 Monthly Archives
Categories
Pretend to pronounce...
Are you frustrated by how difficult it is to pronounce a new language? Don't be. There are easy things you can do to get better, and you're never too old to improve your pronunciation if you really work on it. First, know that listening to native speakers on your language CDs, radio, television, or music, even passively, does a lot for your pronunciation skills. So, load up your MP3 player with any kind of foreign language audio, and never put it down. You need to train your ear and learn to hear the sounds clearly in order to be able to pronounce them well. But distinguishing sounds well is just one part of the job. So, second, when you practice words and sentences, do it aloud, exaggerating their sounds and melodic intonation. When you speak a new language, your mouth is using all kinds of muscles it hasn't been using before, and they need workout before they can do what you'd like them to. As you speak the language, imagine that you're just trying to "act the language out," "pretend" that you are imitating a native speaker for fun. You might feel silly at first, but this will soon become what it is--speaking another language using a different set of muscles from those you've relied on all your life. Tags: language, newsletter, pronunciation
|
|||
