Good English pronunciation can be a difficult skill to gain, but with focused practice you can learn to pronounce English clearly.
Tips to help you practice English pronunciation
- Listen to other native English speakers, try to repeat the speech you hear. Pay attention to the way English speakers pronounce words, listen to the tone and the rhythm of the English language.
- Slow down your speech. If you speak too quickly, it can make it more difficult for native English speakers to understand you.
- Practice speaking English with native English speakers and record yourself when you speak. This will help you to become more aware of the common mistakes you are making.
- Practice reading aloud in English every day.
- Take care when you pronounce the endings of words. Often these can be left out by some speakers of other languages.
Eplosive sounds at the end of words! D T B P G K.
Let me be brief, these are the common mistakes we’ve talked about:
1. Acre – /ˈeɪ.kɚ/
Diphthong EI not A! 2. Sponge – /spʌndʒ/
Sound U like in UP! 3. Debut – /ˈdeɪ.bju/
DAY + BEAU 4. Reservoir – /ˈrez.ɚ.vwɑːr/ or /ˈrez.ɚ.voːr/
Be careful with the stress, it’s on the first syllable 5. Cambridge – /ˈkeɪm.brɪdʒ/
Again EI not A! 6. Alien – /ˈeɪ.li.ən/
You guess it! 7. Squirrel – /ˈskwɝː.əl/ (Am
)
Pronounce it as if it’s only one syllable. 8. Colleague – /ˈkɑː.liːɡ/
The stress is on the first syllable, the second syllable retains a long ee sound but it’s quieter! 9. Algebra – /ˈæl.dʒə.brə/
It’s a dg sound like in gym. 10. Geometry – /dʒiˈɑː.mə.tri/
Same and the stress is on the second vowel!
There are 19 vowel sounds in a neutral British English accent.
Although written English has the common spellings -a- -e- -i- -o- and -u-; the combinations of these spellings can produce 19 different sounds.
To pronounce each sound we have to use a unique position of the mouth: with a different jaw, lip & tongue position.
In this video we are going to focus on the long e Sound (/ɜ:/ like in girl).
Pay attention to the position of my mouth when pronouncing each word and imitate the movement of my jaw, lip & tongue.
Do you feel embarrassed when you speak English because you feel that your pronunciation is bad or maybe you are simply afraid to make grammar mistakes when you speak? Not to worry, let’s look into how to learn English the right and easy way.
Tips to help you practice English pronunciation
- Listen to other native English speakers, try to repeat the speech you hear. Pay attention to the way English speakers pronounce words, listen to the tone and the rhythm of the English language.
- Slow down your speech. If you speak too quickly, it can make it more difficult for native English speakers to understand you.
- Practice speaking English with native English speakers and record yourself when you speak. This will help you to become more aware of the common mistakes you are making.
- Practice reading aloud in English every day.
- Take care when you pronounce the endings of words. Often these can be left out by some speakers of other languages.
The first English lesson should deal with pronunciation. When you don’t do pronunciation first, you have to do something else than pronunciation. And then whatever you do and if it involves speaking, then bad pronunciation habits are formed. If you don’t know how to pronounce and yet you pronounce your own way at the beginning of your learning, then you are building your habits in the wrong way. Learning words without pronunciation on the first lesson is damaging. There are two possibilities that are recommended: (1) learn pronunciation from the beginning and speak from the beginning, (2) learn without pronunciation, but do not speak (you will start speaking at a later stage – after learning pronunciation).
Cookie? Biscuit? Bikkie? They all mean the same thing! Our lovely English teachers will quickly show you some pronunciation and vocabulary differences from Australia, America, and England!
Some of the powerful tools for speaking English well. These ebook sand videos aim to identify and help with the pronunciation of the 39 phonetic symbols of the English language.
It may seem like a trivial issue, but there are differences in British, Canadian and America spelling, and mastering them is part of improving your language skills. This table show you the various spellings used and can be easily searched by using “Ctrl + F”. You will notice Canadian English generally follows British spelling, but often the American alternative is possible too. British, Canadian and American Spelling
