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IMPROVING YOUR  PRONUNCIATION

This page is still under construction. Nevertheless, here are a few suggestions for improving your pronunciation.

  1. Mimic recordings of native speakers. You need the tape scripts to do this. Many of you use those Cambridge practice test books (which are excellent!) and the Listening tests from those books can be used for mimicking after you have used them as tests. (Don't waste these especially written tests by studying them slowly before you use them to test yourself under test conditions. After you have used them as tests, then it is a good idea to study them more slowly.

'Mimicking' means copying everything about the way the speaker speaks, as exactly as you can, not just repeating the basic word pronunciation.

Similarly, mimicking the recordings in excellent British English books such as "Headway" will help you improve a lot.

Another excellent source of materials for mimicking is 'Side by Side'. This book and the recordings are American English but using those books, along with the recordings, is one of the best ways available to self-study spoken English. However, there are times when the speakers in the 'Side by Side' recordings speak a little unnaturally slowly. This is understandable since the book is about grammar much more than about pronunciation.

Overall, mimic imported recordings of native speakers, not domestically produced materials, which are inferior because the native speakers in those materials are not professional actors.

  1. Check the page on this website for 'Common Pronunciation Errors'.
  2. Practice speaking contracted English. See the web page on this site for this.
  3. Practice speaking English with the sounds linked. For example, don't say, "In/o/ther/words" but instead say it as, "I/no/ther/words."
  4. Try to understand and practice how to put the stress on two-word combinations. See the section for this on this website for this. That page has a "diagnostic test" to help you see how much you know about where to put the stress on two-word combinations. If you want to skip the test, just go straight to the lists of different word combinations here: http://www.yasi-kouyu.com.cn/WORD_COMBINATION_LISTS.htm. But if you don't understand the explanations on those pages, try going to the answers page for the diagnostic test for a more detailed explanation.
  5. Remember: watching foreign movies will do very little to improve your pronunciation because when you watch a movie you are only listening, not speaking.
  6. Reading aloud is useful but only after you are quite sure that your pronunciation is correct. Do a lot of mimicking practice first.