Pronunciation is seen as one of the best important features in order to speak well and naturally.
However, good pronunciation is not only the way of words and letters sound; there are but also
other equally important features to consider, like intonation, stress, and connected speech when
they are joined together in natural speech. All of these features help speakers’ pronunciation like
native speakers. Here are six tips for you to practice and perfect your pronunciation.
1 - Listen!
Listening to examples of authentic speech is the easiest way to improve your own pronunciation.
There are lots of ways to do this - watch a film in its original version, listen to podcasts about a
topic that interests you in English, even listening to music can help. Try to notice the intonation
that people use and imitate the sounds, intonation and word stress and noticing how your mouth
and tongue move when you speak.
2. Record yourself.
Once you have practiced shadowing, you could record yourself speaking - either repeating a
short phrase that you have listened to, or doing a longer speaking task from a coursebook, like
describing a picture. Listen back and make a note of any sounds that you have problems with -
practice these words / sounds slowly and then record yourself again. Can you notice an
improvement?
3. Get to know the phonemic chart.
Using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is for different sounds. It might look strange
and it might feel like you are learning a whole new language, but it can really help you with
pronunciation.
4. Use a dictionary.
There are lots of online dictionaries where you can click and listen to the word being spoken. It's
a great resource for checking how new words sound.
5. Do some exercises!
Different languages have different sounds, and our mouths adapt to those sounds. It is very
difficult for us to make some sounds physically, since they don't exist in our native language.
Therefore, it's important that you train your mouth to know how to form new sounds - the more
you practice the easier it gets.