If you are an intermediate, advanced, pre-intermediate student who is struggling to improve pronunciation,
you need to watch this video.
Today I’ll give you 3 pronunciation hacks that will definitely help you sharpen your
pronunciation skills.
Hey there, teacher Prix here to help you talk to anyone anywhere anytime in English.
So today, I wanna show you 3 practical exercises that will improve your pronunciation.
You will speak clearly and more confidently in English.
After you finish this video, I want you to write, in the comments, 3 words you find difficult
to pronounce, because maybe I can make a video talking about these words.
So, I will pick 5 to 10 words that I see in the comments and make a video talking about
them.
So let me know your words in the comments.
First exercise: word endings.
Sharpen the pronunciation of the word endings.
What are the most common mistakes?
Plurals in English and the verb endings, the simple past verb endings in ED.
We talk about the past all the time, we are always talking about situations in the past
or weekend, things we did, so these exercises will help you improve your overall pronunciation
of verbs in the simple past, regular verbs ending in ED.
Oh, Priscila, ok.
I need to study the plural forms, the pronunciation of the plural forms and the ED.
How do I do it?
I will give you some ideas and I will also leave some links to exercises you can do on
the internet.
I will make future videos focusing on these specific subjects.
I am preparing a video to talk about the plural sounds.
I am making a video to talk about the ED sound but in the meantime, these online exercises
that I am suggesting you, will help you a lot.
Now, the plural, just giving you a brief explanation, for the plural form we have 3 possible endings
with the exception of the irregular cases, we have words that will end in S, we have
words that will end in ES and we have words that will end in IES.
Now, these letters, when combined with your nouns will have a very specific sound in English.
They may have the “S” sound.
They will have the IZ sound and they may have just the Z sound.
It is important that we pronounce them correctly.
It may go unnoticed by non-native speakers will definitely feel the difference when you
mispronounce the endings of words in the plural form.
Now, as I told you, I will not give you more explanation about the plural forms, about
the pronunciation for each ending.
But, I’m leaving a link here to help you have a better understanding and in the future
I will make a video just talking about that!
Now verbs ending in ED.
These are regular verbs that we learned a long time ago.
If you haven’t learned, don’t worry, I am making a beginner’s guide and soon you
will learn that with me.
But verbs that in ED or IED sometimes, also have a specific pronunciation.
You may pronounce This ED as a D, as an ID or as a T and this may be difficult for non-native
speakers and this is something that native speakers will also notice if you mispronounce.
Now, there are exercises you can do, my suggestion is start by making a list of these regular
verbs and then there are endless sources on the internet where you can type this verb
and listen to the correct pronunciation, ok?
There are also some rules of how to pronounce these endings, it is a bit of a long explanation
so I will not give this explanation here, as I said I will make a video just talking
about the ED sound but I will also leave links in the descriptions so that you can read a
little bit more about each of these sounds, but this is another exercise you should be
doing, improving your pronunciation for ED sounds and improving your pronunciation for
the plural forms, the ending of the words, ok?
Second exercise, sharpen your silent letter pronunciation.
Prix, what do you mean?
They are silent letters!
Exactly!
They are silent, you shouldn’t be saying them!
You shouldn’t be speaking them at all!
But what happens?
Many students struggle and pronounce silent letters.
It is a letter that is part of a word but you don’t pronounce it.
It is there, but it is not there.
For example: know, knife, climb, pneumonia, psychologist, castle, listen, limb and so
many other words.
How can you improve this?
First it is important that you dedicate some time to discover these words that have silent
letters.
It is not always clear to us if that word, specific word has a silent letter or not.
So, it is time to a little bit of investigation.
Investigate, try to find out if that word has or doesn’t have a silent letter.
Once you find out, then it is time to make a list.
Make a list of words that have silent letter so that you can start memorizing the silent
letter words.
Ok?
I will also leave a link to a website where you can find a very long list, you will see
many words that have silent letters and you will be able to correct your pronunciation
because you can listen to them, ok?
And my exercise number 3: reading the dictionary.
Most online dictionaries today have pronunciation audios so that you can not only listen but
also repeat.
They also have explanation, the meaning of the word.
They also give you the phonetic symbols, how to pronounce the word by reading the phonetic
symbols of that word.
But what is my focus here, you can use the dictionary, like 5 minutes every day, 10 minutes,
maybe more, maybe less, the more the merrier, but I understand people are busy so if you
don’t have a lot of time, you have a little time, it is ok if you spend less time doing
it.
But the most important thing is: do it, ok?
So how are you going to do this exercise?
You are gonna go online, you are gonna find the dictionary, I will also leave links to
dictionaries where you can find audio and explanation in English, ok?
Oxford is pretty much the best one in my view, and you are going to type the word and then
you are gonna repeat the word.
You are gonna listen and then you are going to repeat, then you are gonna listen again
and you’re going to repeat.
Oh , Priscila, what kind of words should I type?
Words that are difficult for you.
Words that you find difficult to pronounce are the words you are gonna check on the dictionary
so that you can improve.
All in all guys, these 3 exercises combined will help you improve your pronunciation but
it takes time and frequency.
The more often you do these exercises the more results you will see when you start talking
to people.
All it takes is a little time and a little discipline.
Now, don’t forget that I’m waiting for your 3 words, ok?
3 words you find difficult and I will take a look at them and see if they have anything
in common.
I will gather the other comments from other people who post in the comments and then I
will make a future video and talking specifically about these words, maybe why they are difficult.
Don’t forget to give a thumbs up and share this video with your friends.
Thanks guys and I’ll see you next time!
Bye!