Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading
We've made the distinction many times, between a "sloppy" pronunciation that changes the meaning of a word and one that doesn't change the meaning. The former is a "serious" issue; the latter, less so.

However, for the reading of Parshat Zachor, greater care is called for, because the reading of the thee-pasuk maftir this Shabbat is the fulfillment of a Torah Mitzva. (In contrast with the rabbinic mitzva of all other public Torah reading.)

Let's take the opportunity of Zachor to look at a few SH'VAs in that portion. b'tzei-T'CHEM (or b'tzei-S'CHEM in Ashkenazis accent). Either way, the SH'VA under the TAV (correct pronunciation of the last letter of the ALEF-BET; not sounding like the English word TOUGH, as many of us are used to saying) is a SH'VA NA, belonging to the following syllable, not the previous one. The SH'VA is sounded like a very short vowel and is not silent, like a SH'VA NACH is. Once you appreciate the distinction, your ear will pick up a good pronunciation of SH'VAs from the "sloppy" ones.

Similarly, ASHER ka-R'CHA (kaw-R'CHAW) ba-DE-rech... The REISH with its SH'VA NA belongs to the CHA syllable, not to the KA.

And one more commonly NACHed SH'VA NA, with a difference - o-Y'VE-cha (your enemies). In this case, the mispronunciation of the SH'VA under the YUD makes the first syllable sound like OY (as in OY VAY!). The first syllable is O. The YUD with the consonant sound of a Y, has a short vowel sound and is attached to the next syllable.

On the other side of the coin, the SH'VA of the YUD of vai-za-NEIF is NACH and belongs with the VA in the first syllable of the word.

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