Contents
Is bad English pronunciation becoming a stumbling block in your way to success, especially in the professional world? Read this particular piece of writing and shine as a star of excellent pronunciation in the English language.
Introduction
However strong you may be in the usage of grammar and grammatical rules along with the bombardment of various difficult vocabularies, your English language will still lack the clarity and the sense of natural part of yours if you do not have good command over English pronunciation. In the context of speaking English, because here we are not talking about writing English, you should know the actual pronunciation of the words, and you should pronounce the words the way they should actually be pronounced.
Don’t get confused between pronunciation and accent
Pronunciation and accent are two different things, and you must know them very well to strike the difference between the both. The principal difference between these two words is the way we pronounce a particular word.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, pronunciation means “the way in which a word or letter is said, or said correctly, or the way in which a language is spoken.” On the other hand, according to the same dictionary, accent means “the way in which people in a particular area, country, or social group pronounce words.”
Should you follow pronunciation or accent? My take!
As mentioned above, accent is related to a region, a place, or location, whereas pronunciation means the way a letter should actually be said or spoken in a correct way. Due to this reason, I feel that when we are talking about English in the Indian context, we should better stick to pronunciation and not try to follow the accent. There can be so many accents of English, it can be British, American, Australian, Canadian, etc. So, following the accent may not look as natural as following the pronunciation. Therefore the best thing, in my view, for English speaking/learning population of India will be to make the pronunciation correct to the greatest extent and know about the accent as well, but they should not follow the accent of any of the countries; otherwise, most of the time the accent will look fake and awkward at the same time.
What can you do to improve your English pronunciation?
There is no any shortcut way to improve pronunciation overnight, but it is important for you to follow some of the simple steps on a regular basis, and you will see that your English pronunciation is just getting better and better with the passage of time. Know some of the methods given as follows and follow them as often as possible in your everyday speaking, reading as well as listening.
1. Focus on where you should stress and where you should not stress a particular word.
2. You should also focus on the stretching of a word because some words are stretched less, and some words are stretched more while pronouncing and the stretching of a word also depends on the context of speaking that particular word.
3. It is always the best idea for you to follow some of the experts who are well versed in English speaking and they are very careful about pronouncing English words correctly.
4. Listening to panel discussions with experts from various fields who speak neutral English to pronounce the words correctly for everyone to understand in the simplest possible manner will also be an added advantage.
5. We have seen many good English speakers throughout India in spite of the fact that the accent of every state of India is different from one another. They have emerged as good speakers because they have given the focus on English pronunciation by continuous listening and speaking practice.
6. It will be great if you follow the online pronunciation tools to improve your English pronunciation because you also get to know the pronunciation of any word in audio, which will help in improving your English pronunciation. So visiting especially Cambridge dictionary and Oxford dictionary official websites to know the pronunciation of any word will be fruitful.
7. It will also be a great thing for pronunciation-improving aspirants to refer to the tools of Hindi pronunciation of English words to improve English pronunciation because it is also a helpful thing for English learners of India.
8. It is important to stop the habit of looking at the meaning and closing the dictionary because, it is more important for you to look at the pronunciation of the word first before looking at the meaning. So make your habit of knowing the pronunciation of a new word first and then proceed to know the meaning of that particular word.
Final Point
It is not a very difficult thing for English learners of India to improve the pronunciation, but yes, it is a time-taking thing because English learners of India come from different backgrounds speaking different languages, and for many speakers, it may be problematic to pronounce a particular word correctly instantaneously. Therefore there will be a requirement of repeating a word again and again correctly as many times as possible for utmost benefits.
Read more – How to Improve Communication Skills
I’m Mohammad Zahid Hussain, a Content Writer, Spoken English, IELTS and PTE Trainer. I’m also a Professional English-Hindi and Hindi-English Translator, Editor and Proofreader. I’m a graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia University, and I’m here to share my articles on a wide range of topics to help you enhance your insights into various things to provide you with factual information and creative analysis.
