If you are a Nepali candidate preparing PTE Academic for study abroad, or a Filipino candidate sitting PTE Core for Canada or PTE Academic for study or nursing abroad, the PTE scorer is not listening for your accent. Pearson says PTE recognises regional and national varieties of English to the degree that most regular speakers understand them, and its scoring help centre says the engine recognises speech from over 90 language groups. It is listening for specific things: whether each word you read is the right word, whether your consonants and vowels are clear, whether stress falls where English puts it, whether your speech flows, and, in Respond to a Situation, whether your register suits the person you are talking to. Nepali and Tagalog each lack some English sounds, so speakers reach for the nearest sound they have, and some of those swaps produce a different English word: fan becomes pan, vote becomes boat, ship becomes sip. This page sets out the swaps for each language, the habits the two share, and the register habits that cost marks in Respond to a Situation, with a fix, a drill and model answers written by TalkDrill. They are tendencies, not rules: record yourself before you drill anything.
- Fix the swaps that make real words first: f and p, v and b, and for Nepali speakers sh and s.
- Keep the endings: "ask" for "asked" can count as a replaced word in Read Aloud.
- In Respond to a Situation, say what you need in the first ten seconds and use most of the 40.
- Respect in English is carried by phrasing ("would you mind"), not by sir, ma’am, po or hajur.
What the scorer marks, and what it does not
Every speaking task is scored by Pearson’s speech engine on up to three traits. Content depends on the task: in Read Aloud the PTE Academic Score Guide counts each replaced, missed or added word as one error; in Repeat Sentence it scores the words you reproduce in order, from 3 to 0; in Answer Short Question you are right or wrong; in the longer tasks it is a 0 to 6 judgement that a human also reviews. Pronunciation and Oral Fluency run from 5 to 0 and are scored by the AI only. In PTE Core, Respond to a Situation is judged on Appropriacy, Fluency and Pronunciation, per Pearson’s Core format page.
The descriptors name the habits on this page almost directly. Pronunciation 2 (Intermediate): "some consonants and vowels are consistently mispronounced" and "consonant sequences may be simplified". Pronunciation 1 (Intrusive): "stress is placed in a non-English manner; unstressed words may be reduced or omitted, and a few syllables added or missed". Oral Fluency 1 (Limited): "staccato or syllabic timing". Oral Fluency 4 (Advanced) allows "no more than one hesitation, one repetition or a false start".
One detail people ask about: the Score Guide lists example first languages of the candidates whose responses trained its scoring engines, and Nepali and Tagalog are not on it. The list says "including (but not limited to)", so it proves nothing either way. What matters is that the scorer compares your sounds with English sounds, so the fixes below are about English sounds, not about sounding foreign or local.
The habits at a glance, Nepali and Tagalog side by side
"Common" means a tendency we hear often in that group, not something every speaker does. The pairs in the last column are the reason each swap matters: both words are English, so a swap can count as a replaced word.
| Habit | Nepali speakers | Tagalog speakers | Word pairs at risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| v said as b | Common: "bery", "billage"; some say w | Common: "bery", "boat" for vote | vote and boat, vest and best, van and ban |
| f said as p or ph | Common: a puffed p, "phan" for fan | Common: "pipty", "copy" for coffee | fan and pan, fine and pine, fast and past, full and pull |
| sh said as s | Common: "sip" for ship, "see" for she | Less common | ship and sip, sheet and seat, shine and sign |
| th said as t or d | Common | Common: "tink", "tree" for three | three and tree, thin and tin, they and day |
| z said as s | Varies | Common: "sero", "price" for prize | prize and price, eyes and ice, raise and race |
| Long and short vowels merged | Common: ship and sheep, full and fool | Common, plus bed and bad, cat and cut | live and leave, pull and pool, men and man |
| Extra vowel before s clusters | Common: "ischool", "istation" | Rare | Adds a syllable rather than making a new word |
| Lost endings: -ed, -s, final clusters | Common | Common: "nex" for next, "ask" for asked | ask and asked, walk and walked, test and tests |
| Even syllable rhythm | Common | Common | Costs Oral Fluency, not single words |
| Titles and indirect requests in situations | Common: "sir", "kindly", long apologies | Common: "ma’am", "sir", hints instead of asking | Costs Appropriacy (Core) and Content (Academic) |
Nepali speakers: v and b, sh and s, f and ph, extra vowels
v said as b, or as w
Why. Nepali writes the letter व but usually says it as b, as in the everyday pronunciation of विकास, or as w. So English v has no automatic home. What it costs. Pronunciation every time, and Content when the result is a word: "best" for vest, "boat" for vote, "ban" for van. The fix. Rest your upper teeth on your lower lip and buzz. For b, the lips press together and pop; for v, the lips never close. 60-second drill. "A very valuable vote." "The van in the village." "Five vivid videos." Then the pairs vest and best, vote and boat, van and ban, said in that order, five times. Our p, f, b and v drill scores each word.
sh said as s
Why. Nepali has three letters for s sounds, स, श and ष, and standard pronunciation uses s for all three, so English sh tends to come out as s. What it costs. This is the Nepali swap most likely to make another word: "sip" for ship, "seat" for sheet, "sign" for shine, "sort" for short, "see" for she. The fix. For sh, round your lips slightly forward and pull the tongue a little back from the teeth; the hiss gets lower and wider. For s, lips spread and the hiss is high and thin. 60-second drill. "She sells short shirts." "The ship sank in shallow water." Then ship and sip, sheet and seat, shine and sign, five times each, recorded.
f said as a puffed p
Why. Nepali फ is a puffed p for most speakers, so f becomes "ph". What it costs. Listeners and the scorer can hear p: "pan" for fan, "pine" for fine, "past" for fast, "pull" for full. The fix. Upper teeth on the lower lip, then blow, with no pop. If your lips touch each other, it is a p. 60-second drill. "Fifty fresh fish." "Fast food is often full of fat." Then fan and pan, fine and pine, fast and past.
An extra vowel before s clusters, and vowel length
Extra vowel. Few everyday Nepali words start with s plus a consonant, so many speakers add a vowel in front: "ischool", "istation", "ispeech", "istudent". The Score Guide’s Pronunciation 1 descriptor includes "a few syllables added or missed". Start the word on a long hiss and slide into the next sound: "sss-chool". Drill: school, student, study, station, speak, special, street, strong, small, screen. Vowel length. Nepali script distinguishes इ and ई, उ and ऊ, but everyday speech does not make the long ones longer, so English pairs merge: ship and sheep, live and leave, full and fool. The long vowel needs length and a tenser mouth: smile for "sheep", round your lips for "fool". Our short i and long ee drill covers the first pair; the minimal pairs guide covers the rest.
Nepali speakers also share the th habit (dental t and d for th) and the retroflex t and d of Hindi speakers. The th fix is on the Hindi, Punjabi and Telugu page; the retroflex t and d is a low priority there and here.
Tagalog speakers: f and p, v and b, th, z and the five vowels
The modern Filipino alphabet includes f, v and z for borrowed words, most of them from English, and many speakers say these sounds well when they think about it. The native sound system does not need them, though, so under test pressure they slip back to p, b and s. The fixes below are about making the right sound automatic, not about learning it.
f said as p, and v said as b
What it costs. "Pipty" for fifty and "bery" for very are understood, but they cost Pronunciation. The pairs cost more: fan and pan, fine and pine, fast and past, file and pile; vote and boat, vest and best, van and ban, very and berry. In Read Aloud each of those can count as a replaced word. The fix. Both f and v use the same position: upper teeth on the lower lip. Blow for f, buzz for v. Your lips must not touch each other. 60-second drill. "Five very valuable files." "Victor voted for Fiona." Then the eight pairs above, said in order, recorded. Use the p, f, b and v drill daily.
th said as t or d
"Tink" for think, "tree" for three, "day" for they. In Answer Short Question, where the answer is right or wrong, "tree" for three can be heard as the wrong word. Tongue tip lightly between the teeth; blow for "think" and "three", buzz for "this" and "they". Drill: "Three thin things." "This and that, these and those." The th sound guide and the voiceless th drill take you through it.
z said as s
"Sero" for zero, "is" with a hissed s, and the pairs that matter: prize and price, eyes and ice, raise and race, lose and loose. Many English plurals and verb endings are z sounds too ("dogs", "goes", "plans"). Keep the hiss, add voice: put your fingers on your throat and feel it buzz. Drill: "Zoe’s prize was a zebra." Then prize and price, eyes and ice, five times each.
The five-vowel habit
Tagalog works with five vowels and English with about a dozen, so several English pairs fall into one vowel: ship and sheep, full and fool, bed and bad, cat and cut. The unstressed "uh" sound in English small words (to, of, the, a) is often replaced with a full vowel. Speakers of Cebuano and other Bisayan languages, which traditionally have three vowels, can find e and i, and o and u, the hardest. The fix. Work on one pair at a time: length and a smile for "sheep", a wide-open jaw for "bad", a short relaxed "uh" for "cut". The minimal pairs sentences give you the words in context.
Shared habits: final sounds, even rhythm and stress
Final sounds and endings
Tagalog syllables usually end in one consonant at most, and Nepali speakers often drop past tense endings at speed, so both groups lose the ends of English words: "nex" for next, "tes" for tests, "ask" for asked, "walk" for walked. The Score Guide’s Pronunciation 2 descriptor reads "some consonants are regularly omitted, and consonant sequences may be simplified". When the ending carries grammar, the result can be a different word: Read Aloud counts it as a replacement, and Repeat Sentence as a word missing from the sequence. Learn the three -ed sounds: t after voiceless sounds (asked, walked, finished), d after voiced sounds (stayed, planned) and an extra syllable after t and d (wanted, needed). Use the -ed endings drill and the final cluster drill.
Even rhythm
Nepali and Tagalog both give syllables roughly equal time. English squeezes the small words: "to" becomes /tə/, "and" becomes /ən/, "of" becomes /əv/. Read every syllable at the same strength and you sound like what Pearson’s Oral Fluency 1 calls "staccato or syllabic timing". Chunk the text in the preparation time, stress only the words that carry meaning, and let the rest fall. Pearson’s own Read Aloud tip is to rise slightly into each chunk and fall a little at its end. The schwa guide explains the reduced vowel, and the intonation sentences train the falls.
Word stress
Philippine English and Nepali English both have their own stress on some long words, and the only reliable check is a dictionary with audio, word by word. Watch the families where stress moves: PHOtograph, phoTOgraphy, photoGRAPHic; eCONomy, ecoNOMic; aNALysis, anaLYTical. The Score Guide’s Pronunciation 4 descriptor expects stress "placed correctly on all common words". See the word stress rules.
Fillers and the three-second rule
"Ano", "kasi" and "parang" for Tagalog speakers, "ani" for Nepali speakers, and "umm" for everyone, are hesitations under Oral Fluency, and in Read Aloud a filler word is also a word the passage does not contain. A filler that stretches into three seconds of silence ends the recording on Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image, Retell Lecture and Answer Short Question, per Pearson’s format page. Replace fillers with a silent breath of under a second, or with an English link word such as "so" used once.
Register in Respond to a Situation: sir, ma’am, po and hajur
Respond to a Situation gives you an everyday situation, read and heard, and asks what you would say. PTE Academic gives 10 seconds to prepare and 40 to speak; PTE Core gives 20 and 40. Pearson’s Core format page says Appropriacy is scored by "how relevant and appropriate the language you use is to the situation and to the person(s) you are addressing", delivered clearly and politely in a formal or informal register. In PTE Academic the Score Guide’s Content scale for the task starts from whether you accomplish the main communication goal, and its top level asks for a response that is "situationally appropriate and fully developed". Four habits cost marks here, and they come from good manners, not weak English.
| Habit | Where it comes from | What it costs | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir or ma’am in every sentence, even to a friend | Tagalog po and opo, Nepali hajur and tapai: respect built into grammar | Wrong register for a classmate, flatmate or friend | Use the person’s name, or nothing; carry respect with "would you mind", "could you", "I’m sorry to ask" |
| The request that never arrives | Hinting is polite in both cultures | The main goal is not achieved; Content and Appropriacy both fall | Say the purpose in the first ten seconds |
| Too short and too polite | Brevity as respect | The Score Guide puts an appropriate answer with "no elaboration or support" at Content 1 | Four moves: purpose, reason, solution, a closing question |
| Over-formal stock phrases | School English: "kindly", "I would like to request you" | Sounds unnatural with friends and stiff even at work | Match the listener: "Could you...?" at work, "Any chance you could...?" with a friend |
One more trap, from Pearson’s own example: misreading a detail. If the situation says you need the slides by Friday and you say Sunday, that is a misinterpretation. Use the preparation time to note who you are talking to, what the problem is, and every date, time or number.
One situation answered three ways, and a formal model
Everything in this section is written by TalkDrill. The situation follows the shape Pearson describes: an everyday situation of up to 60 words, and a question about what you would say.
The situation (written by TalkDrill)
Last week you borrowed your classmate Jenny’s laptop charger for a group project, and now you cannot find it. Jenny has just messaged to say she needs it back tonight. You call her. What would you say?
Answer A: too short, wrong register
"Sorry ma’am. I am very sorry, I lost your charger. I will give you new one. Sorry."
About eight seconds. It apologises and offers something, so it is not irrelevant, but it is the kind of answer the Score Guide describes at Content 1: it addresses the prompt "with no elaboration or support". "Ma’am" to a classmate is the wrong register, and the long silence after it risks the recording closing early.
Answer B: indirect, with fillers
"Hi Jenny, umm, ano, about the charger, actually, kasi last week I was very busy, and there was the project, and then, umm, I think maybe I left it in the library? So maybe if possible you can, umm..."
It never says the charger is lost, never offers a solution, and the fillers count as hesitations. The trailing "umm" is exactly where a three-second silence begins.
Answer C: the model (informal, about 90 words)
"Hi Jenny, it’s me. I got your message, and I’m really sorry, but I’ve got some bad news: I’ve lost your charger. I think I left it in the library after our project meeting. I’ve already asked at the desk, but nobody has handed it in. I know you need it tonight, so here’s what I can do. I’ll bring you mine this evening, because we have the same laptop, and tomorrow I’ll buy you a new one. Does that work for you? Again, I’m really sorry about this."
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| States the problem | Yes | No | Yes, in the first ten seconds |
| Offers a solution | Barely | No | Two: tonight and tomorrow |
| Register for a classmate | Too formal | Casual but unclear | Friendly and polite |
| Uses the 40 seconds | About 8 seconds | Stops early | About 35 to 40 seconds |
| Fillers | None | Five | None |
Now the same skill in a formal register, with a workplace situation of the everyday kind the task uses.
A formal situation and model (written by TalkDrill)
Situation: Your manager has asked you to work this Saturday, but you have a family wedding that day. You want to say no politely and offer another solution. What would you say?
Model: "Good morning, Mr Tan. Thank you for thinking of me for Saturday. I’m afraid I can’t work that day, because I have a family wedding that was arranged months ago. I don’t want to leave the team short, though, so I’d like to offer two options. I could work this Sunday instead, or I could stay two extra hours on Thursday and Friday to finish the stock count. Would either of those help? I’m sorry I can’t be more flexible this time."
Notice what carries the respect: "I’m afraid", "I’d like to offer", "Would either of those help?". There is no "sir" in it, and it does not need one. The two models are about 90 and 80 words, inside our rule of thumb of 80 to 100 words for 40 seconds at a calm pace. More situations, with formal and informal models, are on the PTE Core Respond to a Situation page.
A ten-minute routine and the drills to use
Choose your two costliest sound habits from your own recording, and add register work if you are sitting PTE Core. Then, every day for four weeks:
| Minutes | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Sound habit A: the pairs, out loud, recorded | p, f, b and v drill or the drill for your habit |
| 2 to 4 | Sound habit B | short i and long ee, th or final clusters |
| 4 to 7 | One passage: chunk it in 35 seconds, read it once, read it again without stopping | Read-aloud practice |
| 7 to 10 | One Respond to a Situation: 10 or 20 seconds to prepare, 40 to speak; check purpose, solution and register | Role-play practice or the practice bank |
Listen back once a day and tally three things: swapped sounds, lost endings and fillers. When a habit gets no tally marks for five days running, replace it with the next one. For the task methods see Read Aloud, and for the full trait descriptors the 79-plus scoring page. The four-week plan on the PTE Speaking hub fits this routine into a full schedule.
What not to spend time on. Accent courses that promise a "neutral" or foreign accent: Pearson recognises national varieties that most listeners understand. American or British vowels: neither is required, so keep what you have. Memorised scripts for Respond to a Situation: the Score Guide treats significant pre-prepared or memorised material as an irrelevant response, which scores 0 for Content. Learn the four moves, not the words.
Sources: the PTE Academic Score Guide (2025 edition, from the Pearson scoring page), the PTE Core and PTE Academic Speaking and Writing format pages and the scoring help centre, read on 21 October 2026. Pearson does not publish results by first language, so the habit list and its order are our own judgement, built from the descriptors and well-documented features of Nepali and Philippine English.