How to pronounce foreign languages

How to pronounce foreign languages Even if you can't master a native accent, the key is to be clear and comprehensible. Anne Merritt offers five top tips.

The tongue, lips, teeth and breath all contribute to the way a sound comes out of the mouth. Photo: STOCK4B GmbH / Alamy

By Anne Merritt

Many language learners will work tirelessly on their pronunciation skills, spending long hours

(and sometimes large sums of money) in hopes of attaining that clear and perfect native accent.

In this teacher’s opinion, it’s a goal that sets you up for failure.

First off, it’s incredibly hard to imitate a flawless accent, especially as adult learners. Moreover,

it’s not essential. Instead of trying to pass as a native speaker, language learners should instead

focus on honing their pronunciation so that it’s clear and easy to understand. It’s a far more

attainable goal, and one that can be reached with the following tips:

The parrot approach

As with any language skill, practice is key. For pronunciation, the more focused listening and

repetition a learner does, the more comfortable they become with the phonics and sound

patterns of the language. Listen-and-repeat exercises can be done with any medium, from

traditional language learning CDs to TV, movies, and song lyrics. Podcasts about language study

or any other topic are especially helpful, because listeners can adjust the speed of the audio and

replay sounds easily.

These exercises also help self-conscious speakers become more familiar with pronunciation.

The parroting of accent and inflection may feel silly, or even mocking of the target culture. This,

however, is a case of simple discomfort, which will pass in time.

Mind the stress

The English language is one that stresses words (“BROC-co-li”; “trans-por-TA-tion”). It is the

instinct of native English speakers to use our own framework of stress patterns when we learn

new words. However, we can’t project our own assumptions about rhythm onto foreign language.

Some languages have different stress patterns, while many do not use stress at all.

When learning the new vocabulary of a foreign language, it is important to be mindful of stress,

or absence of stress, in new words. It helps neutralise your own British accent, and start adopting

the accent of your target language.

Use a mirror

Sometimes it’s not enough to imitate a new word based on sound alone. There are physical

mechanics at play, too. The tongue, lips, teeth and breath all contribute to the way a sound

comes out of the mouth. When trying to manage a word that’s tough to pronounce, learners

should grab a hand mirror and try to move the mouth in the same way that native speakers do.

This is best done with a teacher or friend who can demonstrate the sound, but imitating speakers

on television or YouTube can work, too.

For trickier vowel sounds, learners can even consult a Vowel Trapezoid, a diagram of the mouth

used by linguists to map where the sound is made. Visual learners may find them to be a handy

study tool.

Practise in context

To practise the pronunciation of a word or phrase, it’s best to review it on its own and in the

context of a full sentence. The reason? Some word pairings will subtly alter pronunciation.

Mastering these pairings is a key component in emulating a native accent. The English language

is full of words whose pronunciation changes slightly with context, depending on the type of

English accent. For example, the word “will” has a definitive "i" sound, but in the phrase “will

you,” the "i" tends to become a "oo" as in “wool.”

Record yourself

After using all of these tools, students can record their speaking exercises and listen back. The

mistakes learners make are often not conscious. They tend to be the product of those deep-

seated patterns of our native tongue, such as stress and inflection. Listening to oneself is a good

way to hone in on strengths and weaknesses. Most smartphones come with a built-in voice

memo app, and websites like Audacity and Vocaroo let users make audio files for free.

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