Enhance pronunciation in English to communicate fluently like a native speaker

Mr. Tú Phạm provides some excellent strategies to enhance pronunciation in English, aimed at helping Preppies reach a level of communication that meets international standards. It's crucial to approach this article with a genuine commitment to perfecting your pronunciation. Thus, be vigilant in recognizing and recording the frequent errors you encounter!

I. Eliminating the Influence of Your Mother Tongue in English Pronunciation

How to enhance English pronunciation? The first pronunciation tip that PREP wants to introduce to you is to eliminate the influence of your mother tongue in English pronunciation. Pronunciation is a significant criterion in the Speaking section of international English exams, such as the IELTS (which accounts for 25% of the score). If your pronunciation is excellent, it will make a highly important impression when you engage in English communication, such as interviews or presentations.

The most challenging obstacle to overcome to enhance pronunciation in English is the deep-rooted influence of the native language since childhood. Below, PREP will explain why your mother tongue has a significant impact on your ability to pronounce English.

In the English alphabet, some sounds are distinct from your mother tongue. However, foreign language students tend to use sounds from their mother tongue to pronounce English words. For example, below are some cases in Vietnamese:

• The first is the word "tree." Many students mistakenly pronounce this word as 'tri'. But in reality, it consists of the sounds 't' and 'r,' which are pronounced consecutively in English.
• Another familiar word is "thing." In English, it is entirely different, with a different sound produced by placing the tongue outside the teeth, symbolized as 'θ.'

Therefore, the pronunciation tip is that you must accurately distinguish all the different sounds between English and your mother tongue. Here are some examples:

• θ - as in 'think'
• ð - as in 'this'
• s - as in 'silence'
• ʃ - as in 'sheep'
• ʤ - as in 'judge'
• j - as in 'your'
• Depending on the region, there may be other sounds that students commonly mispronounce, such as l, n, or r, for example.

II. Deep Memory - Long Understanding of English Word Stress

English is characterized by its use of multiple syllables in words, in contrast to some languages that predominantly use single syllables. This linguistic difference means that speakers of such languages may not initially have the habit of identifying word stress when they begin learning English pronunciation. Despite understanding the importance of emphasizing word stress, it's common to overlook this aspect in real-life conversations.

Moreover, learners who neglect pronunciation practice when starting to learn English are likely to have mispronounced numerous English vocabulary words, potentially numbering in the hundreds or even thousands, from the outset. Test this by reading some elementary words and cross-referencing them with a dictionary to spot any errors.

• Police
• Necessary
• Management

Therefore, knowing only word stress is not enough. The tip to enhance pronunciation in English here is that you must have a training method to deeply remember and always produce word stress correctly when speaking. And more importantly, you must constantly review your entire English vocabulary system from the past to see if you have remembered the word stress correctly or not.

III. Always Have a Practice Partner

The challenge of pronouncing final consonants in words is a universal issue, isn't it? Despite being a widely acknowledged problem, its apparent simplicity means it demands your attention. Numerous individuals, including learners with IELTS scores of 7.0 and above, frequently make this mistake.

In some languages, final consonants such as (s, z) are not used, and when consonants like (t, k) occur, they're not pronounced with an audible release of breath. As a result, speakers might unknowingly make pronunciation errors.

Interestingly, the majority of these mistakes involve the simpler, more straightforward consonants (s, z, t, d) rather than the more complex clusters like -ts, -sts, -kt, -kts.

To improve pronunciation, it's beneficial to practice speaking with a partner who can attentively listen to and identify any mistakes. This partner should have a sharp ear for detecting errors and be diligent enough to help you correct them.

IV. Conclusion

This article has provided the most accurate tips to enhance pronunciation in English to help you effectively study and achieve high scores in English exams. Enhance your speaking skills with the Virtual Speaking Room feature at Prep, integrated into IELTS courses at Prep.