The /th/ in the neutral American accent:

The /th/ sounds are unfamiliar to most non-native English speakers because they are heard in so few other languages.  As far as I know, they are only in three languages:  English, Greek and Castilian Spain.  But they are heard in some of the most common words in English, like "the, this, that, there. those, their, though, think" and others, so it's important to know how the sound is formed.

As with most consonant sounds, /th/ has both voiced and unvoiced components:  if you say "the," "this" or "there" with one hand on your throat, you'll feel vibration at the beginning of each word;  if you say "think," "thought" or "thin" you'll feel no vibration at the beginning of the words.  So 'the, this' and 'there' use voiced /th/ and 'think, thin' and 'thought'  use unvoiced /th/.

Having made that distinction, we can look at how both /th/ sounds are formed:  The tongue lightly touches the bottom edge of the upper teeth, and you send air (voiced or unvoiced) over the top of the tongue, so that it escapes between the tongue and the teeth.  For the voiced version (the, this, there), your tongue needs to be loose enough to allow a slight "buzz" to happen as the tongue touches the teeth; for the unvoiced /th/ you need to create a slight "hiss".  The same action applies when /th/ is in the middle or at the end of a word:  together, birthday, soothe, breath.  The underlined /th/ sounds should be voiced.

When people are unfamiliar with this sound, they'll approximate it by using a sound from their own language that sounds close to the /th/, most commonly /d/ or /z/ for the voiced /th/ and /t/ or /s/ for the unvoiced /th/.

If this sound is new for you, practice saying it while you look in a mirror:  Can you see your tongue at the bottom edge of your upper teeth when you say the first sound in "there" or "think"?  If you can't see your tongue, you're probably approximating the sound, or substituting another sound.  You don't need to extend your tongue out between your teeth, just bring it quickly to the bottom edge of your upper teeth.

Practice saying "They thought that by thinking their thirty thin thoughts together their theory would thaw."  The underlined /th/ sounds should be voiced.

The /th/ in various dialects:

In a Cockney accent, the /th/ sound can change to /f/ and /v/ for the voiced and unvoiced versions.  A Cockney might say, "I went to town wif my bruvver."  (I went to town with my brother.)

In a Dublin Irish accent, the /th/ may be dentalized, or formed at the top of the upper teeth instead of at the bottom.  Blowing a little extra air through adds to the authenticity of this sound.

For the typical New York accent, substitute /d/ for voiced /th/:  "these, them and those" becomes "dese, dem and doze";  substitute /t/ for unvoiced /th/:  "think thin" becomes "tink tin."

Playing a character from Mozambique?  Making the same change as the New York change above will give you an authentic sound, though you'll want to focus the dialect all the way in the back of your mouth.  "They don't think we can do it"  becomes "Dey don't tink we can do it."

Questions?  Feedback?  Want to learn more dialects in detail or do you want to communicate more clearly by learning the neutral American accent?  Call or email me, or click here to visit my website for more information.

Actors:  I've recently initiated a new service in which I can help you prepare for dialect auditions without committing to an hour-long session for only a few pages of dialogue.  I started this service after an actor called me for help on an audition, but only had four pages to prepare.  Our solution was to split an hour into smaller chunks that she could later use preparing for different auditions.  After we worked, she said, "Thanks for the last minute coaching session over the phone.  You were a tremendous help.  Look forward to the next one!"  Click here for all the details.

Best wishes,

Joel Goldes