Since English is not a phonetic language, we mostly do not pronounce all the letters as we write them in a word. In other words, the pronunciation of the word does not relate to its spelling.
The silent letters in words have no equivalent to a specific sound and it is impossible to make them sound like a “letter.”
We spell silent letters but do not pronounce them. The reason is the historical evolution of linguistics and the diverse ways people have evaluated the English language for ages. While the spelling has remained the same, the pronunciation of the word(s) has changed over time.
To pronounce them correctly, here are couple of examples of the most common English words with silent letters.
Silent L: would, talk, calm, should, salmon, balm, could, yolk, half
Silent T: listen, often, wrestle, rapport, castle, butcher, match, watch, witch Silent K: know, knock, knee, knife, knight, knit, doorknob, unknown, knuckle Silent S: debris, aisle, island, Illinois, Arkansas, chassis, isle, Louisville, bourgeois Silent B: debt, doubt, subtle, climb, womb, lamb, bomb, dumb, numb Silent C: black, slack, acquire, adolescence, obscene, descend, ascend, science Silent P: psychiatrist, psychology, pneumonia, cupboard, raspberry, receipt, corps Silent H: ghost, honest, hour, ghetto, rhino, wheel, whale, wheat, whistle, white Silent G: reign, design, malign, cologne, champagne, assign, campaign, resign Silent N: autumn, column, condemn, hymn, solemn, monsieur, damn Silent W: write, wrist, whole, who, whose, answer, sword, two, wreck, wrap Silent UE: tongue, league, dialogue, colleague, unique, catalogue, intrigue Silent GH: caught, height, daughter, naughty, taught, slaughter, ought
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