How to Improve English Pronunciation Skills

It's an undeniable fact that there's no correspondence between the spelling and pronunciation of words in English: the spelling and pronunciation of words are different. Therefore, it becomes a great challenge for English language learners to pronounce words correctly. 

Similarly, it's also a fact that pronunciation skills can be improved by working on it. And the ways to work on pronunciation skills and perfect them are given here in this article. 

This article covers:

• 5 tips and ways to improve English pronunciation skills
• Learn the IPA
• Learn English phonology 
• Use a standard English dictionary 
• Practice pronouncing words 
• Listen to native speakers
• FAQs - How to improve English pronunciation skills

How to Improve English Pronunciation Skills?

Are you good at English pronunciation? If yes, then pronounce these most common English words. 

How do you pronounce this word? 

1. Vocabulary 

How about this one?

2. Lengthy

And how about this one? 

3. To present

The correct pronunciations of these three words are:

If you are pronouncing these words in any other ways, you're mispronouncing the words. You see, after looking at the pronunciations of these words and deeply thinking, we come to know the following facts about pronunciation.

• 1. Pronunciation is a way of saying a word correctly
• 2. Pronunciation decides whether or not you'll be understood by others.
• 3.There must be a body of rules that governs the system of English pronunciation and guides the learners of English as to how to correctly say a particular English word. 

So, here come our first and second tips that you must follow if you're really willing to work on and perfect your pronunciation skills. 

5 Essential Tips and Tricks to Improve English Pronunciation

1. Learn the IPA

If you're attached to language learning, you may have noticed the fact that there's no correspondence between the spelling and pronunciation of a word in a given language. 

The International Phonetic Association, therefore, came up with the idea of the International Phonetic Alphabet. IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet) represents the sounds of spoken languages. 

When you learn the IPA, you actually learn the sounds used in different languages of the world in a general way. When learning the IPA, your focus should be on the sounds of one language—the language you're learning. The symbols of the IPA represent all the sounds used in different languages of the world. 

The reason why Super English Grammar encourages you to learn the IPA is that English dictionaries use the IPA for transcription. That is, English dictionaries give the pronunciations of their words using the international phonetic alphabets.

Wait a minute. Only learning the IPA is not enough, because, you see, when you learn the IPA, you actually learn the symbols that represent the sounds of spoken languages. But, to perfect your English pronunciation, you're required to learn the English phonology wherein you study various sounds of English and the ways to produce those sounds.

So, here comes our second tip. That is:

 

2. Learn English Phonology 

English phonology is the system of speech sounds used in spoken English. When you're learning English phonology, you're particularly learning the sounds of the English language.

While learning the English phonology, you study topics like phonemes, consonant sounds, vowel sounds, allophones, phonotactics, syllables, stress, intonation, etc. 

When learning the IPA, you should learn only the symbols which represent the sounds of the English language. 

Once you've learned the IPA and English phonology, it's time that you follow our tips 3, 4 and 5. These third, fourth and fifth tips are actually practical in nature, because when you learn the IPA and English phonology, you learn the theory, and you follow the 3, 4 and 5 tips, you do it practically. 

Our tip three is: 

3. Use a Standard Dictionary (online or offline)

It's been already mention to you that many of English dictionaries use the IPA to indicate the pronunciation of words

So, you're going to either use online or offline dictionaries. From now on, you're going to not only look up the meaning of a particular word but also the pronunciation of it. 

The English dictionaries which use the IPA for phonetic transcription indicate the pronunciation of words by writing it against them.

When it comes to learning pronunciation of English words, online dictionaries are preferable, because the online dictionaries have written pronunciation and audio pronunciation as well. 

Once you have a deep understanding of the IPA, English phonology and English dictionary, it's high time that you do some exercise. Here comes our fourth tip. that is: 

4. Practice Pronouncing Words.

You've learned the symbols which represent the sounds of the English language in the IPA; you've learned consonants and vowels sounds, syllables, stress, intonation, etc., while learning English phonology; you know how to use and understand the phonetic transcription of a dictionary. 

 Like the meaning of a word, you can't actually guess the pronunciation of a particular word. So, from now on, you're going to use an online dictionary for learning pronunciation.

 

5. Listen to Native Speakers

After learning the IPA, English phonology and consulting a particular English dictionary, and doing some practice, you become able to pronounce words correctly. 

But are you actually pronouncing those words correctly? For that purpose, you are going to listen to native speakers of English. You'll noticing how you pronounce some certain words. 

You have a list of things to do when it comes to listening to native speakers. You can can watch English news channels, movies, stand up comedies, speeches, etc.

FAQs - How to improve English pronunciation skills 

What is pronunciation?

In simple words, pronunciation is the way of saying a word with the help of speech organs-the organs that are engaged in producing or articulating words.

How to improve English pronunciation skills?

1. Learn the IPA (The International Phonetic Alphabet).
2. Learn the English phonology. 
3. Use a standard English dictionary.
4. Practice pronouncing words.
5. Listen to native speakers of English.