡrəfə/
success	SUC-cess	suc-CESS	/səkˈses/
percent	PER-cent	per-CENT	/pəˈsent/
event	E-vent	e-VENT	/ɪˈvent/
career	CA-reer	ca-REER	/kəˈrɪə/
mature	MA-ture	ma-TURE	/məˈtʃʊə/
canal	CA-nal	ca-NAL	/kəˈnæl/
committee	COM-mit-tee	com-MIT-tee	/kəˈmɪti/
specific	SPE-ci-fic	spe-CIF-ic	/spəˈsɪfɪk/
technology	tech-no-LO-gy	tech-NOL-o-gy	/tekˈnɒlədʒi/
available	a-vai-LA-ble	a-VAIL-a-ble	/əˈveɪləbl/
executive	ex-e-CU-tive	ex-EC-u-tive	/ɪɡˈzekjətɪv/
administrative	ad-mi-nis-TRA-tive	ad-MIN-is-tra-tive	/ədˈmɪnɪstrətɪv/
hierarchy	hi-e-RAR-chy	HI-er-ar-chy	/ˈhaɪərɑːki/
infrastructure	in-fra-STRUC-ture	IN-fra-struc-ture	/ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə/
architecture	ar-chi-TEC-ture	AR-chi-tec-ture	/ˈɑːkɪtektʃə/
environment	en-vi-RON-ment	en-VI-ron-ment	/ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt/
analysis	a-na-LY-sis	a-NAL-y-sis	/əˈnæləsɪs/
colleague	col-LEAGUE	COL-league	/ˈkɒliːɡ/
purpose	pur-POSE	PUR-pose	/ˈpɜːpəs/
record (noun)	re-CORD	REC-ord	/ˈrekɔːd/
develop	DE-ve-lop	de-VEL-op	/dɪˈveləp/
ceremony	ce-re-MO-ny	CER-e-mo-ny	/ˈserəməni/

Do not memorise this list in one go. Take five words a day, look each one up, listen to the audio three times, and say it ten times with the stress clearly on the right syllable.

6.3 Rules that predict stress

English stress is not fully predictable, but a set of rules covers most words. Learning them saves you checking every word.

Rule 1: Two-syllable nouns and adjectives usually stress the first syllable.

TAble, PAper, WINdow, HAPpy, CLEVer, MODern, PRODuct, PROJect (noun), SERver, CLIent.

Exceptions to watch: hoTEL, maCHINE, deSIGN, reSULT, sucCESS, adVICE, misTAKE, caREER, poLICE, guiTAR.

Rule 2: Two-syllable verbs usually stress the second syllable.

beGIN, deCIDE, reLAX, arRIVE, dePLOY, conFIRM, reQUIRE, alLOW, preFER, supPORT.

Exceptions: HAPpen, Open, ANswer, LISten, VISit, OFfer, ENter, FOLlow.

Rule 3: Noun and verb pairs. Many two-syllable words are spelled the same as a noun and a verb, and the stress shows which is which:

Noun or adjective (stress first)	Verb (stress second)
a RECord	to reCORD
a PRESent	to preSENT
an OBject	to obJECT
a PROJect	to proJECT
a PRODuce (vegetables)	to proDUCE
an INcrease	to inCREASE
a DEcrease	to deCREASE
a CONtract	to conTRACT (shrink)
a CONflict	to conFLICT
an EXport	to exPORT
an IMport	to imPORT
a PERmit	to perMIT
a REBel	to reBEL
a SUSpect	to susPECT
a CONduct	to conDUCT
a PROGress	to proGRESS
an UPdate	to upDATE
an UPgrade	to upGRADE
a CONtest	to conTEST
PERfect (adjective)	to perFECT

The vowel often changes too: the unstressed syllable reduces. A REC-ord is /ˈrekɔːd/, but to re-CORD is /rɪˈkɔːd/.

Rule 4: Suffixes that put the stress on the syllable before them. This is the most useful rule for long words, because most technical and business vocabulary uses these endings.

Ending	Stress falls on	Examples
-tion, -sion	the syllable before	inforMAtion, configuRAtion, deCIsion, exPANsion, appliCAtion
-ic	the syllable before	ecoNOMic, scienTIFic, autoMATic, speCIFic, straTEgic
-ical	the syllable before -ic	poLITical, techNIcal, LOGical, hisTORical, anaLYTical
-ity	the syllable before	aBILity, availaBILity, seCURity, possiBILity, scalaBILity, reliaBILity
-ial, -ian, -ious	the syllable before	fiNANcial, esSENtial, muSIcian, liBRARian, VARious, conSCIous
-logy, -graphy, -metry	the syllable before	techNOLogy, biOLogy, phoTOGraphy, geOGraphy, geOMetry
-ient, -ience	the syllable before	efFIcient, exPErience, conVENient

So when a word changes ending, its stress moves:

• PHOtograph → phoTOGrapher → photoGRAPHic
• eCONomy → ecoNOMic → eCONomist
• Able → aBILity
• POLitics → poLITical → poliTIcian
• ANalyse → aNALysis → anaLYTical
• TECHnical → techNOLogy → technoLOGical
• comMUnicate → communiCAtion
• ORGanise → organiSAtion

Rule 5: Suffixes that take the stress themselves. A small group of endings, mostly from French, are stressed:

-EE: employEE, interviewEE, trustEE, referEE, guaranTEE -EER: engiNEER, volunTEER, caREER, pioNEER -ESE: JapaNESE, ChiNESE, PortuGUESE -IQUE: techNIQUE, uNIQUE, bouTIQUE -ETTE: casSETTE, cigaRETTE

Rule 6: Suffixes that do not change the stress. These endings are added without moving the stress of the base word:

-ment (deVELop → deVELopment), -ness (HAPpy → HAPpiness), -ful (CARE → CAREful), -less (HOME → HOMEless), -er and -or (deVELop → deVELoper), -ing, -ed, -ly, -able in most words (aVAIL → aVAILable).

Rule 7: Compound nouns stress the first part.

BLACKboard, GREENhouse, LAPtop, PASSword, DATAbase, KEYboard, FIREwall, WORKload, DEADline, MAILbox, BOTTLEneck, NOTEbook, SOFTware, HARDware.

Compare compound nouns with adjective and noun pairs, which stress the second word:

Compound noun (first stress)	Adjective + noun (second stress)
a BLACKboard (for chalk)	a black BOARD (a board that is black)
a GREENhouse (for plants)	a green HOUSE
a HOT dog (food)	a hot DOG (a dog that is hot)
the WHITE House	a white HOUSE

Rule 8: Phrasal verbs stress the particle; the matching nouns stress the first part.

Phrasal verb	Noun
to set UP the server	the SETup
to log IN	the LOGin
to back UP the data	the BACKup
to roll OUT the release	the ROLLout
to break DOWN	a BREAKdown
to check OUT	the CHECKout
to sign UP	the SIGN-up
to hand OVER	the HANDover
to start UP	a STARTup

Rule 9: Numbers. The -teen numbers stress -teen; the -ty numbers stress the first syllable. This difference is crucial on calls:

thirTEEN (13)	THIRty (30)
fourTEEN (14)	FORty (40)
fifTEEN (15)	FIFty (50)
sixTEEN (16)	SIXty (60)
sevenTEEN (17)	SEVenty (70)
eighTEEN (18)	EIGHty (80)
nineTEEN (19)	NINEty (90)

Also make the -teen long and clear (/tiːn/) and the -ty short (/ti/). When counting (thirteen, fourteen, fifteen), native speakers sometimes move the stress forward, but in isolation and in prices, times and quantities, keep it on -teen. When a number really matters, repeat it digit by digit: fifteen, one-five.

Rule 10: Acronyms and initialisms stress the last letter.

an A-W-S account, the C-E-O, an I-T team, the C-I-C-D pipeline, a P-R, an S-L-A, the U-S, the U-K, A-I, an A-P-I.

Note the article: an before letters that start with a vowel sound (an S-L-A, an M-R-I, an F-A-Q), a before letters that start with a consonant sound (a U-R-L, a P-R).

6.4 How to learn stress for new words

• Look it up once and mark it. When you meet a new word at work, look it up, and write it in a notebook or note app with the stressed syllable in capitals: deVELopment, configuRAtion.
• Clap or tap. Tap the table on the stressed syllable as you say the word. This makes stress physical.
• Exaggerate first. Say the stressed syllable much louder and longer than feels natural: de-VEEEEL-op-ment. Then reduce the exaggeration until it sounds normal.
• Learn families together. When you learn photograph, learn photographer and photographic at the same time.
• Hum the pattern. Hum the word without the sounds: da-DAA-da-da for development. If you can hum it, you know it.

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Part 7: Sentence stress, rhythm, connected speech and intonation

Words do not live alone. In real speech, they are joined into phrases, and English changes them as it joins them. This part is about the music of English: which words are strong, which are weak, how words run together, and how the voice rises and falls. It is the part most courses in India skip, and it is the part that makes the biggest difference to how natural and clear you sound.

7.1 Content words and function words

Every English sentence has two kinds of words:

• Content words carry the meaning: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numbers, question words, and not and its contractions (can’t, don’t, isn’t). These are usually stressed.
• Function words hold the sentence together: articles (a, an, the), auxiliary verbs (is, are, was, have, can, will, do), prepositions (to, for, of, at, in, from), pronouns (I, you, he, it, them), and conjunctions (and, but, or, that). These are usually unstressed, and many of them change their pronunciation when unstressed.

Read this sentence, stressing only the capitalised words:

I NEED to SEND the REport to the CLIent by FRIday.

The stressed words alone, need, send, report, client, Friday, tell the whole story. A listener who hears only those will understand. That is exactly how native listeners process English: they listen for the stressed words and fill in the rest.

7.2 Weak forms

About forty common function words have two pronunciations: a strong form, used when the word is stressed or said alone, and a weak form, used in normal, unstressed speech. Indian speakers almost always use the strong form, because that is how the words were taught and how they are spelled.

Word	Strong form	Weak form	Example (weak)
a	/eɪ/	/ə/	a cup of tea /ə ˈkʌp əv ˈtiː/
an	/æn/	/ən/	an hour
the	/ðiː/	/ðə/ (before consonants), /ði/ (before vowels)	the server, the app
and	/ænd/	/ən/, /n/	bread and butter /ˈbred n ˈbʌtə/
but	/bʌt/	/bət/	but not now
or	/ɔː/	/ə/	two or three
of	/ɒv/	/əv/, /ə/	a lot of time /ə ˈlɒt ə ˈtaɪm/
to	/tuː/	/tə/ (before consonants)	I want to go /aɪ ˈwɒnt tə ˈɡəʊ/
for	/fɔː/	/fə/	thanks for coming
from	/frɒm/	/frəm/	a call from the client
at	/æt/	/ət/	at the office
can	/kæn/	/kən/	I can help /aɪ kən ˈhelp/
could	/kʊd/	/kəd/	you could try
was	/wɒz/	/wəz/	it was fine
were	/wɜː/	/wə/	they were late
have	/hæv/	/həv/, /əv/	should have known /ˈʃʊd əv ˈnəʊn/
has	/hæz/	/həz/, /əz/	it has started
do	/duː/	/də/	what do you think? /ˈwɒt də jə ˈθɪŋk/
does	/dʌz/	/dəz/	when does it start?
you	/juː/	/jə/	see you later
your	/jɔː/	/jə/	check your email
them	/ðem/	/ðəm/	tell them
us	/ʌs/	/əs/	let us know
some	/sʌm/	/səm/	some coffee
than	/ðæn/	/ðən/	faster than before
that (conjunction)	/ðæt/	/ðət/	I think that it works

Strong forms are still correct when the word is stressed, at the end of a sentence, or contrasted:

• Where are you going TO? (strong /tuː/ at the end)
• I CAN do it, but I don’t want to. (strong /kæn/ for contrast)
• It’s not A solution, it’s THE solution. (strong /eɪ/ and /ðiː/ for emphasis)

Can and can’t. In American English, can in a positive sentence is weak (/kən/), and can’t is always strong (/kænt/). The stress, not the final t, is how listeners tell them apart. I can GO (weak can, stress on go) means yes; I CAN’T go (stressed can’t) means no. If you stress can, Americans may hear can’t.

Practice. Say these with weak forms, then with strong forms, and hear the difference:

• I want to go to the bank and get some cash for the trip.
• Can you send the file to them by the end of the day?
• What do you think of the idea?
• It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

7.3 Contractions

Native speakers use contractions constantly in speech, even in professional settings: I’m, you’re, it’s, we’re, they’re, I’ve, I’ll, I’d, isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, don’t, doesn’t, didn’t, can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, let’s, that’s, there’s, what’s.

Indian English, especially in formal or official contexts, often avoids contractions: I am not able to, it is not working, we will do it. This is grammatically correct, but in speech it sounds stiff and slow, and it puts stress on words that should be weak.

Use contractions in speech in almost all situations, including meetings and interviews. In formal writing, you can still write them out in full.

Pronunciation of contractions.

• won’t is /wəʊnt/ (rhymes with don’t), not want.
• can’t is /kɑːnt/ in British and /kænt/ in American English.
• it’s is /ɪts/; its (possessive) sounds the same.
• I’d is /aɪd/; I’ll is /aɪl/ (one syllable, not I-will run together).
• there’s is /ðeəz/; there are is often /ðərə/ in speech.

7.4 Linking: running words together

In connected English speech, words are not separated by pauses. They run into each other, and English has a few regular ways of linking them.

Consonant to vowel. When a word ends in a consonant and the next starts with a vowel, the consonant moves across to start the next word:

• turn off → tur-noff
• pick it up → pi-ki-tup
• an apple → a-napple
• log in → lo-gin
• check it out → che-ki-tout
• an hour and a half → a-nou-ra-na-half

Indian speakers often put a small break or a glottal catch between words, especially before vowels: turn | off. Linking makes speech smoother and is easier to listen to.

Vowel to vowel. When one word ends in a vowel and the next begins with one, English adds a very light glide:

• After /iː/, /ɪ/, /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/ (vowels with the tongue forward), a light /j/: the end → the-y-end, I am → I-y-am, say it → say-y-it.
• After /uː/, /əʊ/, /aʊ/ (vowels with rounded lips), a light /w/: go out → go-w-out, do it → do-w-it, how about → how-w-about.

Linking r. In British English, r at the end of a word is silent, but it comes back when the next word starts with a vowel: far is /fɑː/, but far away is /fɑːr əˈweɪ/. Four is /fɔː/, but four o’clock is /fɔːr əˈklɒk/.

7.5 Elision and assimilation

Elision means a sound disappears in fast speech. The most common case is /t/ or /d/ between two consonants:

• next day → nex day
• last night → las night
• just now → jus now
• old man → ol man
• mostly → mosly
• handbag → hanbag

Assimilation means a sound changes to become more like its neighbour:

• ten boys → tem boys (the /n/ moves towards the lips for /b/)
• good girl → goog girl
• don’t you → don-chu
• did you → di-ju
• would you → woo-ju
• what’s your name → what-chur name

You do not need to produce all of these yourself, and in careful speech you should not overdo them. But you need to recognise them, because native speakers use them all the time, and not recognising them is one reason Indian listeners sometimes find British and American speech hard to follow, especially in films and fast meetings.

7.6 Nuclear stress: the most important word

In every phrase, one stressed word is stronger than the others. It carries the main pitch movement, and it marks the new or most important information. This is called the nuclear stress or focus, and research on international English places it among the most important features for understanding.

By default, the nuclear stress falls on the last content word of the phrase:

I’m meeting the client on FRIday.

But it moves to whatever word is new, important or contrasted:

• I’m meeting the CLIent on Friday. (not the manager)
• I’m MEETing the client on Friday. (not just calling)
• I’M meeting the client on Friday. (not you)
• I’m meeting the client on FRIday, not THURSday.

Notice how each version answers a different question. Indian English often keeps the same stress pattern regardless of meaning, or stresses the last word even when it is old information, which can confuse listeners about what is new.

A common case: old information is not stressed.

A: Did you fix the server? B: Yes, I fixed it YESterday. (not I FIXED it or I fixed IT)

A: Which server is down? B: The DAtabase server. (server is already known, so it is unstressed)

Contrast.

I said FIFteen, not FIFty. (both stressed on fif for contrast) The FRONTend is fine; the BACKend is the problem.

Practice. Read the sentence We need to deploy the update tonight five times, each time answering a different question:

1. What do we need to do? We need to dePLOY the update tonight.
2. When? We need to deploy the update toNIGHT.
3. Which thing? We need to deploy the UPdate tonight.
4. Is it optional? We NEED to deploy the update tonight.
5. Who? WE need to deploy the update tonight.

7.7 Thought groups and pauses

Native speakers divide long sentences into thought groups: short phrases of three to seven words, each with its own nuclear stress, separated by tiny pauses or pitch changes. Writing marks some of these with commas, but speech has many more.

Indian English often runs long sentences together without breaks, or pauses in unexpected places, which makes them harder to follow. Chunking your speech into clear groups is one of the quickest ways to sound clearer.

Before we start the deployment | I’d like to check the backups | and confirm | that the monitoring alerts | are working.

Each group should have one clear stressed word. Pause briefly, keep the pitch slightly raised at the end of a group if more is coming, and let it fall at the end of the sentence.

Practice. Take any paragraph from an email you wrote recently. Mark thought groups with a slash, underline the main word in each group, and read it aloud.

7.8 Intonation: the melody

Intonation is the rise and fall of the voice. In English it carries information that words alone do not: whether you are asking or telling, finished or continuing, certain or unsure, friendly or annoyed.

Falling intonation ↘ (the voice drops on the nuclear stress and stays low):

• Statements: The build passed.↘
• Questions with what, where, when, why, how, who: Where’s the log file?↘
• Commands: Restart the service.↘
• Exclamations: That’s great!↘

Rising intonation ↗ (the voice rises on the nuclear stress):

• Yes/no questions: Is the build ready?↗ Did you get my email?↗
• Checking or showing surprise: Tomorrow?↗
• Lists, on every item except the last: We need logs↗, metrics↗, and alerts.↘

Fall-rise ↘↗ (the voice falls and then rises again):

• Politeness and softening: Could you send it today?↘↗
• Implying something unsaid: The code is fine…↘↗ (but something else is not)
• Partial agreement: Well, I can try.↘↗

Tag questions. A falling tag asks for agreement; a rising tag asks for real information:

• You’re joining the call, aren’t you?↘ (I expect yes)
• You’re joining the call, aren’t you?↗ (I really don’t know)

Indian English and intonation. Indian English intonation tends to have:

• Less pitch movement overall, which can sound flat or uninterested to native ears even when you are friendly.
• Rising pitch at the end of statements in some regional styles, which can sound like a question or uncertainty.
• A universal tag isn’t it? or no? for every sentence: You are coming, isn’t it? This is a normal part of Indian English, but international listeners may find it confusing. The standard tag matches the verb: You’re coming, aren’t you? She works here, doesn’t she?

Practice. Record yourself saying That’s a good idea three ways: genuinely pleased (high fall on GOOD), uncertain (fall-rise), and sarcastic (low, flat). Listen back. If all three sound the same, widen your pitch range: exaggerate, then pull back.

7.9 Speed

Many Indian professionals speak English quickly, and they are often told to slow down. Speaking fast is not the real problem; native speakers also speak fast. The problem is speed without stress and rhythm: when every syllable is equally strong and there are no pauses, fast speech becomes a blur.

The fix is not simply to speak slowly. It is to:

1. Stress the content words clearly.
2. Weaken the function words.
3. Pause between thought groups.
4. Slow down for the most important information: numbers, names, dates, deadlines, technical terms.

Do those four things and you can speak at your natural speed and still be easy to follow.

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Part 8: Region by region

India has hundreds of languages, and each one shapes English a little differently. This part summarises patterns that teachers and researchers commonly report for speakers of the major languages. Read your own language first, then the others: many habits are shared, and you will meet colleagues from every region.

Two important cautions. First, these are tendencies, not rules. Many speakers of each language show none of them, especially those educated in English from an early age, and many show habits from more than one region. Second, none of these habits says anything about how well someone knows English. They are traces of a well-trained first-language ear.

Telugu

• Final vowel. Telugu words almost all end in a vowel, so a short /u/ often appears after a final consonant: bus-u, fan-u, and-u, that-u. This is the habit most worth fixing for Telugu speakers. See 4.12.
• V and W merge into వ. See 4.1.
• Z is often said as జ /dʒ/: jero for zero, bijy for busy. See 4.6.
• /æ/ is often said with a y glide, influenced by spellings like బ్యాంక్: byank, byad. See 5.3.
• Aspiration of p, t, k is usually absent. Telugu has aspirated letters, so the sounds are available; the task is using them in English. See 4.3.
• Retroflex t and d are common, as across India. Optional to change.
• Strengths. Telugu speakers usually have clear, well-articulated consonants and a good ear for vowel length.

Tamil

• Final vowel after consonants, as in Telugu: bus-u, fan-u.
• Voicing. The Tamil script uses one letter for both voiced and voiceless versions of many stops (க for both k and g, ப for both p and b), and the choice depends on position in the word. This can carry over into English as uncertainty between p and b, t and d, k and g in some positions. Practise minimal pairs: pack / back, ten / den, coat / goat.
• Initial glides. Some speakers add a light y before front vowels (yevery, yeight) and w before back vowels (wonly, wopen). See 4.14.
• S and SH may be confused by some speakers.
• Aspiration is generally absent, because Tamil does not use aspirated consonants in native words.
• Clusters. Some speakers insert vowels inside clusters: ispeech or s-peech.

Kannada

• Final vowel after consonants: bus-u, bag-u.
• V and W merge.
• Z is often /dʒ/.
• Retroflex consonants are strong and common.
• Strengths. Kannada has aspirated and voiced consonants in its alphabet, so aspiration and voicing are usually easy to learn.

Malayalam

• Initial glides are especially common: yevery, yelephant, wonly. See 4.14.
• Final vowel after consonants, usually a short, unrounded vowel: bus-ŭ.
• Retroflex and dental consonants are both used, sometimes in places English does not expect them.
• Doubled consonants between vowels, from Malayalam’s many geminate consonants, can make some words sound heavier than in English.
• L. Some speakers use the retroflex ള for English l.
• Strengths. Malayalam speakers often have a very clear, wide range of consonants and are usually good at learning new sounds.

Hindi and the Hindi belt (including Urdu speakers)

• Initial clusters. A vowel before s-clusters: iskool, istation, ispeech. See 4.12.
• Z and F become /dʒ/ and /pʰ/ for many speakers, unless they use the nukta sounds ज़ and फ़ already, as many Urdu speakers do. See 4.5 and 4.6.
• V and W merge into व.
• Schwa deletion. Hindi drops the inherent vowel at the end of words and inside some words (कमला is kamlaa, not kamalaa). This carries over helpfully into English in some words but can also delete vowels English needs.
• Stress. Hindi tends to stress heavy syllables (those with long vowels or ending in consonants), which pushes English stress to the wrong place in words like development and category. See Part 6.
• Strengths. Hindi has the full set of aspirated consonants, so English aspiration is easy once you know where to use it. Urdu speakers often already have /f/, /z/ and /x/.

Bengali, Odia and Assamese

• S and SH. Bengali and Assamese use mostly one sound for స and శ, so English /s/ may become /ʃ/: shit down for sit down, shixty for sixty. This is worth fixing. See 4.7.
• V may become /bʱ/ or /b/: bhery or bery for very, bhoice for voice. Practise the teeth-on-lip /v/ carefully.
• Initial clusters with a prothetic vowel: ishkool, ishtation.
• Z often becomes /dʒ/: jero.
• Vowels. Bengali often uses a rounded /ɔ/ where English has /ʌ/, so cut may sound closer to caught.
• Strengths. Bengali has rich aspiration and voicing contrasts, which helps with English stops.

Marathi and Konkani

• V and W merge.
• Z. Marathi has the affricates /ts/ and /dz/ (heard in some pronunciations of च and ज), which some speakers use for English z; others use /dʒ/.
• Retroflex consonants and the retroflex ळ may carry over into English.
• Final consonants are generally well handled, since Marathi allows them.
• Strengths. Marathi speakers often handle English clusters and word-final consonants better than speakers of languages that require final vowels.

Gujarati

• V and W merge.
• Z may be /dʒ/.
• S and SH may be interchanged by some speakers.
• Vowels. Gujarati has a distinction between open and close e and o, which can help with English /e/ and /æ/ once noticed.
• Breathy voice on some vowels and consonants can carry over, giving words an extra h-like quality.

Punjabi and Haryanvi

• Initial clusters with a prothetic vowel: iskool, istart.
• Tone. Punjabi uses pitch to distinguish words, which can affect English intonation in unexpected ways: pitch may rise or fall on syllables English treats as neutral.
• V and W merge.
• Z and F are often fine, especially among speakers familiar with Urdu or Persian loanwords.

North-East Indian languages

The North-East has many unrelated language families, so generalising is especially risky. Speakers from Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh often:

• use fewer retroflex consonants, so their English t and d are often closer to the alveolar English sounds;
• use little or no aspiration;
• may give English a strongly syllable-timed rhythm;
• in tonal languages (such as many Tibeto-Burman languages), may carry pitch patterns into English.

Many speakers from the region grew up with English as a school language from an early age and have accents that international listeners find very clear.

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Part 9: Spellings that mislead

English spelling records how words were pronounced hundreds of years ago, or how they were spelled in the languages they came from. This part lists the most common traps.

9.1 Silent letters

Letter	Silent in	Examples
b	after m at the end of a word; before t	climb, bomb, thumb, comb, lamb, plumber, debt, doubt, subtle
c	after s in some words	muscle, scissors, scene, science
d	in a few words	Wednesday, handsome, sandwich (often)
g	before n	sign, design, foreign, campaign, gnome, align
gh	in many words	night, light, through, though, daughter, thought, weigh
h	at the start of a few words; after w	hour, honest, honour, heir; what, when, where
k	before n at the start	know, knee, knife, knock, knowledge
l	in some words	walk, talk, half, calm, could, would, should, salmon, folk
n	after m at the end	autumn, column, damn, solemn
p	at the start of some Greek words; in a few others	psychology, pneumonia, receipt, cupboard
s	in a few words	island, aisle, debris, Illinois
t	in some words	listen, castle, whistle, often (optional), Christmas, mortgage, ballet
w	before r; in some words	write, wrong, wrist, answer, sword, two, who, whole

9.2 Words commonly mispronounced by spelling

Word	Say	IPA (British)	Common error
Wednesday	WENZ-day	/ˈwenzdeɪ/	Wed-nes-day
February	FEB-roo-uh-ree	/ˈfebruəri/	Feb-ru-ary with r stressed
receipt	ri-SEET	/rɪˈsiːt/	re-sipt
debt	DET	/det/	debt with b
island	EYE-lund	/ˈaɪlənd/	is-land
salmon	SAM-un	/ˈsæmən/	sal-mon
subtle	SUT-l	/ˈsʌtl/	sub-tle
pronunciation	pruh-NUN-see-AY-shun	/prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃn/	pro-NOUN-ciation
genre	ZHON-ruh	/ˈʒɒnrə/	jen-ner
suite	SWEET	/swiːt/	suit
vehicle	VEE-uh-kl	/ˈviːəkl/	ve-HI-cle
hierarchy	HIGH-uh-rah-kee	/ˈhaɪərɑːki/	hi-RAR-chy
colleague	KOL-eeg	/ˈkɒliːɡ/	col-LEEG
queue	KYOO	/kjuː/	kyu-yu
niche	NEESH (British), NICH (American)	/niːʃ/	nitch-ee
often	OFF-un or OFF-tun	/ˈɒfn/, /ˈɒftən/	Both are correct
said	SED	/sed/	sayd
says	SEZ	/sez/	sayz
women	WIM-in	/ˈwɪmɪn/	wo-men
busy	BIZ-ee	/ˈbɪzi/	bu-zy, bi-jee
business	BIZ-nis	/ˈbɪznəs/	bi-zi-ness
chaos	KAY-oss	/ˈkeɪɒs/	cha-os
archive	AR-kive	/ˈɑːkaɪv/	ar-chive with ch
architecture	AR-ki-tek-chuh	/ˈɑːkɪtektʃə/	ar-chi-tec-ture with ch
mischievous	MIS-chi-vus	/ˈmɪstʃɪvəs/	mis-CHEE-vee-us
epitome	ih-PIT-uh-mee	/ɪˈpɪtəmi/	epi-tome
hyperbole	high-PUR-buh-lee	/haɪˈpɜːbəli/	hyper-bowl
debris	DEB-ree	/ˈdebriː/	deb-riss
facade	fuh-SAHD	/fəˈsɑːd/	fa-kade
quinoa	KEEN-wah	/ˈkiːnwɑː/	kwi-no-a
clothes	KLOHDZ	/kləʊðz/	clo-thez
sword	SORD	/sɔːd/	s-word
plumber	PLUM-uh	/ˈplʌmə/	plum-ber
Leicester	LES-tuh	/ˈlestə/	Lie-ces-ter
Greenwich	GREN-ich	/ˈɡrenɪtʃ/	Green-witch
Arkansas	AR-kun-saw	/ˈɑːkənsɔː/	Ar-kan-sas
Illinois	il-uh-NOY	/ˌɪlɪˈnɔɪ/	Illi-noise

9.3 Words where Indian English has a different standard

A few words have an established Indian pronunciation that differs from British and American English. In India these are understood perfectly, but international colleagues may not recognise them:

Word	Common Indian	British / American
schedule	SHED-yool or SKED-yool	SHED-yool (British), SKEJ-ool (American)
tomato	to-MAA-to	tuh-MAH-toh (British), tuh-MAY-toh (American)
vitamin	VI-ta-min	VIT-uh-min (British), VY-tuh-min (American)
advertisement	ad-ver-TISE-ment	ad-VER-tis-ment (British), AD-ver-tize-ment (American)
process	PRO-cess (long o)	PROH-ses (British), PRAH-ses (American)
data	DAA-ta	DAY-tuh (British), DAY-tuh or DAT-uh (American)
route	ROWT	ROOT (British), ROOT or ROWT (American)
router	ROW-ter	ROO-tuh (British), ROW-ter (American)
mobile	MO-bile	MOH-bile (British), MOH-bul (American)

None of these is wrong. Just know which version your listener expects.

9.4 Homophones and near-homophones worth knowing

These sound the same, or nearly the same, in standard English. Knowing them helps you avoid over-pronouncing differences that do not exist:

whole / hole, write / right, their / there / they’re, its / it’s, our / hour, weather / whether (most speakers), cache / cash, suite / sweet, root / route (British), byte / bite, sight / site / cite, principle / principal, compliment / complement, stationary / stationery, lead (metal) / led.

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Part 10: Vocabulary for work and technology

Most of the English you speak at work is a fairly small set of words, repeated every day. Getting these right gives you more benefit, faster, than anything else in this guide. This part covers common workplace words and, for people in IT and DevOps, the names of tools and technologies.

10.1 Everyday workplace words

Word	Stress and pronunciation
available	uh-VAY-luh-bl
capability	kay-puh-BIL-uh-tee
client	KLY-unt
colleague	KOL-eeg
committee	kuh-MIT-ee
company	KUM-puh-nee
comfortable	KUMF-tuh-bl
confirm	kun-FURM
deadline	DED-line
decision	dih-SIZH-un
deliver	dih-LIV-uh
determine	dih-TUR-min
develop / development	dih-VEL-up / dih-VEL-up-munt
document	DOK-yuh-munt
efficient	ih-FISH-unt
employee	em-PLOY-ee or em-ploy-EE
environment	in-VY-run-munt
estimate (noun) / estimate (verb)	ES-tuh-mut / ES-tuh-mayt
executive	ig-ZEK-yuh-tiv
feedback	FEED-back
hierarchy	HY-uh-rah-kee
invoice	IN-voyce
management	MAN-ij-munt
meeting	MEE-ting
opportunity	op-uh-TYOO-nuh-tee
organisation	or-guh-ny-ZAY-shun
percentage	puh-SEN-tij
presentation	prez-un-TAY-shun
priority	pry-OR-uh-tee
process	PROH-ses (British), PRAH-ses (American)
project (noun)	PROJ-ekt
purpose	PUR-pus
quarter	KWOR-tuh
recognise	REK-ug-nize
requirement	rih-KWY-uh-munt
resource	rih-ZORSS (British), REE-sorss (American)
responsible	rih-SPON-suh-bl
schedule	SHED-yool (British), SKEJ-ool (American)
strategy	STRAT-uh-jee
successful	suk-SESS-ful
technical	TEK-ni-kul
technology	tek-NOL-uh-jee
vacation	vuh-KAY-shun (American), vay-KAY-shun
variable	VAIR-ee-uh-bl

10.2 Technology and DevOps names

Product and tool names are often new words with no traditional pronunciation, so it helps to know what their creators and communities say. Where more than one pronunciation is common, all are listed.

Name	Common pronunciation
Linux	LIN-ux /ˈlɪnəks/
Ubuntu	oo-BOON-too /ʊˈbʊntuː/
Debian	DEB-ee-un
CentOS	SENT-oh-ess
Kubernetes	koo-ber-NET-eez, often shortened to K8s, said kates
kubectl	KYOOB-control, KYOOB-cuttle, or KYOOB-see-tee-el (all common)
etcd	ET-see-dee
Helm	HELM
Docker	DOK-uh
nginx	EN-jin-ex (“engine x”), as its creators say
Apache	uh-PATCH-ee
Jenkins	JEN-kinz
Terraform	TERR-uh-form
Ansible	AN-suh-bl
Prometheus	proh-MEE-thee-us (with /θ/)
Grafana	gruh-FAH-nuh
Kafka	KAHF-kuh
Redis	RED-iss
MySQL	my-ess-kyoo-EL, as its developers say; my-sequel is also common
PostgreSQL	POST-gres-kyoo-el, or simply POST-gres
SQL	ess-kyoo-EL or SEE-kwul (both common)
MongoDB	MONG-goh-dee-bee
YAML	YAM-ul /ˈjæməl/
JSON	JAY-sun
Azure	AZH-er /ˈæʒə/
GCP	jee-see-PEE
AWS	ay-dub-ul-yoo-ESS
EC2	ee-see-TOO
S3	ess-THREE
Jira	JEER-uh
GitHub	GIT-hub (hard g)
GitLab	GIT-lab
SonarQube	SOH-nar-kyoob
Portainer	por-TAY-ner
Sentry	SEN-tree
sudo	SOO-doo (also SOO-doh)
cache	KASH, like cash
char	CHAR or KAR (both used)
GIF	GIF or JIF (both used; the creator said jif)
GUI	GOO-ee
URL	you-ar-EL
API	ay-pee-EYE
CI/CD	see-eye-see-DEE
DevOps	dev-OPS or DEV-ops
SaaS	SASS
OAuth	OH-auth
Wi-Fi	WY-fy
router	ROO-tuh (British), ROW-ter (American)
queue	KYOO
daemon	DEE-mun
tuple	TUP-ul or TOO-pul
epoch	EE-pok (British), EP-uk (American)
integer	IN-tuh-jer
algorithm	AL-guh-rith-um (with /ð/)
asynchronous	ay-SING-kruh-nus
deprecated	DEP-ruh-kay-tid
idempotent	eye-dem-POH-tunt
latency	LAY-tun-see
throughput	THROO-put
microservices	MY-kroh-sur-vis-iz
infrastructure	IN-fruh-struk-chuh
architecture	AR-ki-tek-chuh
configuration	kun-fig-yuh-RAY-shun (American), kun-fig-uh-RAY-shun (British)
deployment	dih-PLOY-munt
repository	rih-POZ-ih-tuh-ree
authentication	aw-then-tih-KAY-shun
authorisation	aw-thuh-ry-ZAY-shun

When you are unsure of a product name, check how the company says it in its own videos or conference talks. There is no shame in asking in a meeting: How do you pronounce that, by the way? Native speakers ask this too.

10.3 Spelling things out on calls

When you need to spell a name, an email address, a hostname or a code on a call, letters such as b, d, e, p, t, v and m, n are easily confused, especially over a poor connection. Use the NATO phonetic alphabet, which is understood internationally:

A Alfa	B Bravo	C Charlie	D Delta
E Echo	F Foxtrot	G Golf	H Hotel
I India	J Juliett	K Kilo	L Lima
M Mike	N November	O Oscar	P Papa
Q Quebec	R Romeo	S Sierra	T Tango
U Uniform	V Victor	W Whiskey	X X-ray
Y Yankee	Z Zulu

My hostname is P-R-O-D, that’s Papa, Romeo, Oscar, Delta, dash zero one.

Also say zero rather than oh when the difference matters, dot for “.”, dash or hyphen for “-”, underscore for “_”, forward slash for “/”, and at for “@”.

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Part 11: How to practise

Knowing how a sound is made is only the first step. Pronunciation is a motor skill, like typing or playing a musical instrument, and it improves only through repetition. This part describes the techniques that work, and then puts them together into an eight-week plan.

11.1 Minimal pairs

A minimal pair is two words that differ in only one sound: vest / west, ship / sheep, pin / bin. They are the best tool for both hearing and producing a new contrast.

Listening. Ask a friend, or use a dictionary’s audio, to play one word of a pair at random. Write down which one you hear. When you get ten out of ten right, you can hear the difference.

Speaking. Say a word from the pair and ask someone (or a speech recognition app) to identify it. If they consistently get it right, you are producing the difference.

Always hear before you speak. If you cannot hear the difference between ship and sheep, you will not be able to produce it reliably. Spend a few days only listening before you start speaking a new contrast.

The appendix at the end of this guide has minimal pair lists for every contrast in Parts 4 and 5.

11.2 Shadowing

Shadowing is the single most effective exercise for rhythm, stress and intonation, because it trains everything at once.

1. Choose a short clip, 30 to 60 seconds, of clear speech in the accent you have chosen. A news broadcast, a TED talk, a conference presentation in your field, or a podcast all work. A transcript helps.
2. Listen three times without speaking. Notice which words are stressed, where the pauses are, and where the voice rises and falls.
3. Mark the transcript. Underline stressed words, mark pauses with |, and draw arrows for rising and falling pitch.
4. Repeat sentence by sentence. Play one sentence, pause, and repeat it immediately, copying the rhythm and melody exactly, not just the words. Exaggerate at first.
5. Speak along. Play the clip and speak at the same time, trying to match the speaker’s timing exactly. This is real shadowing. It feels difficult at first; that is the point.
6. Record and compare. Record yourself shadowing, and listen to your recording straight after the original.
7. Stay with one clip for a week. Repetition matters more than variety. Shadow the same clip every day until you can match it closely, then move to a new one.

Shadowing works because it bypasses the conscious mind. You stop thinking about rules and simply copy, the way children learn their first language.

11.3 Record yourself

You cannot hear your own accent while you speak, because you hear your voice through the bones of your head as well as through the air, and because your brain already knows what you meant to say. A recording removes both effects.

• Record one minute of free speech every week: describe your day, explain a project, answer a common interview question.
• Keep all the recordings. After a month, listen to week 1 and week 4 back to back. The difference is often surprising and motivating.
• Listen for one thing at a time: first stress, then clusters, then v/w, and so on. Trying to hear everything at once is overwhelming.

11.4 Read aloud with marks

Take a short text, such as an email, a news paragraph or documentation, and prepare it before reading aloud:

• Underline the stressed syllable in every long word.
• Circle the content words that carry the main stress of each phrase.
• Mark thought groups with |.
• Mark the weak forms you will use (to → tə, and → ən, of → əv).

Then read it aloud three times: slowly and exaggerated, at normal speed, and at natural speed while recording.

11.5 Use a mirror

For sounds that depend on visible movements, a mirror gives instant feedback:

• /v/: upper teeth on lower lip.
• /w/: rounded lips, no teeth.
• /θ/ and /ð/: tongue tip visible between the teeth.
• /æ/: jaw dropped wide.
• /iː/ against /ɪ/: lips spread or relaxed.

11.6 Tongue twisters

Tongue twisters are useful for building speed and accuracy once you can produce a sound correctly. Start slowly; speed comes later.

• V and W. Very well, very well, very well. Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches? Vincent vowed vengeance very vehemently.
• TH. Thirty-three thousand people think that Thursday is their thirtieth birthday.
• Aspiration. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• S and SH. She sells seashells by the seashore.
• Clusters. Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward. Strong strings stretch.
• R and L. Red lorry, yellow lorry.

11.7 Technology that helps

• Dictionaries with audio. Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries online give IPA and audio in British and American English. Make them your first stop for every new word.
• YouGlish. Type a word or phrase and hear it in hundreds of real YouTube videos, in context and at natural speed. Excellent for names of tools and technical terms.
• Forvo. Pronunciations recorded by native speakers, especially useful for names and places.
• Speech-to-text. Dictate a paragraph into your phone’s voice typing or a meeting transcription tool. Wherever it writes the wrong word, your pronunciation was unclear. This is a free, honest, always-available listener.
• Pronunciation apps. Apps such as ELSA Speak give instant feedback on individual sounds and stress. They are useful for drills, but they cannot replace listening and shadowing real speech.
• AI voice assistants. You can practise conversations with a voice assistant and ask it to point out words it misheard. Treat it as a patient practice partner, not a judge.
• BBC Learning English. A free series on the sounds of English, with a short video for every vowel and consonant.

11.8 Find a practice partner

Practising with a friend or colleague who is also working on pronunciation doubles your feedback. Read minimal pairs to each other, record and review each other’s speech, and agree to point out stress mistakes in meetings (kindly, afterwards).

11.9 A daily 20-minute session

Minutes	Activity
0 to 3	Warm up: say the vowels and consonants you are working on, slowly and exaggerated, in front of a mirror
3 to 8	Minimal pairs for the week’s sound: listen, then say
8 to 12	Five new words for word stress: look up, mark, say ten times each
12 to 18	Shadowing: the week’s clip
18 to 20	Record one sentence or a short answer, and listen back

Twenty minutes every day beats two hours once a week. If you only have five minutes, do shadowing.

11.10 The eight-week plan

Week	Focus	What to do
1	Foundations	Read Parts 1 to 3. Learn the IPA symbols. Look up 20 words you use daily and copy their IPA and stress. Record a one-minute baseline.
2	Word stress	Part 6. Learn the rules. Five new words a day from your own field, marked and practised. Start the noun/verb pairs.
3	V and W, F and Z	Sections 4.1, 4.5, 4.6. Mirror practice. Minimal pairs. Find these sounds in your shadowing clip.
4	Aspiration and clusters	Sections 4.3 and 4.12. Paper test daily. Practise s-clusters and final consonants without added vowels. Record and check.
5	Endings and vowels	Section 4.13 and Part 5. The -ed and -s rules. Vowel pairs ship/sheep, full/fool, bad/bed, cat/cut. The schwa.
6	Sentence stress and weak forms	Sections 7.1 to 7.3. Mark content words in your emails before reading them aloud. Practise weak forms.
7	Connected speech and intonation	Sections 7.4 to 7.8. Linking, thought groups, nuclear stress, rising and falling tones. Shadow daily.
8	Bringing it together	TH (4.2), and any area your recordings show is still weak. Record a new one-minute sample and compare it with week 1.

After week 8, continue with shadowing and five new words a day. Most people find that the new habits become automatic after two or three months of steady practice.

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Part 12: On calls, in meetings and in interviews

Everything above becomes real in the situations where clear speech matters most. This part gives practical advice for each.

12.1 Calls and video meetings

• Use a good headset. A laptop microphone in a large room adds echo and noise that make every accent harder to understand. A basic wired headset with a microphone near your mouth is the biggest single improvement you can make to how clearly you are heard.
• Face the microphone and do not cover your mouth. Turning your head to look at another screen while speaking can reduce clarity sharply.
• Pause between thought groups. On a call, listeners cannot see your face, so pauses and stress carry even more of the meaning.
• Slow down for key information. Numbers, names, dates, times, versions, IP addresses, ticket numbers. Say them clearly, and repeat important ones: the deadline is the fifteenth, one-five.
• Spell names and codes with the NATO alphabet (10.3).
• Check understanding. Does that make sense? Shall I share my screen? are useful, natural phrases.
• Ask when you do not understand. Sorry, could you say that again? or I didn’t catch the last part are normal in every English-speaking workplace. Pretending to understand causes far more trouble than asking.

12.2 Presentations

• Mark your script or notes. Underline stressed words and mark pauses, as in 11.4.
• Practise aloud at least three times, and record one practice.
• Know how to pronounce every technical term on your slides. Check them on YouGlish beforehand.
• Use pitch. Raise your voice slightly when introducing a new point, and let it fall at the end of each main statement. Flat delivery makes even good content hard to follow.
• Breathe. Nervous speakers rush and skip pauses. Pausing for a full second after an important point feels long to you but sounds confident to the audience.

12.3 Interviews

• Prepare your key answers aloud, not only in your head: introduce yourself, describe a recent project, explain a technical decision. Record them and listen for stress and clarity.
• Use contractions and weak forms. I’ve worked on Kubernetes for three years sounds more natural and confident than I have been working on Kubernetes since three years. (The second also has a grammar issue common in Indian English: since is for a point in time, for is for a duration.)
• Stress the important words in your answers: numbers, results, tools, your own role. I reduced the deployment time from forty minutes to eight.
• Do not apologise for your accent. You do not need to. Clear stress, pauses and a steady pace matter much more than any individual sound.

12.4 Indian English expressions that confuse international listeners

These are features of vocabulary and grammar rather than pronunciation, but they affect understanding just as much on international calls:

Indian English	International equivalent
Please do the needful.	Please take care of this. or say exactly what is needed.
I have a doubt.	I have a question. (In international English, doubt suggests you think something is wrong.)
Revert back to me.	Get back to me or reply to me. (Revert means return to an earlier state.)
Prepone the meeting.	Bring the meeting forward or move it earlier.
I’ll be out of station.	I’ll be away or I’ll be travelling.
Kindly…	Please… (Kindly sounds formal or old-fashioned elsewhere.)
Same to same.	Exactly the same.
Cousin brother / cousin sister	Cousin
Itself / only for emphasis (today itself, he is like that only)	today, already today, that’s just how he is
Isn’t it? as a universal tag	Right? or a tag matching the verb (aren’t you? doesn’t it?)

Within India, all of these are perfectly natural, and many are spreading internationally. On international calls, the equivalents are clearer.

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Part 13: What to prioritise, and how to check your progress

13.1 The priority list

Based on research into international intelligibility and on the patterns most common among Indian speakers, here is the order to work in. The features at the top cause the most misunderstanding and give the biggest improvement for the effort.

1. Word stress (Part 6). The single biggest factor.
2. Nuclear stress and thought groups (7.6, 7.7). Telling the listener which word matters.
3. Consonant clusters: no added or dropped sounds (4.12).
4. Aspiration of p, t, k (4.3).
5. V and W (4.1), and S and SH if it affects you (4.7).
6. Vowel length and key vowel pairs: ship/sheep, full/fool, bad/bed (Part 5).
7. Weak forms and contractions (7.2, 7.3).
8. Z, F and the -ed and -s endings (4.5, 4.6, 4.13).
9. Intonation range: falls, rises and fall-rises (7.8).
10. Optional polish: TH, alveolar t and d, dark l, diphthongs, the r after vowels. These mark an accent but rarely block understanding.

13.2 A self-assessment checklist

Record yourself reading the passage in Appendix B, then check each item. Repeat every four weeks.

Check	Yes / Not yet
Long words have one clearly stressed syllable, and it is the right one
Function words (to, for, of, and, the) are weak
Each phrase has one main stressed word
I pause between thought groups
s-clusters have no vowel before them (school, not iskool)
Final consonants have no vowel after them (bus, not bus-u)
p, t, k at the start of stressed words have a puff of air
v (teeth on lip) and w (round lips) sound different
s and sh are distinct
-ed endings are /t/, /d/ or /ɪd/ correctly
-s endings are /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/ correctly
ship and sheep, full and fool sound different
My voice rises and falls; it is not flat
Statements fall at the end, unless I intend a question

13.3 Signs of progress

You will know your pronunciation is improving when:

• colleagues ask you to repeat things less often;
• speech-to-text tools transcribe you more accurately;
• you start noticing stress patterns and weak forms in other people’s speech, in films and in meetings;
• words that used to feel awkward start to feel natural;
• you feel more relaxed on international calls.

The last one matters most. Confidence and clarity build on each other.

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Appendix A: Minimal pair bank

Use these lists for listening and speaking practice (11.1). Read across each row.

Consonants

/v/ and /w/

/v/	/w/	/v/	/w/
vest	west	veil	whale
vine	wine	vent	went
vet	wet	viper	wiper
verse	worse	vow	wow
vary	wary	vile	while
vain	wane	V	we

/f/ and /pʰ/ (aspirated p)

/f/	/p/	/f/	/p/
fan	pan	fair	pair
fast	past	fine	pine
fill	pill	fork	pork
feel	peel	full	pull
fact	pact	fat	pat

/z/ and /dʒ/

/z/	/dʒ/	/z/	/dʒ/
zest	jest	Zane	Jane
raising	raging

/s/ and /ʃ/

/s/	/ʃ/	/s/	/ʃ/
see	she	sell	shell
sip	ship	sort	short
save	shave	seat	sheet
sour	shower	mass	mash
sue	shoe	lease	leash

/θ/ and /t/, /ð/ and /d/

/θ/	/t/	/ð/	/d/
thin	tin	they	day
thank	tank	there	dare
three	tree	then	den
through	true	though	dough
both	boat	breathe	breed
tenth	tent	other	udder

/p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, /k/ and /g/ (aspiration)

/p/	/b/	/t/	/d/	/k/	/g/
pin	bin	ten	den	coat	goat
pet	bet	tie	die	cold	gold
pack	back	tore	door	card	guard
pear	bear	town	down	class	glass
pie	buy	tear	dear	come	gum

/ŋ/ and /n/

/ŋ/	/n/
sing	sin
thing	thin
wing	win
rang	ran
banging	banning

Vowels

/ɪ/ and /iː/

/ɪ/	/iː/	/ɪ/	/iː/
ship	sheep	bit	beat
sit	seat	still	steal
live	leave	fit	feet
fill	feel	sick	seek
hit	heat	list	least
chip	cheap	rich	reach

/ʊ/ and /uː/

/ʊ/	/uː/
full	fool
pull	pool
look	Luke
could	cooed
stood	stewed
would	wooed

/e/, /æ/, /ʌ/ and /ɑː/

/e/	/æ/	/ʌ/	/ɑː/
bed	bad	bud	bard
pen	pan	pun
ten	tan	ton
head	had		hard
	cat	cut	cart
	hat	hut	heart
	cap	cup	carp
	match	much	march
	ran	run
	bag	bug

/ɜː/ and /ɔː/

/ɜː/	/ɔː/
work	walk
word	ward
firm	form
shirt	short
bird	board
curt	caught

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Appendix B: Practice passages

Each passage is marked for practice. Bold marks the main stress in each phrase, | marks a pause between thought groups, and ↘ or ↗ marks the final pitch.

B.1 Introducing yourself

Hi, I’m Priya | and I’m a DevOps engineer ↘ | based in Hyderabad. ↘ | I’ve been working | on cloud infrastructure | for about six years, ↘ | mostly on AWS | and Kubernetes. ↘ | At the moment | I’m building | a CI/CD pipeline | for a healthcare product. ↘ | In my spare time | I write about cloud tools | on my blog. ↘

Check: I’m, I’ve contracted; for, a, and, on weak; DevOps, AWS, CI/CD stressed on the last part.

B.2 Explaining an incident

Yesterday evening | at around six thirty, ↘ | the payment service | started failing. ↘ | The cause | was an expired certificate | on the load balancer. ↘ | We renewed it | within twenty minutes, ↘ | and the service recovered. ↘ | To make sure it doesn’t happen again, ↘ | we’ve added an alert | thirty days | before any certificate expires. ↘

Check: started and added have /ɪd/; renewed and recovered have /d/; thirty stressed on thir; certificate is cer-TIF-i-cat.

B.3 Asking for help

Could you take a look | at the pull request ↘↗ | when you get a chance? ↗ | I’m not sure | about the database migration. ↘ | It works locally, ↘ | but I’m worried | it might lock the table | in production. ↘ | Any suggestions | would be great. ↘

Check: fall-rise on pull request for politeness; worried is WUR-eed, not wor-reed; production stressed on duc.

B.4 A general reading passage

The north wind and the sun | were disputing | which was the stronger, ↘ | when a traveller came along | wrapped in a warm cloak. ↘ | They agreed | that the one who first succeeded | in making the traveller take his cloak off | should be considered | stronger than the other. ↘

This passage, The North Wind and the Sun, is a fable traditionally used by phoneticians to illustrate the sounds of a language, because it contains nearly every English sound. Record yourself reading it on day 1 and again after eight weeks.

B.5 Word stress drill: your own vocabulary

Make your own list. Go through the last ten emails you wrote at work, pick every word of three or more syllables, look up its stress, and write it in capitals:

Word	Stress	Checked
deployment	de-PLOY-ment	✓
configuration	con-fig-u-RA-tion	✓
infrastructure	IN-fra-struc-ture	✓

This list, from your own working life, will be more useful than any list in a book, because these are the words you actually say every day.

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A final word

Changing how you speak is not easy. Our way of speaking is tied to where we grew up, to our family and friends, and to how we see ourselves. Many people feel self-conscious when they first try new sounds, as if they are pretending to be someone else.

You are not. You are adding to what you have, not replacing it. Most people who work on their pronunciation end up with two styles: the one they use with family and friends at home, and a clearer, more international one for work, used with the same ease that many Indians already switch between two or three languages in a day. That flexibility is a strength.

Focus on being understood, not on sounding foreign. Start with stress, practise a little every day, record yourself, and be patient. In two months you will hear the difference, and so will the people you work with.

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This guide was written by Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant. Pronunciation habits vary widely across India’s regions, languages and individual speakers; the patterns described here are common tendencies, not rules that apply to everyone. For individual feedback, a qualified pronunciation teacher or speech coach can listen to you and tailor advice in a way no written guide can.