Two sounds close enough to trade places: the “z” of zoo and the “s” of sun. Swap one for the other and a different word comes out — this page is how to keep them apart, in both directions.
Turn your voice on — keep the same tongue position but let your vocal cords buzz.
“Where is the bee?! The mouth is perfect but the motor is off! Put a hand on the throat and feel it buzz — zzz!”Nunzio, when he hears it
Turn your voice off — same tongue position, but pure breath with no vocal-cord buzz.
“Too much buzzing, bello! This one is only air — hand on throat, feel NOTHING. Silent like sneaking to the fridge at night!”Nunzio, when he hears it
Keep the vocal-cord buzz going all the way through the final consonant instead of fading to a whisper.
“The bee falls asleep at the end of the word! Keep it buzzing to the last breath — zzz, all the way home!”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.