I have problems pronouncing words that starts with the letters Th ?

[IIamaKing]

Yeh off topic, but you brought up Rosetta stone, did you like it? Was it effective? Been thinking of investing in it but at the price want to know it works.

[Marthenil]

I stand corrected. In any case, somehow "Thorn" became "Y" became "TH".

I'm trying to think of all the languages I have some knowledge of, other than English, and only Greek has a TH sound (Theta, θ). And I'm not even sure if that exists in the modern version of Greek.

It still exists, and due it it being pronounced heavier than say "Thorn" we tend to overpronounse words.
Also happens with CH ( Greek x or chi)

[CataclismicSunrise]

Congratulations, Moriat! You've taken the audial virginity of one deli worker with the sound of your sweet, foreign tinted accent.

Your enunciation really is more than fine. I'd say, more than anything, the real problem lies with your inherent accent and the unfamiliarity thereof by said deli worker.

Having said that, do you have difficulty enunciating or finding it hard for people to understand other words beginning with th, like Thursday or thought, or has this been an isolated incident with thin and thick?

[Gwiez]

The clerk was being willfully uncooperative I bet. Or maybe they had a dialect too.
The "thick" was clearer than the "thin", but 'th' can actually make two different sounds. Like how the difference between 'f' and 'w' in ''Freund' and 'Wasser'. For 'thin', which is unvoiced, you start by pushing the word between your tongue and top teeth, and pull the tip of your tongue back inside your teeth.

[belfpala]

Alright just did that.
Again volume and background noises warning.
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1iVaianT7cI

Sounds perfectly coherent to me. In real life, if I was working at a deli counter, I might not be expecting to hear an accent and I might ask you to repeat once. But I don't think I would misunderstand that at all.

- - - Updated - - -

It still exists, and due it it being pronounced heavier than say "Thorn" we tend to overpronounse words.
Also happens with CH ( Greek x or chi)

I just had a moment of irony... as CH is the the abbreviation for Switzerland.

[OzoAndIndi]

Me: Thin ? The opposite of Thick?

Just realized how unfair those words are together.

Press your tongue somewhat against your upper front teeth.

It's ok though, not like some native English speakers don't have trouble with certain things. "Iron" is what trips me up, "ambulance" a bit as well.

[Noomz]

Hello everybody.

Short background story: I spent the last 4.5 years in the US. I'm married to an us citizen (I'm from Switzerland) and i learned the English language with the help of my wife and the Rosetta stone program.

Now I've always been aware of the fact that for some reason..I'm incapable of pronouncing certain English words. Mostly words that start with the letters TH like three/tree/the/thin/thick/theoretically.

I've never seen that as a major problem until today's quite humiliating encounter.(Always bothered me though)

I went to the store with my step daughter and that's what happened.

Me: I would like 20 slices of thin cut roast beef.
Deli Clerk: what?
Me: 20 thin slices of roast beef.
Deli Clerk: I don't understand what you want.
Me: Thin slices of roast beef?
Deli Clerk: Sorry what?
Me: Thin ? The opposite of Thick?
Deli Clerk: huh?
Me: Thin cut. T-H-I-N.
Deli Clerk: Sorry I can't understand you.
My Stepdaughter: He means thin. Thin slices of roast beef.
Deli Clerk: Oh ok. Sorry.

To be honest I have no idea how I could possibly get rid of that pronunciation problem?

What was your mother tounge? It's common to have trouble pronouncing certain sounds depending on what mother tounge you have. It's got to do with what sounds you're used to make, so it can be very hard to break that habit.
I'm guessing you meant that you pronounce it "sin" or perhaps "zin" instead of "thin". It's not uncommon at all. Especially considering that Switzerlands main languages are German, French and Italian (and that fourth one).
Same reason that, for example, many East Asian countries like China and Japan have trouble pronouncing "R" and lots of others pronounciation difficulties.
Or like how some of the germanic languages have Å Ä Ö. Go ahead and try and pronounce those
It takes a lot of practice to get rid of such speech patterns. I even doubt that you'll ever be able to completely get rid of it.

As someone else said, perhaps you should use different words to avoid having to pronounce difficult words.

[belfpala]

Just realized how unfair those words are together.

Press your tongue somewhat against your upper front teeth.

It's ok though, not like some native English speakers don't have trouble with certain things. "Iron" is what trips me up, "ambulance" a bit as well.

"Thick" is actually kind of difficult. It starts with your tongue on your top teeth, then ends the middle part of your tongue clicking against the top of your mouth.

What about "Iron"? That one doesn't do much for me. Is it supposed to be "eye-ron" or or "I-run"? Then "ambulance... that one is easy, "ambliance", wrong.

How about milk? It might be mehlk or mihlk depending where you're from, even within the US. English is fun?

[Milchshake]

Here this might help:

[Zaritas]

I stand corrected. In any case, somehow "Thorn" became "Y" became "TH".

I'm trying to think of all the languages I have some knowledge of, other than English, and only Greek has a TH sound (Theta, θ). And I'm not even sure if that exists in the modern version of Greek.

Well, I can't speak for any other language, but in Icelandic we have TWO letters with the 'th' sound -- Both the 'thorn' (Þ þ) and the.. eth (Ð ð), where Þ is like the th in thigh, while Ð is the th in thy.

[belfpala]

Well, I can't speak for any other language, but in Icelandic we have TWO letters with the 'th' sound -- Both the 'thorn' (Þ þ) and the.. eth (Ð ð), where Þ is like the th in thigh, while Ð is the th in thy.

I can understand that distinction. It's so subtle, thigh versus thy, that I promise native English speakers will most likely never notice it and just rely on context. Edit: not the end of the word; the way your tongue moves on the TH sound. (however, if you're saying "thy" people will think you're weird).

[Icathian]

Well, English is not my native language but i speak it daily. That doesn't stop me from never being able to say the word "world".

Every time i say it, it sounds like "word" but in a terrible way. It bothers me so much i try to just say "planet" instead :P

[Deleted]

You even spelled it. How could he not get that?

[Barrowwind]

Record you saying it on your phone and upload it for us, if you just say " thin slices of roast been " and stop the recording it will be like 15kb. take you five seconds and we can tell you the issue

No better honesty than the internets

[Fullmetal89]

I'm sure your accent isn't that bad the clerk was probably an idiot/asshole. I mean if you spelled it out and she/he still didn't get it they are either extremely dense or doing it on purpose.