Pronouncing th

Just as with most of the other consonants, there are two types voiced and unvoiced.
Most people tend to replace the unvoiced TH with S or T and the voiced one with
Z or D.
Instead of thing, they say sing, or ting. Instead of that, they say zat or dat.
If these and those are pronounced with a D instead of a TH, it sounds like dese
and dose, which is considered lower class in America.
I. TH Voiced As the most commonly used word in English is the word the, the Th is
very important.

this
that
that
weather
than
these

those
they
them
other
clothe
either

their
there
then
smooth
theyre

TH (voiced)
The voiced TH is like a D, but instead of being in back of the teeth, it's 1/4 inch lower
and forward, between the teeth.
To pronounce the Voiced TH, put the tip of your tongue between your top and bottom
front teeth and vibrate your vocal cords, then pull your tongue back to pronounce the rest
of the word.
II. TH (unvoiced) To pronounce the Unvoiced TH, put the tip of your tongue between
your top and bottom front teeth and let air escape around your tongue, without your vocal
cords vibrating.
thank, thin, think, thought, thump, therapy, bath, with, moth, path, youth

The unvoiced TH is like an S between the teeth.

To pronounce TH correctly, think of a snake's tongue.
You don't want to take a big relaxed tongue and push it far between your teeth and
just leave it out there.
Make only a very quick, sharp little movement.
Keep the tip of your tongue very tense. It darts out between your teeth and snaps
back very quickly.

http://www.manythings.org/voa/wm/wm151.html
VOA news article on pronouncing th. MP3 to download

Classroom Practice with TH

Exercise One
1. Have the students stick out their tongue.
2. Have them bite their tongue.
3. Have them practice correctly pronouncing "th"
4. T. says the tongue twister as fast as possible. Then slowly.
"These things that these things think, they're the things that these things think."
5. Have the students practice a bit individually, then recite to a partner, and write it
down.
6. Practice at home
Exercise Two
How to pronounce the "TH" sound
There are two th sounds, voiced or buzzy (like in "this") and voiceless or whispered (like
in "thing" ). You can feel the vocal chords vibrating when you place your fingers over
your throat for the voiced th. You cannot feel any vibrations when you produce the
voiceless th sound.
1. Begin saying d...d...d...
2. With each "d" stick you tongue further out until it is protruding from your mouth
between your teeth.
3. The sound should change to the voiced th sound when the tongue is far enough out of
your mouth.
4. To produce the voiceless th sound, begin repeating t...t...t... as you extend your tongue
further and further through your teeth.
5. Eventually, the t sound will change to a th sound when the tongue is extended far
enough outside the mouth and between the teeth.
Exercise Three
The th story:
Three terrible thieves threatened to throw thirty thousand stinging thistles through the
thinly shielded thoroughfares of the thatch roofed theater.
Thankfully several quick thinking thespians thwarted the thieves with deft thrusts of their
thallium swords in the thieves` thalamencephalons with thundering thumps.

Thus driven hither through the thalweg, those thoughtless thieves tried to thwart the
thespians from tumbling the thistles into the Thames, causing the thieves fall in.
The Thames was frozen with thirteennothirty thawing frozen ice floes and other
things floating freely before thundering themselves down a roaring waterfall.
The thieves tried to flush themselves from the thalassography of the thalassian thickets,
emerging rather weathered and withered from their marathon.
The thespians threatened the thieves with the thought of smothering in the Thames and
suffering a terrible death bereft of theandric compassion and made them swear to never
bother the thespians or their thatched theater again or risk being thumped in their
thalamencephalons with thallium hatchets and be thrown in the thicket or the thawing ice
floes of the Thames.
http://emailenglishteacher.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-pronounce-th-sound.html
http://www.crossculturecom.com/Pronunciation_Tips.htm