One of the 40 sounds Nunzio listens for. When you read a sentence aloud, the app scores every single sound in it on your phone — this page is what he knows about this one: what tends to come out in its place, and what to do about it.
Bring the tongue slightly higher and further forward than a neutral mumble — a short, light vowel near the front of the mouth.
“Close, bello, but the vowel fell asleep in the middle of your mouth! Wake it up — tongue forward, small and bright: ih!”Nunzio, when he hears it
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
In the app, this sound is put under pressure in Vowel Traps — whole sentences built so it cannot hide.
The classic mix-ups involving this sound, one page per pair: ship vs banana, ship vs sheep.
People often say “ih” when a word actually wants “ee” as in sheep — each of those pages shows the way back.
Reading about a sound is one thing. Hearing which ones you miss is another.
Nunzio records you reading a sentence, scores every sound in it on your phone — nothing is uploaded — and tells you the one thing worth fixing. Nunzio — Accent Coach is coming to the App Store and Google Play.