Miss Elise
Pronunciation Coach
Master Pronunciation in Minutes: Free 5-Minute Tutorials
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The Sound of C, Part 1
How to produce hard C: The sound of C can change depending on what letter comes after it. When C is followed by the letters e,i,y it becomes a soft C like in city. However, when the letter C is followed by any other letter it becomes a hard C like in car. Hard C is a whispered sound. Press the back of the tongue against the hard palate, build up the breath, then force the tongue away suddenly and forcefully.
Practice the hard C sound by repeating the following, making only the sound:
C, C, C
C, C, C
C, C, C
C, C, C
Repeat the following two times, exaggerating the hard C sound:
Ca, co, coo; Ca, do, doo
Cad, cat, cab, candle, care
Cake, castle, card, king, cone
Cotton, kind, curve, curtain, curl
Covert, climate, cavalier, clout, clarify
Second, skunk, factor, local, thank
Repeat the following sentences two times:
1) Connie came home to catch up with her cousin from Colorado.
2) King Calvin claimed the coffee was his, and Carrie convincingly agreed.
3) Camille carried her clarinet up the college dorm stairs.
4) She couldn’t stand Chris because he continuously ate all the candy from her kit.
5) Clives cauliflower macaroni and cheese was compared to Callista’s and found to be equally crowd-pleasing.
6) The customer’s coupon collection was a complete masterpiece.
7) California closets was popular with the college crowd.
8) The Canadian carnival featured floats from Cuba, Croatia and Cameroon.
9) Catherine wanted a cougar from Christmas clucked Cora.
10)The coach cried when they lost the competition.
* Please note, different letters can make the same sound, such as hard C and K, and the same letter can make different sounds depending on context, like cat/cake.