Search results for 'tag:Pronunciation tag:Speak english' matching tags 'Pronunciation' and 'Speak english'

Re: What about my accent ? Listen and comment please :)

sumryan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:47:28 GMT

Hi Chris,

Right now your speech seems rather flat.Â Since English is a stress timed language you need to stress the most important words in each sentence. The other words can be reduced (as you are saying them now).

The first thing you could do to improve the way you sound is to stress the most important words in each sentence or 'thought group'. I have bolded these in the text below.Â

Also pauseÂ brieflyÂ between each thought group as indicated by the /.

Actress Katie Holmes/ completed the New York City Marathon/ on Sunday.Â

Tom Cruise's wife/ joined thousands of other people/ to take part in the 42-kilometer race.Â

Cruise and their daughter SuriÂ /waited at the finish line/ for Holmes to complete the race.Â

Paula Radcliffe, /who gave birth to a baby nine months ago/, won the race.Â

Re: Comments on my pronunciation needed

Annvan — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:34:56 GMT

Caedmon, don't change anything. You speak English beautifully!

If English is in fact not your first language, my guess is that you're from India... ?

Comments on my pronunciation needed

Caedmon — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:04:41 GMT

I have been working on improving my English pronunciation and would be very grateful if some of you would listen to a two-minute clip of my speech and lend me your comments. The clip is 5MB in size and I've uploaded it to this URL: http://www.mediafire.com/?m2vmzzmj2ma. The text is from Richard III.

I would like to hear both your general impressions and any detailed remarks you may have. I am particularly interested in learning precisely what traits in my speech give me away as a second-language speaker, whether there is anything in my speech that would impede communication, and finally (mostly out of curiosity) whether you can guess my native language from my accent. (I have elementary training in grammar and phonetics, so please feel free to use technical terms if you wish.)

How to improve my pronunciation?

Hyden — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:56:09 GMT

I'm a junior student who major in English in Taiwan.
I want to improve my pronunciation, to speak like an American.
How can I change my accent??

Re: Easy as Pie, Almost!

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:30:12 GMT

Frequently listen to English spoken by native speakers and repeat them.
Watch English movies, listen to music, audio clips, BBC news and presentations.
Control your rate of speech to get the correct intonation and rhythm of English.
Use your dictionary.Familiarize yourself with the phonetic symbols used for different words in the dictionary and look up the correct pronunciation.This method helps in neutralizing an accent tremendously.
Make a list of commonly used words that are difficult to pronounce.
Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.
Read English newspaper regularly.
Work on how to pronounce the vowel and consonant sounds.Mostly vowel sounds play vital role for accent variation.
Hence pronounce the vowels clearly.
Practice English sincerely. Don't feel shy to speak English as a beginner.

courtesy: http://www.neutralaccent.com

Re: NARNIA

Tanit — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:42:40 GMT

Kooyeen
That way, you don't get a "A little bit" pronounced like it's a series of spits, but you get "A li(t)l bi(t)".

Your comment reminded me of something I listened to a couple of weeks ago. (Here's the link to the mp3 file ... warning: it's 3.3MB)
BBC Learning English has made a radio programme which consists of 12 episodes. In each episode, they analyse the way some famous non-native (but proficient) speakers speak English.
In one of the episodes, they focussed on BjÃ¶rk's English (I hope I got the spelling correct ) and discussed her usage of collocations and her pronunciation. I'm posting here only some sentences where she pronounces the t's the way you posted:

"only I did i(t) much be(tt)er" (around 0'20'')
"the most difficult bi(t) was to know it wasn't gonna be perfect" (around 1'40'')
"the happy song are a lo(t) lo(t) more" (around 02'05'')
"sort of before and after my li(tt)le lesson" (around 02'20'')

If you want to listen about the presenters' comments about this way of pronouncing the t's, listen to the clip from about 7'20'' to about 9'00''
If you don't want to listen to that, here's a spoiler

Their opinion is that, although some people say this is lazy, incorrect pronunciation, in fact it is a common feature among young people in London, and it clearly demonstrates that BjÃ¶rk has lived in England.

Re: How do you pronounce? 1: Annie 2: Anne

Pucca — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:37:29 GMT

Grammar Geek
4. That's Spanish. In my terrible Spanish pronunciation, it's ha-blow in-GLACE (rhymes with "place"). I'm sure a Spanish speaker will correct me. My lack of Spanish is why I would need to ask if they speak English.

Hihih, it's much easier than that, Barb!

"h" isn't pronounced so, you should say something like "a-blo" - You pronounce blo as if it was "blue" but instead of "u", you should say "o". And "inglÃ©s"..the way it's writen.

Re: How do you pronounce? 1: Annie 2: Anne

Grammar Geek — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:10:06 GMT

1. Yes, the article "an" and the letter E, with the stress on the first syllable.

2. Just like the article "an"

3. I've never seen this name before. Ask the mother who dreamed it up. Diane, however, is a common name: die-AN.

4. That's Spanish. In my terrible Spanish pronunciation, it's ha-blow in-GLACE (rhymes with "place"). I'm sure a Spanish speaker will correct me. My lack of Spanish is why I would need to ask if they speak English.

Re: I Want To Be Fluent English Speaker How Please?

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:58:38 GMT

Hello to all,

I believe that to learn English depends of the interest of individual and depending of the English knowledge you wanted to learn. like for instance, if you want to speak English all you have to do is to listen very carefully to some tools such as CD, DVD, tapes etc. either audio or video, any kinds of topics as long as educational and knowledgeable and while you are listening just follow and speak what they are talking this is a training of the tongue or tongue twisting trying to develop proper accent, pronunciation, intonation etc, if any words you donât understand have your dictionary besides you and open it. next step just prepare any topics as guidelines [ prepare the main topics, sub topics and conclusion] prolong, elongate and expound the topics you wanted to discuss make it in English version at first you might have the difficulty to speak but try and try until your English would connect and connect at this point your trying to bridge the gap. What is needed in English is that at least you have many words to know {synonym and antonyms} is what i mean.

The basic training of English is that you have to speak English by any topics. I understand that for a person who lived {not speaking country have the difficulty to speak English} on my behalf, English education must start first on basic like for instance if you need English conversation find a person who could talk with you English, or else speak and talk English with yourself even if someone listening at you and say something you are a fool forget it. What is needed is you learn something and speak English. if you have the difficulty to write English just read books literatures etc at this point you can get many ideas and your vocabulary broadens, watch the period, punctuation, commas, etc, if you are not a good English listener try to listen English teachings, news whatever that could improve your English, the four pillars of English are: reading. Speaking, writing and listening, if you have this all then you can speak English although not fluent as what others did but at least you can communicate via reading, writing, listening and speak. Fluent English would follow donât give up keep trying until success.

I am a Filipino not an English speaker, writer, etc but in terms of communication i could communicate. For to me to learn English depends on individual. If we have the basic then we have to improve, have the desire, act on it, and apply no need a tutor individual interest is vital here. Donât be shy to speak English if the English is crooked and someone laughs at you accept it consider yourself that you are not an English person, perhaps the person who laughs at you donât know how to speak English and even to communicate with. Thereâs a saying goes: a noisy person have little knowledge than a silent one. in this world what is important is communication regardless of races, nationality and religion. a crooked English is better than nothing, a crooked or a carabao English has the opportunity to become fluent rather than nothing. but if you have nothing at all nobody blames except yourself, your making your own fate and destiny donât blame your parents and the government its your own decision for what you are now, your right decision now will be your future someday but if you donât plan or decision today do you think you have something to expect in the future. To speak English needs perseverance, long patience and determination to reach the goal this is fundamental requirements. people who cannot speak English has less opportunity to go abroad particularly in the open country, and thatâs the reason why I wanted to learn English even basic for this is my only tool to go to other countries if opportunities permit.

From Philippines,

Rene

Re: how to learn English

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:30:48 GMT

i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English well and try to imitate them.

When you are watching television, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech.

ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of English, slow your speech down.

If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a hard time understanding you.

Don't worry about your listener getting impatient with your slow speech -- it is more important that everything you say be understood.

iii. Listen to the 'music' of English.

Do not use the 'music' of your native language when you speak English. Each language has its own way of 'singing'.

iv. Use the dictionary.

Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for you to say.

v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the language well to pronounce them for you.

Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them. Listen and read at the same time.

vi. Buy books on tape.

Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare the sound of your English with that of the person reading the book on the tape.

vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.

Pay special attention to 'S' and 'ED' endings. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English.

viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every day.

Research has shown it takes about three months of daily practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language.

ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.

Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid listening to themselves speak. However, this is a very important exercise because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.

x. Be patient.

You can change the way you speak but it won't happen overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.

Quick tips

Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by identifying the category you fall into and start by improving the clarity of your speech.

~ Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and the 'Indianisms' that creep into your English conversations.

~ Watch the English news on television channels like Star World, CNN, BBC and English movies on Star Movies and HBO.

~ Listen to and sing English songs. We'd recommend Westlife, Robbie Williams, Abba, Skeeter Davis and Connie Francis among others.

Books to help you improve your English

Essential English Grammar by Murphy (Cambridge)
Spoken English by R K Bansal and J B Harrison
Pronounce It Perfectly In English (book and three audio cassettes) by Jean Yates, Barrons Educational Series
English Pronunciation For International Students by Paulette Wainless Dale, Lillian Poms