Some people may wonder why it is important to learn better pronunciation in English. After all in recent times people have become more accepting of regional accents. However there are a number of instances where learning how to communicate more clearly can be beneficial.
There are numerous practical reasons why this is important. In recent times one of the biggest obstacles to people with regional accents is automatic menus and voice recognition systems. These unfortunately may not always be able to interpret how some people pronounce words.
Another practical problem that can occur is with automatic menu systems or computer games that use voice recognition. Unfortunately a number of these systems are flawed in the sense that they may not always be able to adapt to regional accents or dialects. This can then result in a lot of frustration as people attempt to clarify their speech patterns but find the machine still does not understand them.
In broad terms people tend to regard American or British pronunciation styles as the clearest. The main difference is in the rs and ts pronounced after a vowel or the amount of vowels used. The British style of pronunciation tends to use the largest range of vowel sounds. It is best to focus on one or the other in order to maintain consistency.
Broadly speaking the way you pronounce consonants in American and British styles of speech are pretty much the same. The main difference is that an r or a t will be pronounced differently after a vowel is spoken and the British style tends to use a larger range of vowel sounds.
Watching videos can also help as well. The additional benefit with this is that you can pause and rewind. This then means you can watch this over and over again. Eventually you will be able to mentally picture someone saying the word and then be able to replicate it without having to think about it too much as you learn almost on a subconscious level as opposed to trying to cram the information in as much as possible.
Another way to do this is to find things that you like as you are more likely to engage with it. Watch movies you like, listen to your favourite podcasts or comedy sketches. Comedy sketches are especially useful for this as they tend to only be a couple of minutes long and if they are funny enough they tend to stay in your head anyway and therefore learning those words are a bit easier.
In short there are both formal and informal ways to learn better pronunciation in English. This does not mean you cannot speak in your natural accent and nor is it about the right or wrong way to speak. However clearer communication can be useful and it is worth developing these skills to give you another way to help you communicate in more formal situations and avoid unnecessary embarrassment and frustration. Look online to find courses, video tutorials and other ways to help you pronounce words clearer in English.
There are numerous practical reasons why this is important. In recent times one of the biggest obstacles to people with regional accents is automatic menus and voice recognition systems. These unfortunately may not always be able to interpret how some people pronounce words.
Another practical problem that can occur is with automatic menu systems or computer games that use voice recognition. Unfortunately a number of these systems are flawed in the sense that they may not always be able to adapt to regional accents or dialects. This can then result in a lot of frustration as people attempt to clarify their speech patterns but find the machine still does not understand them.
In broad terms people tend to regard American or British pronunciation styles as the clearest. The main difference is in the rs and ts pronounced after a vowel or the amount of vowels used. The British style of pronunciation tends to use the largest range of vowel sounds. It is best to focus on one or the other in order to maintain consistency.
Broadly speaking the way you pronounce consonants in American and British styles of speech are pretty much the same. The main difference is that an r or a t will be pronounced differently after a vowel is spoken and the British style tends to use a larger range of vowel sounds.
Watching videos can also help as well. The additional benefit with this is that you can pause and rewind. This then means you can watch this over and over again. Eventually you will be able to mentally picture someone saying the word and then be able to replicate it without having to think about it too much as you learn almost on a subconscious level as opposed to trying to cram the information in as much as possible.
Another way to do this is to find things that you like as you are more likely to engage with it. Watch movies you like, listen to your favourite podcasts or comedy sketches. Comedy sketches are especially useful for this as they tend to only be a couple of minutes long and if they are funny enough they tend to stay in your head anyway and therefore learning those words are a bit easier.
In short there are both formal and informal ways to learn better pronunciation in English. This does not mean you cannot speak in your natural accent and nor is it about the right or wrong way to speak. However clearer communication can be useful and it is worth developing these skills to give you another way to help you communicate in more formal situations and avoid unnecessary embarrassment and frustration. Look online to find courses, video tutorials and other ways to help you pronounce words clearer in English.
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