English is not my native language and I'm really proud of being able to write it quite well. I have lots of problems with pronunciation though. In Finnish most words are pronounced the same as they are written and I've made a huge mistake by learning only how the words are written. I've now decided to become at least average speaker.
I'd like hear to better/more enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation than violently forcing my friends to speak English with me.
Listening to something that has been narrated can be pretty effective. Like listening to a book on tape while actually following along with the print version. English tends to have an awful lot of nonsensical rules and pronunciations, so the best thing to do is to just plain immerse yourself in the language (listen to it).
The hardest but most effective way to learn pronunciation is to first of all learn how to read phonetic notation and master the pronunciation of every symbol (I stick to the International Phonetic Alphabet - IPA). You should keep a dictionary handy, practicing how to pronounce each word as many times as possible, whenever you happen to look up a word in it. The next thing is to get a good book on phonetics/pronunciation. Usually, you will find words grouped according to vowel sounds, etc. Practice, practice, practice! Speak each word with impeccable pronunciation until you sound stupid and begin to make fun of yourself.
Sure, watching movies and TV, and listening to tapes and CDs help. However, the sure-fire way to achieve a solid knowledge of pronunciation is to speak as much as you can, to yourself and to others, using the tried and tested method of mastering phonetic transcriptions of as many words as possible. Enunciate the words slowly and deliberately. If you do this well enough, people should begin to make fun of you. That's when you know you are doing things right. Then go anywhere in the English-speaking world and you will be sure to sound like a native speaker, regardless of the accent.
I am Spanish. Almost all my knowledge of the English language comes from:
It takes its time, though, I have been learning for 10 years now and I can't say that my spoken English is 100% fluent, although good enough to maintain a decent conversation. I am now so used to my BBC radio and TV that if someday they stop the service I think I will move to the UK !
Also, although I seldom do it myself, I know other fellow Spaniards use the chats (with audio of course, or even webcam) to practice their English. There are some special rooms (at Yahoo at least) for English practicing, but once you have decently fluent English you are better joining a room of anything you like, even if just for listening to "normal" English.
And a final little trick: I have used my smart phone to record my own voice while reading English and then play it. This way you can hear your mistakes much better.
We all know English words are sometimes not pronounced as they're written, but we should also bear in mind that some words have multiple pronunciations. The right one depends entirely on context.
I have a German friend whose spoken English was excellent. But once, when asked if he was happy, he replied, "Yes, I'm quite content," with the stress on the first syllable. I said, "you mean content!" "That's what I said". "Well, not exactly..."
Content (noun) has the stress on the first syllable, Content (adjective) on the second.
Consider a word like "read". Pronounced "red" for past tenses, "reed" for present and future tenses.
We know the pronunciation only by discerning the meaning of the passage. Sometimes not even the whole sentence can betray the meaning without the wider context as in examples 2 and 3.
A quick tip: if you need to look up the pronunciation of a word in actual sound, you can use howjsay.com: it has a very large database with decent pronunciations, including many inflected forms and compounds.
For a quick way to look up words in Howjsay, you could use the Firefox extension Easy Drag To Go: with it, you can select a word on a web page, simply drag it to the left (or any direction you choose), and it will automatically be looked up in Howjsay in a new tab. You need to install Howjsay as a search engine for that to work, then assign it to a direction in the options menu of Easy Drag To Go. Note that you can find search engines for many, many sites if you just Google for them ("firefox search engine howjsay" is how I found this one).
If you want to create your own menu to look up anything in any search website you like, starting from any program in your computer all over Windows, just by selecting a word and typing a hotkey, I recommend Clever Keys. When you select a word and type, say, alt+m, a menu will pop up with a choice of your customized search websites (you can add any URL you like), and your word will automatically be looked up in a new tab in your default internet browser.
You need a mouse-gestures program like the marvellous StrokeIt if you want to use gestures instead of hotkeys. Should anyone need help with any of this, let me know.
I'm German and to practice pronunciation I listen to the following podcasts:
Just pick what you like, so far, I did not encounter one that wasn't good, considering the English. However, I cannot really judge, as I'm not a native speaker ;)
I found that the best way is to listen to audiobooks. What I do:
But ideally you need an MP3 player that can repeat phrases easily. I recommend you to try WorkAudioBook player — there are Windows and Android version of it. Workaudiobook player with support of subtitles
Subscribe to a podcast that offers practice in English phonetics and pronunciation practice. Speakmoreclearly.com is a podcast I subscribe to although English is my first language. This website offers a choice of accents (British, American and Australian)
How about while jogging on the beach with a mouth full of marbles? Could be fun. Or a choking hazard. Accepting this advice constitutes a legal agreement that neither you nor your surviving kin will sue.
There have been some good answers here, particularly that of AJweb.
However, there is one other point, worth making about pronunciation. There is not one, particular way of pronouncing English. This is because of the big differences in the forms of English that are spoken around the world. They involve different accents, as well. Accents have a very big effect on pronunciation.
As with learning English generally, it is best to decide before you even start which form you want to learn. In terms of pronunciation, this means deciding if you want to learn a particular accent of the English-speaking world — or not.
If you do, you should look for resources that will expose you to it. For example, if you want to learn an American accent, look for American resources. Listen to American films and television programmes, or practice with Americans.
If you don't want to learn a particular accent, but want to pronounce British English neutrally, you should look for resources that will expose you to English English. That is, the pronunciation of English people without a particular regional accent. What is also called "British English". For example, listen to BBC radio, watch British television or, speak to British people.
Although there are plenty of regional, British accents they are generally not as different from each other as they are from non-British accents of the English-speaking world. This is of good quality, is neutral (without an accent), and can generally be understood around the world.
Decide who your audience will be.
If you mainly or only want to speak English to people who speak in a particular accent (for example, American English or Australian English), you can learn that accent. Even then, it is not always necessary.
If you mainly want to speak to English speakers generally (whichever form they speak), you don't have to learn an accent. You can learn neutral pronunciation, which will be sufficient.
