Working together, you and your pronunciation trainer will be able to help you build the confidence you want!
Mastering English pronunciation is difficult but the payoff is absolutely worth it. Studies have shown that employers are less likely to hire people with “foreign-sounding” accents. And even if you’re not looking for a job, improving your pronunciation will improve your ability to communicate and make friends.
The best way to improve your pronunciation is by hiring a one-on-one pronunciation trainer. But once you do, what questions should you ask them?
In the article below, we’ll tell you the eight most important questions you should ask your pronunciation trainer in order to get the most out of your lessons.
Ask About Your Weaknesses
First things first, you need to know your current strengths and weaknesses in order to improve. Have a conversation in English with your teacher, and ask him or her to pay close attention and take note of your errors.
Every English learner is slightly different. You may have already mastered some aspects of pronunciation that take other people years. And you might be having trouble with other aspects that some people consider easy.
A lot of this, of course, depends on your native accent. By the end of your first session, you should have a comprehensive list of your biggest trouble areas, and your pronunciation trainer should have a good plan for how to improve those areas in the upcoming lessons.
Ask About Your Pronunciation Trainer’s Accent
Most likely, your pronunciation trainer will be teaching you in his or her own accent. But as you know, there are a wide variety of English accents.
It’s important to find a coach with the accent that you want to learn. Don’t be afraid to shop around.
Slight differences are okay. Most Americans speak in relatively similar accents, for example. But if you’re living and working in New York and your teacher has a thick southern accent, that might be a problem.
Ask to Learn the Phonetic Alphabet
You probably already know about the English alphabet with 26 letters, but there is also an English phonetic alphabet with 44 sounds.
Ask if you can go through each of these sounds one by one with your instructor. Write them down and talk about different examples of each.
English pronunciation can seem like a confusing mess to English learners, but by understanding the phonetic alphabet, you’ll have a conceptual framework to work with.
From then on, whenever you learn a new word, write it out using the phonetic alphabet. This will help you visualize and remember the pronunciation.
Ask to Practice Listening
Listening is one of the most underrated parts of learning good pronunciation. If you can’t distinguish sounds when you’re listening to someone else speak, it’s going to be difficult to distinguish those sounds when you yourself speak.
For example, many native Japanese speakers have trouble distinguishing the English L from the English R. If you’re a native Japanese speaker, mastering this distinction will be all but impossible, but you can get really close. The best way to do this is with a feedback technique.
In this technique, your teacher will play a recording of (or say) two similar words, such as rap and lap. Then you will repeat the correct answer back to them. Before you know it, you’ll have a great understanding of the difference between the two sounds.
And this technique goes beyond merely distinguishing sounds. Make sure listening is a central part of your learning process.
Ask Your Instructor to Pay Attention to Your Mouth
Pronouncing words correctly is mechanical. You need to have your tongue and lips in the right places and expel air with the right technique. Now obviously, you don’t want to talk like a robot, but nonetheless, mechanics is essential to pronunciation.
Going back to the rap and lap example, when you say lap, your tongue should be near the front of your mouth. While you say rap, your tongue should be in the middle of your mouth.
If your pronunciation trainer can point this out to you right away, you’ll have a much easier time mastering those sounds. Combining the intuitive with the mechanical is the secret to learning good pronunciation.
Ask to Learn With Music
Listening to music is one of the best ways to learn a language. It’s enjoyable and immersive.
If you’re confident enough, you should ask your pronunciation trainer to give you a singing lesson. Pick your favorite English song, one with a lot of lyrics, and sing along to it.
This will not only be fun, but you’ll find it’s actually much easier to nail the pronunciation when you’re singing. The rhythm and the tone will you really help you understand the way the words are being said.
And of course, this is a great learning method to use outside of the classroom as well.
Ask About Accented Syllables
Part of sounding natural is learning how to accent words appropriately. Each word has a syllable that’s accented above the others, and each sentence has words that are accented above the others. Understanding how to accent properly is a huge part of giving your speech rhythm.
Have you pronunciation trainer show you written words and sentences. Say them aloud and try to put the accents in the right places. If you get it wrong, try again.
Once you’re done with an exercise, mark the accents with a pen or pencil. Keep doing this until accenting is second nature (it’s going to take a lot of practice).
Ask About Speech Shadowing
Speech shadowing is a technique in which you listen to a spoken statement and then immediately repeat it back. It’s an excellent way to practice your pronunciation.
Either shadow the words that your pronunciation trainer says, or if you want to have a bit more fun, shadow a character in a movie. Pick a movie with a character whose accent you admire. Watch the movie, and every time the character says a line of dialogue, pause it and repeat.
This is another exercise you can do on your own but it’s great to have your teacher there with you in case you make a mistake.
Start Learning
You’re well on your way to mastering English pronunciation. If you don’t yet have a pronunciation trainer, we offer one-on-one services from trained professionals.
If you have any other questions about your journey to English language mastery, don’t hesitate to contact us.
