Improving your pronunciation

Some of you might wonder how they could get better while reading or speaking English.
Here are a few good tips:

1. You'd better learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which is a series of symbols standing for the different sounds of the English language. (Where can you find the symbols?  See further)

When you know the symbols or if you can at least recognize them, you'll be able to pronounce any word in English. That's interesting when you learn new words or look them up in your dictionary.
The fact is when you learn new words, you should always learn how to pronounce them correctly as well.
If you don't know how to pronounce the words 'Psychology' or 'Psychological' properly, you can check their pronunciation (phonetic transcription) in your dictionary - including which syllables need to be stressed:  /saɪ 'kɒləʤɪ / or /,saɪkə'lɒʤɪkəl /. 

But you can also check online dictionaries for learners of English, for instance the Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/

For the two aforementioned words:

 http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/psychology?q=psychology

 http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/psychological?q=psychological


You can also click on the red (British English) or blue (American English) speaker icon if you want to hear the word.
 

 

 

And you are of course given a definition of the word.

 

2. You should try and imitate the way English (or Americans if you prefer) speak their language. So just listen to what and how a native speaker says something and try to make the same sounds.

 

3. Watch films or series only in English (preferably with English subtitles). The more films or series you watch in their original language, the better you are at understanding and... speaking (with the appropriate pronunciation and word stress) and the more vocabulary you acquire.

 

4. Find resources on the internet to improve your pronunciation (BBC; YouTube pronunciation sites; pronunciation exercises...).

 

Here is a very popular site for learners of English - don't hesitate to add it to your favourites:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/


Or on YouTube: The Introduction.

And the first programme: The Sounds of English.

On the BBC page, you'll find the symbols of English.
When you click on a symbol, you'll be taken to another page where you can watch a video about that particular sound.
You know now what to do: click on the following link and get started!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/