Pronunciation Post #1

“Good pronunciation should be one of the first things that you learn in English.”
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronuncwhy.htm

Today, I start with my pronunciation diary which is about my strategy on improving my US-American accent. 

 Admittedly, I’ve never paid too much attention to the pronunciation aspect of learning English as I’ve always been pretty content with how I pronounce words. I’ve always been well aware of the fact that English spoken by a native sounds different, but I couldn’t find out how it differs from the way I pronounce words. Last week I found out. I was assigned to record my own voice while doing some pronunciation exercises in order to get some feedback from my English teacher. By looking at the evaluations, I was glad my pronunciation is OK. However, a couple of errors were found in my record:

·         p vs. b: paper pad, bed, bee

·         voiced z: sizes

·         $ 27.69: read out a price

I’m glad that I had my record evaluated because now I know exactly what needs to be improved. So, after I got the feedback, I took some time to find out how to boost my pronunciation skills best:

Amy Walker
She is out and away the best tutor when it comes to acquiring an American accent. Because of being immensely skilled in talking in a number of English accents, she knows what matters most to imitate an American native speaker. She even has her own website, called 21 Accents, which is worthwhile visiting! I made a list of the vowel sounds that are typically American and I think I will put it over my bed or somewhere else I often see it so I remind myself of working on my pronunciation regularly. Another good idea is to record my voice (although I don’t really feel comfortable listening to my speaking) in order to compare my pronunciation with, for example, Amy’s. Basically, I became enthusiastic about this idea while reading Dominik Abe Berger's blog. Thank you, Dominik!

Antimoon Pronunciation Test
-> http://www.antimoon.com/how/test-pronunciation/test.php
On this page you can test your pronunciation. It will only take you 2 minutes and at the end of the page there is some advice what can be done to improve pronunciation skills, dependent on how well you did on the test. I took the test just some minutes ago and I believe I again did OK, although making some mistakes. One of the tips they’ve given me is to visit this website to download a software that apparently perfects your pronunciation. Unfortunately, I can’t afford buying it. Another suggestion on accent reduction is to look up pronunciations in dictionaries. Admittedly, I’ve hoped I can resist working with the phonetic alphabet. Well, but now I think I should really begin to force myself using it. Not only is it one of the things the website recommends to do to boost pronunciation skills, but I was told by actual people that it would be very beneficial. Ok… it’s time to give in then, I guess. But as working on my pronunciation is surprisingly fun, I hope that studying (with) the phonetic alphabet will be a pleasure too!

What is your approach to improving speaking in the one accent you’re opting for? Let me know, as I’m always open for new strategies and ideas :-)

That’s it for today. You will read more on pronunciation soon!

Have a nice evening!