the pronunciation of the letter "C"

[vicloic]

I always pronounce the letter "C" as /s/ in words like silence and fluency,
but when I used the online Cambridge dictionary recently, I found out that the letter "C" was pronounced as /ts/.
So am I always wrong?
Or is it okay to pronounce that in either way?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Raymott]

I can't see much difference. After the 'n' you have your tongue of the alveolar ridge. Both /s/ and /t/ are unvoiced. To say the /s/, you have to remove your tongue from the alveolar ridge; this almost automatically makes a /t/ before the /s/.
In contrast, saying 'silenze' or 'fluenzy' doesn't present this problem.
I can just say 'silence' and 'fluency' without an interpolated /t/, but it takes an effort.

 

[vicloic]

Raymott, thank you very much. I get your point.
But to tell the truth, I can just say "silence" and "fluency" without an interpolated /t/, and with no effort, ha.
I guess that is exactly why I am not a native speaker.
Thank you very much again.