subject: How to Improve Your Pronunciation Outside Class [print this page] How to Improve Your Pronunciation Outside Class
Pronunciation could be one of the most difficult parts of learning English to improve outside of class. You might not be aware that you are pronouncing the words wrongly. Read on to know more. The first few ideas below will show you how. The ideas at the bottom will show you various useful ways to improve your pronunciation.
Record your voice
Many people are stunned when they hear a recording of their voice for the first time. You might be surprised as well, to know how many pronunciation mistakes you could pick up, just by recording your own voice and playing it back. You can make use of playing back a model recording, as well as your own at the same time; or one after the other, in order for you to correct some of your pronunciation mistakes. This could be done with a use of a computer or at a language laboratory with two parts recorded on opposite sides of a cassette. You might still miss on plenty of pronunciation points, but you should be able to address your rhythm and pausing almost perfect by simply doing this.
You would definitely want to listen to a recording of your own voice while just listening for one sound that you want to work on. For example, make sure your /th/ sounds do not sound like /s/, or that you do not miss out /h/ sounds.
At this time, there are various computer sites or software available, which could show you a wave form analysis of you own voice and compare it to the wave form of the voice that you are trying to copy. Most of the programs would then give you a score. For example, the software could reveal that 76 points for being 76 percent similar to the model recording. However, there are all kinds of technical and practical problems with this system. One of which is that equal weighting is set to unimportant things such as matching the tone of the speaker and important things like stressing the correct words. Another thing is that there are actually numerous other perfectly correct ways of stating the word or phrase. However, you have to copy; perhaps the idiosyncratic version, of which the computer is producing. If you are trying to copy someone with a different age or gender, you might not want to copy them 100 percent. However, it is very motivating when getting visual clues or scores.
You might also want to try to video yourself and check the shape of your mouth against the original speaker or a model mouth shape.
Work with transcripts
Prior to listening to the recording of your voice, try making stressed words, weak forms such as a "ter" sound for the word "to"; linked sounds such as "saton" for the phrase, "sat on"; and/or one particular sound, such as all examples of schwa sounds on the transcripts. Listen, and then check. After that, read out the tapescript while concentrating on getting the points that you were working on correctly.
One great activity with using a transcript and recording is Shadow Reading. Try speaking over the recording using similar rhythm as the speaker and so finishing the sentences at exactly the same time. When you seem to get the hang of this, you can try again. However this time, try to turn the volume down at the middle of the recording. Once you turn the volume back up, your speaking should still be exactly in time with that of the recording.
Learn phonemic script
For you to use the dictionary properly, you need to learn the symbols that the dictionary uses to reveal the pronunciation. For example, /j/ means y from the word yacht, and not j from the word jam. Dictionaries have the list of these symbols at the front. Photocopy this, and test yourself, until you are familiarized with them. Phonemic symbols are typically placed between forward slashes such as /a:/ for the vowel in hard.
Learn the rules in spelling and pronunciation
It might seem to you that English spelling is totally random, and that it might be impossible to determine the pronunciation of a word the first time that you encounter it, but it is not quite true. In fact, by knowing few rules in pronunciation, you could usually make a good guess. For example, the Magic E rule explains the difference between the words rat and rate. The different pronunciations of ch in chef, chorus, and cheese could be explained by the roots of the words being in dissimilar languages.
Hold your ears or your throat
Consonant sounds in English such as b, k, and d could be placed in pairs with another sound that has similar mouth shape and tongue position but is a voiced or unvoiced version. Most sounds come in pairs where one would use the vocal cords and other does not. For example, if you state /p/ for pat and /b/ for bat while holding your fingers on the side of the throat around the Adam's apple, you would not be able to feel anything during /p/ but here would be vibration when you say /b/. The same would be true with /k/ for kangaroo and /g/ for goat, as well as most of the other consonants in English; except for r, l, m, n, w, and /j/. You could also do the same by holding your hands cupped over the ears and try to listen for a booming echo sound.
Make use of a video camera or a mirror
Another thing you could do is look in a mirror while doing unvoiced and voiced sounds such as t and d. Make sure that you mouth does not change in shape. It the two consonant sounds that you are trying to practice are not voiced or unvoiced pair, you should check at least that your mouth would change shape when you try to pronounce them. For example, the sh from the word sheep should have a more rounded mouth than from the word sleep. The same thing would be true for vowel sounds, because no two vowel sounds are stated with the same mouth positions. This is even true with vowel sounds that are sometimes paired up. For example, the ee from the word sheep is not just a long version of i from the word ship, as the mouth needs to be pulled wider in the former. That is why you state the word "cheese", and not "chips" when you take a photograph.
In pronouncing diphthongs such as /ai/ and /ei/, make sure that your mouth is moving while pronouncing the sound. Diphthongs are fundamentally a combination of two short vowel sounds. This is also the best way of distinguishing diphthongs from related long vowel sounds. For example, when you say the O in the word hope, your mouth should move; but would stay still while you say the long "or" sound in more.
Try practicing mouth shapes in greater detail with a book or website that shows mouth shapes for each sound. You could also watch a video very keenly and try to copy the actor.
If you have some trouble pronouncing h in English, which might be common if you are a French or Spanish speaker; you could also practice this with a mirror in another way. Place the mirror very close to your mouth. After pronouncing a word with h, the mirror should be steamed up as if you are about to polish it.
Use your hands
There is a well-known trick using your hands. Place your right index finger in front of your mouth like asking someone to keep silent. After you say a word with a th sound, you should be able to feel a wet patch on your finger where your tongue touched it.
You could also try another trick with your hand that might look sillier if you try it out in public. If you are having trouble putting your tongue in the right position, like when saying l and r; place your hand next to your mouth as if it were your tongue. Move it in time with your tongue as you try to make a sound. For example, with the r, try to keep your hand still and try to get your tongue to copy your hand. With the l sound, your hand should bend right back, and flip down, with your tongue doing the same thing.
