Honing a perfect English-speaking accent sounds even more difficult than learning vocabulary and grammar. It has nothing to do with its tough nature. It is because you do not want to go out of your comfort zone. I’ll look so awkward and my accent sucks. Do not think such crap about yourself. Yeah, it’s hard to fit in a changing accent especially; when you speak with a person who is familiar with your previous accent. It takes years of deliberate hard work and enthusiastic training to fit in a native accent.
Your accent can’t be perfect unless your pronunciation is perfect. To be good at your English-speaking accent, you have to focus on English pronunciation in the first place. Let’s have a look at the most basic and important tips to make your accent and pronunciation sound like a native speaker.
Follow-ups to hone your English speaking accent and pronunciation:
We have got 100% working tips to help you improve quickly. But the condition is you have to practice all the tips regularly by fixing a time out of your busy routine.
1-Learn alphabets pronunciation:
Learning how to pronounce English alphabets is the basic step to improve your pronunciation as well as accent. You have to focus on the pronunciation of A, C, H, I, K, P, Q, and T alphabets mainly. Just google these alphabets and listen to the pronunciation repeatedly and pronounce them by yourself. If you will be successful in pronouncing these words and use them in your daily conversation you will feel a remarkable change in your accent. Focus on the pronunciation of vowels as well as constants.
2-Reading out loud:
Reading out loud can help to know about your pronunciation as well as your accent. You can feel the twisting of your tongue and the opening of your mouth if you read loudly. Every time you come across an exotic word look for its pronunciation and accent. Start reading your academic books, lectures, emails, and text out loud with proper pronunciation and accent. It’s a better way to improve English alone while reading at least one page per day.
3-Imitate expert or native speaker and learn silent words:
First, select one native speaker as your role model at English pronunciation and accent. Imitate him properly by looking at his body language and speaking style. How he stresses and softens words and how does he use intonation. Follow him properly, and try to know the flow in conversation and how he use contraction and slang words. Keep an eye on all of these things and follow him perfectly, the day will be no far you will speak like him.
You’ll notice they mostly change the t sound to the d sound when it is, in between two vowels. They mostly use R in different ways under different situations, focus on the pronunciation of these words. The major headache for ESL speakers is mostly, they do not know how to pronounce some words as it happens in the case of silent alphabets. If you listen to native speakers attentively; it will also help you get rid of this problem.
4-Watching English videos and focusing on contractions:
This the age of social media and we daily come across different English videos sometimes, in the form of a Facebook post, sometimes in the form of someone’s status, and sometimes on youtube, listen to them. You can watch any English video that suits you and imitate the speaker’s accent and pronunciation. If you can understand their accent once give it more tries. At the end of the day, you’ll be able to understand that video at least 95% that isn’t a negligible success. You will mostly notice native speaker that they use contractions while speaking inflow. That’s something that can you pick up from them to add up to your accent improvement. Sometimes native speakers skip/soften or change a letter at the end of the words and sometimes in middle, you have to notice all of these words.
5-Carefully practice intonation and stress:
An effective pronunciation and accent are more difficult to attain than vocabulary. While watching or listening to any video try to master intonation( the gradual ups and downs in your voice). Watch carefully how they stress some words and leave others unchanged. Sometimes some words and sounds are more crystal clear while others seem even difficult; to recognize. It is exactly what you have to have a grip on it. Sing poems, read books, practice your lecture out loud while focusing on intonation and stress. This makes your speaking English more attractive than using the same flow for the whole sentence.
6-Look yourself and look at your accent:
Stand in front of your room’s mirror, and start repeating your routine out loud in front of the mirror. No one can ever inform you how you look while you pronounce a particular word. They can not even explain how your accent sounds to others. So, the simple way to know about your body language is to watch yourself in the mirror. And to know how your accent sounds to others is to record your audio or chat with your friends through voice message and then listen to it to get a better idea about your mistakes. Correct it!
7-Get a perfect language buddy:
Having a language practicing buddy who has an interest in the same language is a great blessing. He can point out your mistakes perfectly. He can recommend you proper tips, can inform you about your pronunciation and accent. You can practice whatever you learn new with him. It can also save time for both of you as you both can inform each other about new hacks to know and how to apply them in your conversation.
Conclusion:
A good accent and pronunciation have a direct impact on others. They give importance to your accent even if they don’t understand what you are saying. So, you have to need to focus on practicing your pronunciation and accent; in the first place.
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