How To Improve Pronunciation When Learning A New Language

When you are learning a language one of the most important things you can focus on is your pronunciation. This is especially true when you get to the point where you want to talk and actually communicate.

Pronunciation can really make the difference between being understood or not when talking to someone, which is why it is important to get right.

I will go through some of the things I do to improve my own pronunciation. Really the secret is to just practice a lot, but of course there are different ways to do this, which I will discuss below.

Listen More To Help Your Pronunciation

Listening is of course the total opposite of speaking, but that does not matter, it can still help you improve you pronunciation.

You need to do a lot of listening so that you can get a good feel for the language and understand how it is supposed to sound. Listening really gives you a benchmark for what you need to sound like.

Knowing what the words are supposed to sound like is going to make sure that when you try and say them yourself, you are doing it right. If you have listened enough you will be able to hear if you are saying things properly or not and this can really speed up your progress and build your confidence.

You should not underestimate how important listening actually is in language learning.  

(You can read more about – How To Improve Your Language Listening Skills)

Practice The Individual Sounds

When you are first starting out it can be a good idea to try and sound out all the individual sounds of the language.

Every language will have a set of vowels and consonants and they may be similar to English, but often there will be some that are not.

This can seem awkward and stupid, but it is worth it. You will find a lot of courses try and go through this early on. I’ve experienced this with both French and Japanese and while I don’t really like it, it is useful.

I want to learn words and communicate, so I kind of hate just making broken sounds. However, this is me totally trying to run before I can even crawl. You kind of need to just slow down and practice these sounds. They are actually important and often quite tricky. It is best to try and master them early on, rather than rush ahead and end up pronouncing words poorly and having to go back later on and try and learn how to say them properly.       

Speak More

This sounds to simple, but it is what you have to do. If you want to improve your pronunciation then you need to start speaking a whole lot more.

You should start with just saying single words and build your way up to saying full phrases and sentences. You want to get really used to producing the language out loud and the only way to do this is just spend the time speaking a lot.

Speak Slowly And Clearly

You should practice speaking slowly and clearly, making sure you are saying everything correctly. This again is kind of boring and awkward, but it is very helpful. You really need to pay attention to your mouth and how you are making the sounds.

If you are learning a language like Spanish and want to roll your Rs, then taking your time to focus on how you are saying things is really going to make the difference. You really need to slow down and understand what your tongue is doing. Going that little bit slower will get you there.   

Read Out Loud

Reading out loud is another kind of boring task, but it is extremely helpful for your pronunciation. Reading out loud is basically talking, but it’s not really. You do not have to think about what to say, you just need to read what is there.

This is why it’s annoying, but also why it’s brilliant. You don’t have to think about what to say, which means you can focus on the pronunciation. If you pair this with the point above, speaking slowly and clearly, it can be very effective. You can really focus on saying everything right and not worry about your word order or grammar, since it’s all written down in front you.   

Reading out loud will help you, even if it feels like it’s pointless!

Shadowing

Shadowing is sort of like reading out loud, but instead of reading, you are copying what someone else is saying. 

You can do this very easily by taking a video or audio file and repeating back what you hear. You can also speak over the audio, so you are speaking exactly when the person in the audio is.

This method is again kind of boring, but also very beneficial. It is similar to reading out loud, in the way you do not need to think what about what to say, you just have to copy what is there, so you can again really focus on getting it right.

You also have the added advantage of knowing exactly how it should sound, and at what speed it should be said. This takes it up a notch from just reading and if you can master this, you will of course then sound exactly like the native speaker you are listening to.

This will of course not directly make you sound like a native speaker every time you speak on your own, but practicing in this way can make everything you do that more efficient, so it certainly worth doing this.

(You can read more about – Is Shadowing Useful For Language Learning?)

Record Your Self Speaking

This may be a form of self torture, but recording yourself speaking is a very good way to quickly see how you are doing and what you need to improve on.

I know its cringe to hear your own voice and you are going to be very critical of yourself, but that’s good. You need that.

Just record yourself and see how you sound. You may notice your accent is funny, or you speed is all wrong, but listen to how you pronounce things, does it sound like the stuff you hear when natives speak, if not, what is different, what are you doing wrong, what do you need to change?

It’s an uncomfortable task, but it can give you a lot of information about your weaknesses and hopefully it gives you some areas to work on.

You can then come back at a later date and test yourself again by recording yourself and see if you have made improvements in your pronunciation.

(You can read more about – What Are The Most Common Challenges When Speaking In A Second Language?)

Fake An Accent

Faking an accent can help your pronunciation. Sometimes the words just sound a little better when you fake an accent.

I have found that I feel like my French words are pronounced better when I fake a French accent. I think this may be a little psychological, but I do think it helps.

You could pair this with recording yourself and try doing it with and without to see if it changes your pronunciation. If it does you can take your time and go through the words slowly to see what is actually different when you speak with or without an accent. You may notice your tongue or mouth move in slightly different ways, which could unlock your ability to pronounce words correctly.

Have A Native Listen To You Speak

A good to way to improve your pronunciation is to speak with a native speaker, but make sure you tell them to correct you.

Personally I am bad at this. I have plenty of friends with bad English pronunciation, but I just let it slide as I still understand what they are saying, even if it is slightly off.

Sometimes the conversation is just flowing and I don’t want to interrupt to explain how a word is said properly. I know that’s bad, but it’s the way it goes.

This just means if you want to speak with a native, make sure you tell them to actually point out any pronunciation issues.

They will be able to spot them easily and explain to you the correct way it should be done.   

(You can read more about – Can You Learn A Language From A Native Speaker?)

Practice More

Really the only way to make good progress and really improve your pronunciation is just practice and practice.  

It can be slow and boring, but it’s important. Just repeat yourself over and over again until you drive yourself mad.

You need to remember that you are never going to be able to say a word once and master it. You are going to have to say it a couple of times to get it right and to get comfortable with it. So just go for it, say a word 1000 times, it’s extreme, but after this much practice you will end up pronouncing it correctly.

The process works, you just have to put the work in and you will improve.

(You can read more about – Resources To Help With Your Speaking In A New Language)