Learning English for many of our readers may not be as simple a task as it may seem at first glance. Like, what's there: buy self-help books, audio course — and learn. As a last resort, you can enroll in a local language learning school or use audio lessons and various interactive classes via Skype or foreign language learning platforms like LinguaLeo.
Today we will give 5 recommendations that will help you improve your pronunciation on your own, and also 5 — for those who want to learn to better understand the interlocutor and perceive spoken English "by ear".
Work on pronunciation: good pronunciation will help you achieve mutual understanding in conversation with those for whom English is their native language. There are three different levels of pronunciation, and most of those who study English use all three levels anyway. In order to use all three and improve your pronunciation, we recommend you various lessons and audio courses.
Listen to as many broadcasts and podcasts in English as possible: most beginners prefer to read a lot, but they don't listen to much broadcasts and “live” English speech. First of all, start with listening, and then move on to constant reading and writing. Spend more time on audio lessons and listening to different pronunciation options, accents and stylistics of English speech. In addition, a good help will be the practice of reading aloud, pronouncing monologues and dialogues in the faces aloud and repeating the spoken words after the teacher or audio recording.
Read aloud often and a lot. In this, however, there are a couple of difficulties:
Not everyone is given just the formulation of thoughts in English words
Not everyone is given pronunciation the first time
Reading aloud will help solve the second problem by developing skills. To improve your pronunciation, read large texts aloud several times. The words that cause you the greatest difficulties should be repeated a couple of times separately: the first time slowly, the second time at an accelerated pace so that it sounds as natural as possible.
Memorize whole phrases, not individual words. When you have learned a new word, then learn some whole phrase or sentence with it. Repeat this phrase or sentence up to 10 times in a row so that the sound becomes as natural as possible, and the pronunciation is relaxed.
Oral lessons and audio courses, as well as various thematic educational podcasts in English, will help you improve your speaking skills.
In communication , your openness and naturalness of communication is often more important than following all the rules of grammar. Sometimes it is better to say “not in a bookish way,” but at the same time convey the right idea to your interlocutor than to suffer for a long time, looking for words and formulating a complex grammatical construction.
In a conversation with your interlocutor, speak slowly . Too fast speech with an accent and mistakes will not make you “look like” someone who knows English since childhood. Slow pronunciation and unhurried speech have their own “advantages”:
You have time to think about what exactly you are going to say.
Your speech will be clearer and clearer for the interlocutor.
Over time and as you actively communicate with “native speakers”, your English will improve, speech will become smoother and faster.
Practice thinking in English. Translate “thoughts in your head” from your native language to English, practice pronouncing and formulating sentences and phrases to yourself, thinking about events and what is happening in English, not just in Russian.
If you have forgotten a word, then try to replace it with other words or a description of the “forgotten” concept. Often beginners in learning English “stumble” in oral communication with other interlocutors, having forgotten a word or definition. Don't get lost: use synonyms, antonyms, descriptive concepts, analogies.
And most importantly — don't be nervous and keep a positive attitude! Conversation — is not an exam, no one here requires you to have high grades and a thorough command of English. Be patient, be positive in your attitude to the interlocutor, don't be nervous for no reason and just learn new things: for this purpose, English as one of the key languages of international communication is the best fit.
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