k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce collaboration in American English
kuh·la·buh·RAY·shuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce collaboration as kuh-la-buh-RAY-shuhn (/kəˌlæbəˈreɪʃən/). Stress falls on the fourth syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The success of the project depends upon collaboration" or "The success of this project depends on effective collaboration" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "collaboration".
5 syllables, 11 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
r/r/
SyllabicThe schwa before R disappears — R becomes the vowel of the syllable. This is the 'er' sound without a distinct vowel before it.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "collaboration" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Collaboration between departments is essential for this project's success."
kuh·la·buh·RAY·shuhn buh·TWEEN duh·PART·muhnts ihz uh·SEHN·shuhl fer dhihs PRAH·jehkts suhk·SEHS
"The success of the project depends upon collaboration."
dhuh suhk·SEHS uhv dhuh PRAH·juhkt duh·PEHNDZ uh·PAHN kuh·la·buh·RAY·shuhn
"The success of this project depends on effective collaboration."
dhuh suhk·SEHS uhv dhihs PRAH·jehkt duh·PEHNDZ ahn uh·FEHK·tuhv kuh·la·buh·RAY·shuhn
"Virtual meetings have become the norm for remote collaboration."
VUR·choo·uhl MEE·duhngz huhv buh·KUHM dhuh NORM fer ruh·MOHT kuh·la·buh·RAY·shuhn
"Your collaboration with other departments has been highly effective."
yor kuh·la·buh·RAY·shuhn wihth UH·dher duh·PART·muhnts huhz bihn HAHY·lee uh·FEHK·tuhv
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "collaboration", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
collaboration→kuh·LA·buh·RAY·shuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the fourth syllable, not the others. Stretch RAY — keep everything else short and quick.
KUH·LA·BUH·ray·SHUHN→kuh·LA·buh·RAY·shuhn
03
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
KUH·la·buh·RAY·shuhn→kuh·LA·buh·RAY·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "collaboration" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the fourth syllable — say "RAY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuh-la-buh-RAY-shuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "collaboration" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "kuh-la-buh-RAY-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "collaboration" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "kuh-la-buh-RAY-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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