Tips for speaking English with neutral accent and correct pronunciations
The Americans, the British and the
Aussies all speak the same language, English. If you listen carefully,
you will find a drastic difference in their pronunciations. This
difference in pronunciation is what brings about so many different
accents.
Accent Neutralisation
English accents change a lot within India. Every region has its own way of pronouncing the letters and words. Sometimes it becomes difficult for a native speaker to perceive all these differences, thus making the colloquial form of Indian English bit hard to understand.
This is where neutralizing the accent comes into play. You learn to speak not the American or the British English, but the right way to speak the English language. You shed all your typical Indian pronunciations and learn to speak English that is neutral and easily understandable.
Neutralisation tips
Drop the tune of your native tongue. English has its own tune and voice modulation. Do not drag the English words to the tune of your vernacular language. If your native tongue has a musical touch to it, lose that while speaking English. This would be the first step to neutralising.
Listen to newsreaders. Watch how their mouths move while pronouncing each word. Listening and observing are the best way to learn. Practice the mouth movements slowly. Practice this for words used in day-to-day conversation.
Use a dictionary to learn phonetics. Phonetics is the pronunciation of letters in a word. A letter has a certain pronunciation. But when it comes in a word it might have a different sound. To learn this, dictionary is the best. The phonetic symbols will help you learn the correct way to pronounce the word.
Stress is an important part of speech. Every word has a certain stress given to it either at the beginning, end or somewhere in the middle. Shifting the stress can even change the meaning. Learning the correct stress points of the words is important to communicate clearly.
For example, pro’nounce has a stress on the ‘n’ and pro’nunci’ation has stresses on ‘n’ and ‘a’. The syllable before the stress mark is pronounced for a short time.
Next thing to concentrate is diction. Diction is articulating the words. Articulation is pronouncing the words in the right manner. Clarity in diction will result in clear pronunciation of words. The pace of speech, modulation of words and sentence construction while speaking, mark diction.
Few tips on pronunciation
With a neutral accent, you can communicate well any native English speaker. Neutralise your accent first and then go on to master other native English accents. Practice is the key to success.
Read more articles on how to improve English speaking
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English accents change a lot within India. Every region has its own way of pronouncing the letters and words. Sometimes it becomes difficult for a native speaker to perceive all these differences, thus making the colloquial form of Indian English bit hard to understand.
This is where neutralizing the accent comes into play. You learn to speak not the American or the British English, but the right way to speak the English language. You shed all your typical Indian pronunciations and learn to speak English that is neutral and easily understandable.
Neutralisation tips
Drop the tune of your native tongue. English has its own tune and voice modulation. Do not drag the English words to the tune of your vernacular language. If your native tongue has a musical touch to it, lose that while speaking English. This would be the first step to neutralising.
Listen to newsreaders. Watch how their mouths move while pronouncing each word. Listening and observing are the best way to learn. Practice the mouth movements slowly. Practice this for words used in day-to-day conversation.
Use a dictionary to learn phonetics. Phonetics is the pronunciation of letters in a word. A letter has a certain pronunciation. But when it comes in a word it might have a different sound. To learn this, dictionary is the best. The phonetic symbols will help you learn the correct way to pronounce the word.
Stress is an important part of speech. Every word has a certain stress given to it either at the beginning, end or somewhere in the middle. Shifting the stress can even change the meaning. Learning the correct stress points of the words is important to communicate clearly.
For example, pro’nounce has a stress on the ‘n’ and pro’nunci’ation has stresses on ‘n’ and ‘a’. The syllable before the stress mark is pronounced for a short time.
Next thing to concentrate is diction. Diction is articulating the words. Articulation is pronouncing the words in the right manner. Clarity in diction will result in clear pronunciation of words. The pace of speech, modulation of words and sentence construction while speaking, mark diction.
Few tips on pronunciation
- Many words in English are just half pronounced while speaking. For example, ‘better’ is pronounced as ‘bet-uh’. The ‘r’ in the end is not pronounced fully.
- ‘R’ is merely ‘aar’ and not ‘aarrr’. The tongue vibrates just once, unlike the vernacular ‘rra’ sound.
- The ‘o’ sound of No, know, so, source, etc is not just o, but ‘ou’. The o is dragged a little bit.
- The words starting with ‘w’ should NOT be pronounced as the vernacular ‘va’. The teeth do not touch the lower lips as they would do in ‘v’. For a ‘w’, the lips should make a small o while pronouncing the ‘w’. Try pronouncing ‘went’ and ‘vent’; ‘wow’ and ‘vow’; ‘wine’ and ‘vine’. You will understand the difference.
With a neutral accent, you can communicate well any native English speaker. Neutralise your accent first and then go on to master other native English accents. Practice is the key to success.
Read more articles on how to improve English speaking
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