People learn different languages for different reasons. But its a fact that the correct way to pronounce a word of that particular language is an important part of learning it. Other people should understand what you are saying and from it they will judge your personality and form any opinion about you. The tricky thing about pronunciation is that you don’t just have to acquire it but it needs constant practice.
Ways To Improve Your Pronunciation:
To get perfection in the pronunciation of any language there are no shortcuts available. However there are some tips, following which, you can improve your skills faster. Given below are ten such tips:
- Listen to yourself
- Slow down!
- Picture it…
- Get physical!
- Watch yourself
- Copy the experts
- Practice English alone
- Find a language buddy
- Pay attention to intonation and stress
- Sing a song!
Listen To Yourself: Its a well-known fact that correction leads to betterment and we seldom get a chance to correct your pronunciation because you are not listening to it. Because at that moment we are actually paying all the attention on communicating and not to our speech. So the best solution to this problem is to record our speech and make a note of the areas that need improvement
2. Slow Down:
Another misconception that we have to remove is that speaking fast does not lead to speaking fluently. When you speak fast you appear to be nervous and undecided and this reflects negatively on your personality. We should speak slowly as this will give us time to think what to say next.
3. Picture It:
We should make a mental picture of the position of our mouth and face and think about how to make a sound before we say it We should study the phonemic chart and think about the sounds we make and their relation to the other phonemes in English.
4. Get Physical:
Pronunciation is called a physical skill because your mouth and other facial muscles have to make some new movements. So we should pay attention to all the difficult sounds each day and practice to learn how different sounds are made with the movement of the different parts of our mouth. There’s a difference in pronouncing different words, in the passage of air.
5. Watch Yourself:
Another very good and practical approach is to stand in front of the mirror, while making certain sounds, and see the position of our mouth. We can compare the movements of our mouth with the video of a native speaker saying the same thing.
6. Copy The Experts:
The best way to learn the proper pronunciation is always from experts or native-speakers. So its always best to listen to different radio programmes and to watch movies. We have to listen carefully and try to imitate the speakers.
7. Practice English Alone:
The biggest hindrance in learning is always our inhibitions, because we are conscious of appearing at a dis advantage before others. So the best way to learn is to create different scenes and then act out the dialogue by yourself.
8. Find A Language Buddy:
There can always be improvement in our learning if we ask an outsider to judge it. The best way is to ask a friend of your’s to help you out. You can listen carefully to each other’s pronunciation by exchanging recorded messages.
9. Pay Attention To Intonation And Stress:
To get perfection in our pronunciation we should understand intonation and stress. For this we should read poems, speeches and songs aloud while paying proper attention to intonation and stress.
10. Sing A Song:
Another method that really work is to learn the lyrics of popular songs and sing them. This will help you with your rhythm and intonation as well as relaxing you. Here because you don’t have to worry about the words and only have to concentrate on the pronunciation.
Though following these tips won’t produce any instant results but they would go a long way to help you achieve your goals.
