How To Pronounce Schwa

In British English, schwa is pronounced /ʃwɑː/. The narrow phonetic transcription is [ʃʷwɑː]. In American English, it is pronounced /ʃwɑː/.

Schwa has one syllable. British and American speakers say it the same way.

Slashes / / show the phonemic transcription, the sounds that change meaning. Square brackets [ ] show the phonetic transcription, with the finer detail of how the sounds are actually made.