-=How to Greatly Improve your Pronunciation in English=-

You know, you're speaking, you're not understood, a friend tells you how to pronounce and you think the friend said exactly the same way as you did (this happened to me) -> this record on YouTube is FOR YOU!

The speech is very long, the speaker keeps repeating... pls go on...

First - Rhythm
1st step - listening a lot - to pronounce well, you must hear well, all of the small little sounds in the conversation, and especially the subtle endings
If it's a record, listen 40 times, 50 times, or more; 4 weeks to do it
For example, listen several times to the present recording, you must understand everything, any word, otherwise, keep listening to the speech.

2nd step (min #19) - rhythm - notice the pauses (short pauses, long pauses), the natural phrasal of English ie the natural English rhythm - don't apply your strange (foreign) pattern
Example of a Japanese speaker...
Focus on the rhythm.
Individual sounds -> later

3rd step (#23:15) - practice -
Use an audio, even better a video you like, play each sentence and halt. Repeat, pause when they pause, put together when they put together... rewind, listen again, and again. Copy exactly the feature rhythm

4th step (#25:55) - Exaggerate

5th step (#28) - Record yourself - rewind - comprare - listen to the original audio then play your own audio
How close are you? How close is your rhythm?
You probably think you're not so close: that means you can better hear the difference (working on this, you trained your ear), that will help you improve.

Do this every day; once a week, record yourself and compare: your pronunciation will get better and better.
Work on the rhythm for 3 months, 4 months.

#31:30 - questions by the audience.

Second - Music
#34:30 - word stressing/music, intonation/tone, ups and downs, rising and falling, louder then quieter
Same steps: listening, copying exaggerating, recording, comparing
Several weeks, sentence by sentence

Third - copy their face (of the actor you try to copy)
#41 - face expression, gestures, movements of face and body... copying this, you will copy the emotions and this will help your pronunciation



Think you will be kinda ridiculous pronouncing English correctly when you are among French people? You're right but don't give up!! don't speak like Yasser Arafat be careful to pronounce correctly, like a native: you will succeed in improving your level and break the "glass ceiling" (the expression doesn't exist in English but the French will understand, especially ladies)!!
Think yourself as an actor when you speak English, as a new character.
Everytime you meet a new word reading, check the right pronunciation!!


A.J. Hoge -LearnRealEnglish.com

Hi,

I really appreciated this video.

I wrote the second post listening to the speech.
As you can imagine, I spent more than an hour listening to it as I paused to write, then played on.
I personally noticed several this: the content of the speech, the technique of the guy... very good!
As usual in American English, the guy repeated the same things several times (4, 5 times) so that after the 3rd time, you know what he is going to say and you finish his sentences, thinking it's YOUR method, in other words, being convinced by the technique.
As usual with American speakers, the guy anticipates on difficulties to take then down and, mainly, to provide the message: it's normal, that's OK.

You've to practice daily practice.

Of course this is applicable to other language learning.

Enjoy!

Other YouTube videos ... of course, these free videos are introductions to convince you to subscribe; do as you like it but even the introduction may help you.




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Hello Gérard
Thank you again ( and again, for all the posts from you I read without taking the time to answer you and thank you ) for this video, I listened to it until the end and what struck me too is that , save the fact that the guy is very good as an actor and a good teacher , the native are much more simple as we use to be when trying to speak English ( sorry I should say: more simple than I am) . Perhaps is it because I continue to follow French patterns I don't know ! . So there is perhaps more than two steps but a third one which would be the way people of a a certain language (and culture because there is perhaps even slight differences between English and Australians for exemple but even between English and Americans ) see the world and describe it . But the question is how to catch it ?
I am sure we don't see the world the same way and this is why trying to speak another language ( and more than one ) is a thrilling adventure who allows to to see the world differently but raise at the same the question of communication. What can we really exchange between people of different cultures, at what conditions ?

Hi Jean-Pierre,

Thanks a lot for your message.

Regarding the video, the guy said that there is also a problem with the sounds (and differences between American, English...) but he stated this was not very important.
Today's subject was a first lesson about pronunciation. You could notice that at the end of the lesson, the speaker spoke about the possibility to subscribe to additional lessons that would speak about other points of pronunciation.

As for pronunciation problems, I can give 3 examples:
- with an American girlfriend, I pronounced "'skwairel" and she didn't understand: I should have said "'skwe:rel" (French écureuil), what she finally understood after further explanations
- the same friend once told me: "it's weird, I understand what you say but your words are not the ones I'd use" - she was referring to pronunciation mistakes and my vocabulary that was not the exact word to use (that's why I often write that there is no true synonym)
- I was around an ice-rink and 3 Brits were wondering what a "casquette" was; after a while I told them it was a cap... they didn't understand, so after having repeated several times (I thoughts nothing was simpler tahn "cap"), I made gestures and they finally understood pronouncing "ah a cap!" For me it was exactly the pronunciation I used but apparently no
I'm not surprised by problems with pronunciation as I had several difficulties with tourists in Paris who asked me for their way and several times I didn't understand till they showed me a paper: there was a simple problem -even in French- with a mispronounced vowel or a misplaced stress, etc.

There's something weird I would like to point out.
Sometimes I think that English pronunciation is easy... as my father was often telling me: "if you want a good American pronunciation, you just have to fill your mouth with chewing-gum" (sometimes he was saying Americans spoke with hot coal in their mouths)
Sometimes I think the English pronunciation is bloody precise as there're subbtle differences I cannot even catch (I often write there are sounds we French cannot detect).

There are differences between American and British (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation) but they understand one another.
For example in Australia, there are many immigrants hence many people whose pronunciation is not perfect. In addition, Australians are often joking so that along with their special slang, they often speak with loud burst out laughing... I came to think they understood one another mainly with the context.

This said, when Australians, Americans, Brits meet, there are sometimes questions to get things repeated but it's not often given all of the differences. I came to think there were important syllables/vowels for which they agree and that are to be perfectly pronounced, and the rest of the sentence is less important.

thank you gérard for this large explanation drawn from your large experience in learning, speaking, and sharing , trying to make us more clever about languages. Thank you really .

You're welcome Jean-Pierre.

I also learned Latin, German, Russian and Italian but I forgot most. A few years ago, I intended to brush up every of "my languages" but I changed my mind preferring to focus on American English (I also had other good reasons).
Everyone has got their reasons to learn languages, I personally prefer to be good in one than average in several... after a threshold you can have thorough exchanges, better understand culture, go further and fully appreciate.

I changed my mind preferring to focus on American English

Gérard the English language includes so many languages : British, Australian, American. It takes everybody a whole lifetime to know them all.

Muriel, it takes more than a life to learn our mother language.
I don't even have enough time to learn Ch'ti.

Yes it's very useful but i have not recognized the Australian accent.

MurielB a écrit:Yes it's very useful but i have not recognized the Australian accent.

gerardM a écrit:
Krystyna guesses the guy who speaks is not an English native, possibly an Austrian

I wrote "Austrian", not "Australian" LOL
It's Krystyna's joke to say "foreigner".

Sorry I read too quickly and when you mention Krystyna I immediately read "Australian"