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 television in American English
TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce television as TEH-luh-vih-zhuhn (/ˈtɛləˌvɪʒən/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Watch television" or "Can you control the volume on the television?" — more examples below.
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Record yourself saying "television" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "television".
4 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
zh/ʒ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Add vocal cord vibration.
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 "television" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Can you control the volume on the television?"
kan yoo kuhn·TROHL dhuh VAHL·yoom ahn dhuh TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn
"Did you happen to catch the game last night on television?"
dihd yuh HA·puhn tuh KACH dhuh GAYM last NAHYT ahn TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn
"I learned a lot of slang and idioms from watching television shows."
ahy LURND uh LAHT uhv SLANG and IH·dee·uhmz fruhm WAH·chuhng TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn SHOHZ
"The television version was a visual delusion."
dhuh TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn VUR·zhuhn wuhz uh VIH·zhoo·uhl duh·LOO·zhuhn
"We watched a documentary on television last night."
wee WAHCHT uh dah·kyuh·MEHN·tuh·ree ahn teh·luh·VIH·zhuhn last NAHYT
"Watch television."
WAHCH TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn
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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 "television", 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.
television→TEH·luh·VIH·zhuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TEH — keep everything else short and quick.
teh·LUH·VIH·ZHUHN→TEH·luh·VIH·zhuhn
03
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
TEH·LUH·vih·zhuhn→TEH·luh·VIH·zhuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "television" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TEH-luh-vih-zhuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "television" 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 "TEH-luh-vih-zhuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "television" 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 "TEH-luh-vih-zhuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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