t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
How to pronounce talks in American English
TAHKS
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Americans pronounce talks as TAHKS (/tɑks/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Peace talks are scheduled to resume after a lengthy pause".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "talks".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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Questions
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Is the American pronunciation of "talks" 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 "TAHKS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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