1. Learn to listen.
Before you learn how to speak, you"ll need to learn how to listen. Some sounds can be hard to tell apart when you"re listening. Did the speaker sleep or slip? Did he hurt his chin or his shin? If you can hear the difference, it will be easier to speak the difference.
There are many guides to get you started in learning to listen. We have some great articles here about learning to listen from movies, songs and music and podcasts. You can also find listening exercises online, like this one from Rong-chang.
The pronunciation practice at Many Things is really slick, especially its huge selection of lessons on minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are pairs words like sleep and slip, that are only different by one sound. You can click on each word to hear a complete sentence with each, then quiz yourself in the second box and click the correct answer.
When you want to listen to authentic English instead of pronunciation exercises, you can watch videos on FluentU. FluentU is an online immersion platform that takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
Every word comes with an in-context definition, image, audio and example sentences, so you have enough support to make native English accessible to you. FluentU"s "learn mode" takes your learning history into account, and asks questions based on what you already know, which sets you up for success.
The better you get at hearing words, the better you will become at pronouncing them.
2. Notice how your mouth and lips move.
When you speak, you move your mouth. How you move your mouth affects how you pronounce a word.
The first step to correcting your mouth shape is to notice it and pay attention. There are a few ways you can check that your mouth and lips are making the correct shape:
Use a mirror. This is by far the simplest way to tell what your mouth is doing while you talk.
Put a finger in front of your lips (like you"re saying "shh"). As you speak, don"t move your finger. You should feel your lips moving away from or pushing against your finger.
Watch other people and notice the shape their mouth and lips make when they talk. Try following along with your favorite TV show or movie. Can you repeat the faces and sounds that the actors are making?
There are guides and pictures online that will help you learn how to move your mouth. Sounds of English has some good explanations for pronouncing specific words. This guide is for people making 3D animations, but the pictures are a great start to understanding how your mouth should look when you speak.
3. Pay attention to your tongue.
The main difference between rice and lice is in your tongue. When you speak, you move your tongue to make sounds. You probably didn"t even notice that, since you do it without thinking. To improve your English pronunciation, it"s a good idea to check what your tongue is doing.
Some difficult sounds for non-native speakers to make are the letters "L" and "R," and the sound "TH." Pronouncing them correctly is all in the tongue!
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