Improving your pronunciation can seem like a daunting task, after all there are approximately 44 sounds in the English language (with some variation depending on accents). Thats not taking into account English being a language based on sentence stress. So how do you improve? Here are my top 10 tips to help improve this crucial skill.
1. Listen Actively
Pay close attention to native speakers when listening. This could be in movies, podcasts, tv shows or in everyday conversations you may have. Focus on listening to the rhythm, intonation and sounds they make to better understand the “flow” of natural English pronunciation.
2. Practise Regularly
Pronunciation is a skill, and like any skill requires regular practice. Try setting aside a few minutes each day to work on it. I recommend speaking aloud and narrating your day as you go. You may want to try this when alone to build your confidence and get used to hearing yourself speaking your new language.
3. Use Phonetic Transcriptions
Learning to use these weird looking symbols can help you to identify and pronounce sounds accurately, especially considering English is not a phonetic language and letters can have many sounds. Start with some of the more difficult sounds, maybe the vowels or those you have difficulty with.
4. Focus on Sounds
As mentioned in the introduction, English has around 44 sounds, many of which may not exist in your native language (Italian for example has around 32 sounds and French has around 34 sounds.) Pay attention to individual sounds and try producing them correctly. This links into tips 1 and 3.
5. Practise Minimal Pairs
These are words that differ by a single sound, such as “ship” and “sheep” or “cat” and “cut”. Practising minimal pairs can help your understanding of English and can help in distinguishing between very similar sounding sounds.
6. Record Yourself
This is probably one of the easiest yet hardest things on this list. But it is one of my best English pronunciation tips Recording yourself can help you hear yourself how others do. It can also help highlight areas that need improvement. You can record yourself reading something if you want more structure, or freestyle it. I recommend recording yourself, then coming back to listen to it at a later date to see if you still understand what you were saying and listening with “clean” ears can also help to identify any other elements that you may want to work on.
7. Work on Stress and Intonation
English is a stress-timed language, so getting your stress points correct is important. Longer words have stressed and unstressed syllables, so practise placing stress on the correct syllables, and practise them in sentences. Intonation is also a huge part of English. Intonation conveys meaning, and stressing the wrong word can convey a meaning that you don’t want.
8. Tongue twisters
“I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen” is an example of a tongue twister. These are fun and challenging exercises designed to improve your pronunciation. Here is a link to a site to provide you with plenty of practice. Start off slowly at first, then build your speed to see how fast you can say them. An extra challenge is to say them 3 times fast!
9. Search out feedback
Feedback is vital for learning any new skill. This can come from your tutor, colleagues or friends. They can provide guidance and advice on areas that need work and praise for what you are doing well
10. Be Patient and Persistent
Improving any skill takes time and dedication, and improving your pronunciation is no different. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be perfect, aim for small, achievable goals to see the best progress. Celebrate every little win, maybe you correctly said that one word you’ve been struggling with, maybe you started connecting your speech or maybe you got the correct “th” pronunciation, celebrate them all!
By incorporating these English pronunciation tips into your language learning routine, you’ll notice an improvement in your pronunciation over time- remember, it is a marathon, not a sprint!
For a one to one English session, book now below! or follow this link to my previous post on phrasal verbs
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