Six Ways to Improve Your English Pronunciation (Part 1)
Image courtesy of Matt Harasymczuk via Flickr (CC 2.0)
What’s your biggest worry when setting out to learn a new language? Perhaps mastering grammar or widening your vocabulary?
For most learners, it never crosses their mind that pronunciation can be a key element in success.
No matter how accurate or fluent your English is, bad pronunciation can seriously weaken your ability to communicate successfully. After all, if you mispronounce a word, it can change the meaning of what you were trying to say entirely!
In this series, we’ll talk about six key pronunciation features that you can help you improve.
- Individual sounds
Did you know that the pronunciation of each word in English is a combination of short individual sounds called phonemes? Pronouncing these individual sounds accurately is half the battle. A good place to start would be the phonemic chart, which has all 44 phonemes, neatly grouped into three sections: consonant sounds, single vowel sounds and double vowel sounds.
Remember, producing a phoneme accurately requires you to position your mouth and jaw in a specific way. So, you could be in for hours and hours of diligent practice before you are able to make the right sounds.
Here’s the British Council phonemic chart to get you started: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart
- Word stress
In English, a word is usually made up of one or more syllables, which are basically small sound units with a vowel sound and one or more consonant sounds. Here’s an example:
| Word | English |
| Phonetic transcription | /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ |
The word English has two syllables – ‘En’ and ‘glish’. While pronouncing, the first syllable has to be emphasised more than the second. Similarly, all words in English have a unique stress pattern, so while speaking, some parts of words need to be pronounced more strongly than others. If you don’t, the listener may find it difficult to understand you.
Here’s a quick tip: once you begin recognising all the phonemes, use a dictionary to check if you’re producing the right sounds while pronouncing a word.
GLOSSARY
| set out | ||
| Form | : | phrasal verb |
| Meaning | : | to begin doing a task with a particular aim |
| Example | : | Having saved up for years, Matt and Eva set out to build their own house. |
| half the battle | ||
| Form | : | phrase |
| Meaning | : | the most challenging part of doing something |
| Example | : | As a salesman, winning a potential customer’s trust is half the battle. |
| be in for something | ||
| Form | : | phrase |
| Meaning | : | going to experience something, |
| Example | : | Your dad is in for a shock when he finds out you’ve had your tongue pierced! |