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RE: Musing Posts

in #musing-threads6 years ago

Here are a few tips language learners can use to improve their pronunciation. They would actually work, whether you're learning English or another foreign language.

First, practice listening to native speakers speaking English (or whatever target language you're learning). You can do this by watching your favorite movies and TV series, listening to music, listening to podcasts, and watching videos on Youtube. 

The goal here is to expose you to as much of the spoken language as possible so you can hear it's nuances, spot the differences in similar sounding words, and make you more comfortable with the language. Other things to watch out for are the speaker's intonation and the melodic patterns present in the language. It's also a good idea to play the same video or audio on repeat, so you can really familiarize yourself with how to pronounce the words.

Second, record yourself on video talking. Language experts suggest recording yourself on video and not just audio so you can really observe the way you talk and pronounce words. The goal is to be self-aware of how you talk, so you can make the appropriate corrections. Proper pronunciation is not just about the sounds, after all. It's also about how you speak. So things like your breathing, the tension in your face, and movement of your mouth affects how you sound. 

Third, imitate a language role model using "speech shadowing". You can learn more about it here: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/improve-your-english-pronunciation-shadowing-others/3339007.html

Basically, it requires that you find an actor or TV or movie character whose accent you like and imitate. Then, you choose a scene where the actor is speaking, watch the scene a few times, and memorize the lines. Then you just  imitate how the actor or character would say his or her lines. The technique is more effective than simply listening and repeating what you've heard since you are expected to match the cadence and speech patterns of the role model you are imitating. It's also meant to make learning more fun and less stressful. You could also do this with real people, but you would have to record them talking and its best to ask for their permission first, you don't want to end up annoying them. 

Hope this helps.