Recognising the mechanics of how to pronounce words and sentences in the English language effectively is vital if you want to be understood in conversation. Improving how you speak English quickly though requires a few different approaches – it’s not just about speaking English and it’s not just about listening to people speak.
As a new language learner let’s go through the key processes that are going to fast track your pronunciation success and improve your auditory memory.
To begin with…
Breakdown words into syllables
Every word in the English language has at least one syllable. “Syl-la-bles” – has three syllables… and refers to a unit of pronunciation having a vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants.When you begin learning English you may find longer words difficult to enunciate coherently – so 1break them down. For example, “indecipherable” may in fact be indecipherable to someone beginning to learn English. However, breaking it down – “in-de-ci-pher-a-ble” – makes it much more digestible.
Learn when to stress words and sounds
What does that mean? English words that have more than one syllable typically have stress/emphasis placed on one of the syllables. The placement of this emphasis can reverse in the same word depending on context. Very confusing. Because of the invariability of word stress in the English language, mistakes can lead to huge problems with intelligibility compared to other pronunciation-related errors.
Choose an accent
Even within the English language there are countless dialects and accents. Generally, most people fall under and subscribe to either American English or British English. Which present as American accents and English accents respectively. They vary between each other dramatically, so it’s important to pick one and stick to it.
Listen to native English speakers
How often you listen to English, spoken the right way, is going to have a huge influence over whether or not you’re able to grasp the subtleties and nuances in the English language. What do I mean by the right way? Listening to people in which English is their native language is going to provide you with the blueprint to help improve your English. As opposed to emulating the English speaking of other people with an accent, which will only reinforce your bad habits.
Record yourself speaking
It’s difficult to identify the errors in your speech patterns and pronunciation when you’re simply listening to yourself as you speak. Instead, try recording yourself and playing it back – watch how you move your mouth and tongue and try to replicate the sounds of English. This serves as a great way to really hone in the mistakes you’re making.
You can record yourself saying whatever you want. Although make sure you’re speaking for at least a couple of minutes. When you’re done, play it back and listen carefully – did you use a word wrongly? Mispronounce it? Stress it incorrectly? Pay attention to if you’re using words correctly so that you can improve your English.
Join Pronunciation School
Pronunciation School has helped thousands of people become more confident and comfortable speaking in and out of the workplace. With our speech and confidence classes, we can help you dramatically improve your speaking style, and express yourself fluently and effectively.