To those who are fluent in English ... but still sound 'flat'

Have you ever felt like your words lose their impact the moment they leave your mouth? 

Like they’re trapped in a bubble, floating in the air, hoping someone will take notice — but before that can happen, it bursts.

For Sofia, this wasn’t just a feeling — it was her everyday reality in the workplace.

Sofia's been working in an English-speaking office for almost a decade. She’s fluent — there’s no question about that. But her colleagues often ask her to repeat herself. And when she leads meetings, she worries her flat intonation makes her ideas seem less convincing.

She says, "I sound so flat when I speak!"

Sofia knows she’s capable, but her confidence has taken a hit. She can’t shake the feeling that her voice isn’t connecting the way she wants it to.

So what does she do? What would you do?

Well Sofia's like many of my other clients. She resolves to "slow down and speak clearly". She's got a big meeting next morning, and there's a very important point she wants to get across to everyone – something they've all missed which can't be ignored.

Slow down and speak clearly... What could go wrong?

If I clearly pronounce every sound of each word, Sofia thinks, I'll be fully understood ... I'll be able to drive my message home.

But when she tries this, it has the opposite effect.

In the first five minutes of the meeting, Sofia is asked to repeat herself three times. Even when people seem to understand her, she gets nothing but blank looks.

"How is this happening?", she thinks. "The more I try to speak clearly, the less I'm being understood. The more I try to emphasise what I'm saying, the less people respond the way I want."

Unknowingly, she's approaching the problem from completely the wrong perspective...

But who is Sofia?

Well, if any of the above sounds familiar, I suppose she could be you.

She’s not real, but her story certainly is: she’s an archetype based on hundreds of people I’ve worked with who’ve expressed similar difficulties and frustrations speaking English as a second language.

Let's Talk About 'Flat' Intonation

The word I used above, “flat,” is Sofia's wording.

That word is probably the most common one I’ve heard clients use to describe their own intonation.

A close second? “Boring.”

But here’s the thing: when I dig deeper into what people actually mean by “flat,” their answers often vary wildly. And more importantly, they rarely point to the real issue.

Here are a few examples of what I hear — things people think are the main reasons they sound unnatural or “boring”:

• “I feel like I’m stressing the wrong words.”
• “My voice is so monotone!”
• “My words aren’t connecting or linking together naturally.”

Strangely enough, most of my clients — even those with very strong accents — actually DO stress the appropriate words in a sentence most of the time.

 And while “monotone” suggests a lack of pitch movement, many of these speakers do use enough pitch variation.

As for word-linking... maybe.

But there’s something much bigger at play here — something much more fundamental that’s giving the impression of “flatness.”

The answer? It’s hiding in plain sight.

The Mystery Vowel Sound

So, Sofia’s fundamental struggle isn’t about the pitch of her voice, the way she links words together, or even which words she’s stressing.

It’s also not about grammar or vocabulary.

It’s rooted in a tiny, often overlooked sound — the most common vowel sound in English. And when that sound is not used correctly or consistently, it can make speech sound flat, disconnected, or even hard to follow.

I say it's hiding in plain sight because, even though it's so common, the (how shall we put this?) beautiful complexities of English spelling make it hard to spot. But here’s the good news: by the time you’ve finished here, you’ll know what this sound is, where to find it, and — most importantly — how to use it.

The sound in question is called the ‘Schwa’ vowel sound.

Now, hold on.

Right now, you’re either saying, “The what??” or, “Yeah, yeah, I know all about the schwa. I get it.”

But stay with me.

For many people, this sound is entirely new. But even for those who’ve heard of it, here’s the real question:

Can you clearly articulate WHY the schwa is so important?

The answer goes far beyond simply speaking “correctly.” It’s not just about rhythm or pronunciation. It cuts right to the core of what communication is all about: being understood, connecting with others, and expressing yourself in a way that resonates.

Intrigued?

Let’s take Sofia (and you, dear reader) through a mini coaching session to unpack it all.

Practical Example: The Schwa in Action

Let’s start with a quick example: the word 'information'.

When spoken naturally, most English speakers don’t pronounce every syllable as it’s written.

But let me first demonstrate how a non-native might say it:

Do you hear it? Every vowel is fully enunciated, or 'fully formed':

By 'fully formed' I mean at least one of these things is true:

• the lips are doing something actively (i.e. rounding or smiling), 
• the tongue is active (moving away from its resting position),
• the sound is long

Any combination of these things makes the vowel sound more fully formed, more... noticeable. More on that very shortly.

But this is how a native speaker says it:

Did you catch that? Those second and fourth syllables (information) aren’t as fully pronounced.

What's happening here?

Sofia might tell me that those syllables generally sound lazier (true), but she can't quite articulate why.

Or she might talk about how I'm connecting things together more closely in some way.

What's really happening is quite simple: in those second and fourth syllables, I'm using the same lazy vowel sound – that vowel sound is called the schwa.

Here is the schwa sound in isolation:

(It's only me, by the way, I hope we've established that Sofia is fictional!)

I sound a bit stiff and unnatural, don't I?

These kinds of words rarely sound as ‘fully formed’ as I just demonstrated, they are rarely as 'fully pronounced' as they look in spelling. Instead, they’re pronounced with what I like to call a ‘selectively lazy’ approach:

The vowel sounds in the unstressed syllables — the 'ern' and the 'ment' — are being replaced with the schwa sound, that tiny, relaxed vowel we’ve just started talking about.

The other syllables use more 'fully formed' vowel sounds, but during the lazy schwa syllables the mouth is very inactive.

And again, yes: it's precisely the same vowel sound in all these underlined parts: in.for.ma.tion / go.vern.ment. Weird, right?

Not only that: the schwa is also the most common vowel sound in English.

So you can only imagine the overall effect it has on someone's speech if they're not using the schwa consistently.

Without the schwa, English speech feels clunky and unnatural. But when you understand how it works, it transforms how you communicate.

--

Now we'll go deeper into how to make this schwa sound. After that, we'll explore why the sound is so important & how it works. Finally, I'll guide you to some free resources that will help you spot this schwa sound 'out in the wild'.

What is the Schwa?

So, what exactly is this sound?

The schwa is a quick, relaxed sound represented as /ə/ in the phonetic alphabet used by dictionaries.

Here it is again: In isolation – it sounds like a simple grunt...

Here’s how to do it:

• Make your face expressionless, and let your tongue hover in a resting position. Lips slightly apart.
• Make a short, neutral vowel sound.
• When you use a single schwa inside words, don’t stress it.

That last part is key: in Standard Southern British English, a standalone schwa is never stressed.

The schwa only shows up in unstressed syllables, which is why it’s so common in words with multiple syllables, like information or government.

Let’s demo it again:

1. Try saying banana slowly, emphasising every syllable – ba-NA-na:

2. Now say it as I would – bə-NA-nə:

Hear the difference? That relaxed “uh” (or /ə/) sound in the first and last syllables? That’s the schwa.

Why the Schwa is Important

Now, why does this tiny sound matter so much? Three big reasons:

1. Clarity: When you use the schwa correctly, the stressed syllables in your speech become more prominent, making your words easier to decode.
2. Rhythm: The schwa creates the natural ups and downs of English. By reducing unstressed syllables, it gives your speech a natural flow, helping you match the rhythm of native speakers. You can match a native speaker's rhythm in the same way you'll mirror the body language of someone you're "in a flow" with.
3. Impact: This isn’t just about sounding clear—it’s about making your words resonate. The schwa helps you speak with expression in the manner of a native speaker, allowing your message to land with impact, not just correctness.

Why does using the schwa increase the impact of your message?

Think about it this way: which part of the word 'information' carries the meaning?

It's the stressed syllable: in.for.MA.tion. Even more specifically, it's the vowel in that syllable.

Listen to me expressing that word in different ways – I'm achieving this mainly by varying my expression of the stressed 'A' vowel:

So if we want to vocally express an idea to someone effectively, with all the flavour of our own emotion and intention unique to that human interaction in that moment, the best way to do that is to add expression to the stressed vowel sound of the word that represents that idea.

There's a lot packed into that sentence. Maybe read it again.

Now listen again to the audios of non-native, then native, pronunciation:

... can you hear how the stressed 'MA' syllable stands out way more in the second version?

If you're using a fully formed sound in syllables that should be lazy, you're not just being less clear and adopting a non-native rhythm. You're robbing yourself of the opportunity to get your message across effectively.

Why? Because all the other syllables are now in competition with the stressed syllable for your listener's attention.

Let those lazy, unstressed parts stay unnoticeable. Then your expression can really soar on the stressed parts when it needs to.

How to Spot the Schwa

So, how do you find this elusive sound? Here are three simple clues:

CLUE 1 - Stress Test: If you can clearly hear that a syllable is stressed, you know it’s not a schwa. 

This requires a good ear, but our ears are trainable.

So if you can hear that it's stressed in.for.MA.tion, you know that the 'MA'  syllable cannot possibly hold a schwa.

CLUE 2 - What’s Left: Look at the unstressed syllables. More often than not, those will contain a schwa.

Whilst I don't have an exact number, I'd say over 50% of unstressed syllables in English contain a schwa vowel sound.

This leads us to our biggest friend in the schwa-spotting adventure:

CLUE 3 - Spelling patterns!

Although English is like the Wild West when it comes to spellings, there are indeed patterns we can notice that will help us spot the schwa sound.

But this is rocky ground, so let me help you navigate through it step by step...

The Problem: Inconsistency

Here’s where things get tricky. The schwa can show up in over 14 different spellings — it’s not tied to one particular letter.

We've already seen a few spellings in the two words we've explored. You'll see them below, but this time I've underlined only the letters that represent the schwa (not the whole syllable that holds the schwa):

in for ma tion   /   go vern ment

Underlining it this way, we can see schwa spellings like or, o, er and e. 

Think of those spellings as 'vowel symbols': letters or groups of letters that work together to represent the same spoken sound (the schwa, in this case).

Below is a list of all the schwa vowel symbols I've come across (there's 14, but there are probably more).

And yes, every underlined part represents exactly the same schwa vowel, despite the variations in spelling:

The most notorious example is probably thorough. The 4 letters at the end 'ough') give no hint that the last syllable is a schwa: there are 4 letters, but they work together to represent only one sound.

Listen to the full word, and then hear it separated into individual speech sounds (the last of which is a schwa):

th  -  o  -  r  -  ough

(the 4 sounds in the word thorough, separated)

The further complication is this:

Those vowel symbols do not represent a schwa exclusively!

What do I mean?

Think about the 'or' in the word 'form', for example. That's not a schwa. It's a long vowel sound, and the lips are rounded.

Or the 'ough' in 'through'. It looks almost the same as 'thorough' above, but the 'ough' symbol represents a much more fully formed vowel sound.

English spelling is, let’s say, creatively complex!

But the good news is that you don’t need to memorise every case and exception.

The key idea is to zoom out a little bit more.

Let's return to our first word.

What if, instead of looking at the 'o' at the end of information, we look at the letters surrounding it?

Doing so gives us tion.

Then we can ask ourselves this:

Do other common English words have a schwa inside this 'TION' spelling pattern?

If so, that's worth noting, right?

In fact, tion is one of the most consistent 'schwa-holding' spelling patterns out there. I've only ever come across one exception, and that exception is such an uncommon word I won't even mention it!

Pretty much any time a word ends in -tion, that means it contains the schwa:

information, action, nation, administration, formulation, function, ...

Get confident saying one word from this list, and you'll gradually transform hundreds of similar words in your speech – without needing to work on them individually.

Next Problem: Memorising Dozens Of Patterns!

Because we're looking at more combinations of letters, this means a longer list of patterns. 

So 'tion' is one of them. The 'ment' at the end of 'government' is another.

In fact, there are dozens and dozens of these spelling patterns.

Because of this, as a coach, I've been rather hesitant to make a long list of these and try to teach it to people.

It's too dry! And it's certainly not in line with how humans acquire language.

But one day I sat down and decided to write down all the common schwa spelling patterns like 'tion' that I'd come across, especially those that many clients had been mispronouncing.

And I had a bit of a revelation:

Yes, there was an overwhelming number of patterns. Too many to sit down and simply memorise.

BUT.

I started noticing that I could begin grouping them together, based on how similar they look. This made them way easier to absorb for my clients.

Here's the examples from the biggest group, which has 8 spelling patterns:

-TION / -SION / -MENT / -ENT / -ANT / -OND / -AND / -END

Can you see the similarities between them? They all come at the ends of words, and all end in -N, -NT or -ND.

But this, by itself, might look quite overwhelming to learn.

I didn't want to make this a boring memorisation exercise. Many of us were subjected to that back at school, and it sucks the fun out of learning languages.

So instead I took some word examples from each set of patterns and gave them a catchy name. So the group above is known as...

"The Husband's Moment of Action"

... and that's much easier to remember, if I'm not mistaken!

So if a word ends with one of those spelling patterns, or the others from that group, it's very likely to contain a schwa. Here are more examples from this set, all of which contain a lazy schwa vowel:

-tion / -sion  station, action, nation

-ment  payment, moment, argument

-ent / -ant  patient, confident, student, significant, important, tenant

-ond / -and /-end  second, diamond, husband, thousand, legend

You might then be wondering if there are any exceptions: the answer is yes!

For example, the vowel at the end of comment is fully formed, NOT a schwa.

But despite the exceptions, the lazy examples are so common that they're still worth your attention.

You don't need to sit there and memorise every word in the list, or even every spelling pattern. Just remember the name of that set: 'The Husband's Moment of Action'... and you'll have a beautifully broad overview of the kind of patterns in that group.

Keep that phrase in your head as you go about your day, and you'll start to internalise it and all the patterns it represents.

And this is just one of 12 memorable sets of spelling patterns where the schwa frequently appears.

For each set, I'm creating a page of resources here on my website that you can use to supercharge your rhythm, flow and clarity in English.

They detail examples, exceptions and have audio tracks to follow along with.

If you click 'show me!' below, you can continue this path with the first of these sets – we'll kick off with a much more simple one known as "Connect Completely".

The Connect Completely set has 3 really common spelling patterns that I hear my clients mispronouncing all the time...

So when you're ready, let's go!