Two sounds close enough to trade places: the “ih” of ship and the “ee” of sheep. Swap one for the other and a different word comes out — this page is how to keep them apart, in both directions.
Relax your tongue and jaw slightly lower and make the vowel short and lax, not tense and long.
“Too fancy! You give me the long elegant EE when I ask for the little relaxed cousin. Drop the jaw, relax, keep it short!”Nunzio, when he hears it
Spread your lips, tense the tongue high and forward, and hold the vowel longer.
“This vowel deserves TIME, bello! Smile wide, tongue high, and hold it — eeee — like the last note of the opera!”Nunzio, when he hears it
You cannot hear your own swap. That is the whole problem.
Nunzio records you reading a sentence, scores every sound in it on your phone — nothing is uploaded — and tells you which of these two actually came out. Nunzio — Accent Coach is coming to the App Store and Google Play.