How to improve your pronunciation from your own home country

You might feel that to truly master the sounds, you need to be in a country where the language is spoken, but the truth is, you can make significant progress right from the comfort of your own home country. With the right resources, strategies, and mindset, you can refine your pronunciation, and sound more natural in any language – without the need for expensive travel. In this post, we’ll explore 5 practical tips and effective tools that can help you elevate your pronunciation, no matter where you are.

Shadowing is a powerful technique that can dramatically enhance your pronunciation, bringing you closer to sounding like a native English speaker. Think of it like mimicking an impression of your favourite movie star. This process involves listening to a recording of a native speaker and repeating their words, aiming to match their speech as closely and as swiftly as you can. Almost like a shadow following someone’s every move; but instead, you’re mirroring their voice, tone, and rhythm as you hear it, almost in real-time.

Look up a TED talk or podcast (preferably with a transcript – YouTube has a built-in function for this). Consider different speakers that speak at different rates, you may want to start with something that matches your current skill level. You might want to begin with a slower pace and increase it gradually as you get more comfortable. Here’s the key:

1. Find a voice recorder (your phone would do) and record yourself repeating what the speaker says, but pause after you repeat each sentence.
2. Then, listen to the recording of your voice and compare it with the speaker.
3. Repeat this process several times until you feel that you are closely matching the speaker’s rhythm, intonation, and pronunciation.

This is a great way to identify and address specific areas where your pronunciation differs! If you’re not sure what needs to adjust to improve your pronunciation, our team can assist.

Minimal pairs are pairs of words that are almost identical in pronunciation, except for one sound. This concept helps you focus on the subtle differences in sounds that can be difficult to distinguish. How can it help?

• Find someone to pronounce the minimal pair for you. Can you hear the difference?
• Then, try making the sounds yourself. See if others can tell the difference when you speak.

The idea is simple: Focus on the one sound you find challenging, and practice it in context. You don’t even need to worry bout all the other sounds surrounding it – just target the one you need to master.

Fun Fact: Minimal pairs go as far back as 1922 where a Dutch language learner wrote a poem “The Chaos”. Give the poem a read if you’re feeling ambitious!

considerAre you a Spanish speaker struggling with the aspirated /p/ sound? Or a Singaporean having trouble with the /θ/ sound, or a Korean who finds the labiodental /v/ and /f/ sounds tricky because it does not exist in your mother tongue?

We recently highlighted tongue twisters in our newsletter discussing whether tongue twisters actually help improve pronunciation and the answer is YES! Research shows that tongue twisters can make a significant difference. They help train not just the rhythm and sounds, but also your tongue position, which plays a crucial role in producing sounds in English correctly. The great thing is that you can practice them at the very comfort of your own home, making it a highly accessible method for pronunciation improvement. Here are some examples:

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
• Fifty fierce ferrets ventured to visit the very vast valley.

If you’d like more tailored help to improve your pronunciation, consider enrolling in Your Personalised English Pronunciation Audit. The Speechaus will pinpoint the exact sounds you’re struggling with and integrate a dedicated plan to progressing your personal pronunciation goals so that you can get efficient and powerful outcomes.

If you’re not familiar with the IPA, it stands for the International Phonetic Alphabet, a tool used to represent the sounds of spoken language. As we understand that English isn’t a phonetic language, the IPA provides clarity on how words should be pronounced, especially when you’re learning on your own. After all, how would you know how to pronounce a word if you’ve never heard a native speaker say it in your home country? That’s where the IPA comes in handy.

Check our tips guide on Phonetics to discover 10 reasons why you need phonetics in your life.

The phonetic symbols are more than just squiggly Roman alphabets that we see in the dictionary. Did you know that English has 26 letters that form about 46 distinct sounds (also known as phonemes)? The IPA includes symbols for each of those sounds, allowing you to accurately pronounce words you may have never heard before.

That way, when you come across a tricky word, you can look it up in a dictionary with its IPA transcription to assist you with understanding how to pronounce it correctly, even if you’ve never heard a native speaker say it.

Here at SPEECHAUS, we offer a unique advocacy-based approach that builds your speaking confidence in English. If you’re looking for professional support, our pronunciation clarification program is accessible worldwideAs we’re an Australian-based service, we bring with us the Australian based flair although we can most certainly target your English pronunciation preferences whether it’s British, American or any other English accents.

This form will take you from some FAQ’s about our courses in a fun way.

You will also get the chance to enter specific questions that our team will respond to. If you can’t find an answer to your question, try this form.