Believe it or not, you should probably slow your speech down. Not too much, just a little. You may feel that Americans speak quickly and you need to keep up. But give the other person some time to adjust to your accent. Surprisingly, in such a multicultural country as the U.S., many people haven’t had a lot of exposure to foreign accents.

Don’t say you understand if you don’t. Say “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite understand what you meant.” If you think you know what the other person has said, but want to make sure, you should paraphrase. For example, say “Let me make sure I understand. You want me to be here tomorrow at 10:00. Is that right?”

Don’t let your limited English keep you from talking. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they have to be perfect before they speak. The truth is- the only way to become perfect is by speaking the language.

Get help with your English. For general English, try an intensive language program or a community college ESL class. Or if you want to specifically work on your pronunciation, your best bet is to enroll in the American Accent Workshop.

Whatever you do, don’t give up. Becoming a fluent English speaker is definitely an obtainable goal… but only if you keep working on it.

You probably have.

So have I…

Not with English, of course, but it has happened a number of times in different languages. I remember talking to a woman a long time ago in a Portuguese market. I wanted to buy some corn. But she didn’t understand the pronunciation of the word when I said it in Portuguese. After some frustration she finally realized what I was talking about and she repeated the word for me so I could say it again.

This time I became frustrated because I felt I had said it exactly how she was saying it in the first place!

Now I think it’s funny when I look back on it, but at that time I had no idea that adults often can’t even recognize a sound in another language if it isn’t the same sound in their native language. Their brains will usually hear it as something they are already familiar with. I call this pronunciation deafness.

Each Language Has Its Own Sound System

I have read that there are around 1000 different consonant and vowel sounds in all of the languages of the world. When we are born we have the ability to learn any sound we hear. But since most languages have between 25 and 60 sounds in them, these are the only ones we pick up. When we get older, we lose the ability to pick new sounds up automatically.

So when we learn a new language as a teenager or adult, we often use the sounds we are already familiar with and substitute them for similar sounds in the new language.

Here is an Example of This…

The /ae/ in the word happy is not really common in a lot of languages, so people may substitute an /e/ sound like in bed, or an /a/ sound like in father or perhaps even some other sound. While these sounds are close to the original sound, they are not the same.

Most of the time people have no idea that they are making these substitutions. To them, the substituted sound is the same thing. Of course, to native speakers, they sound very different.

You know what I mean. You can tell when someone has learned your language as a foreign language because they don’t sound native.

But Don’t Worry…

If you learned English after childhood, it doesn’t mean you are doomed to use the wrong sounds when you speak it. All you need is this…

1. An awareness of the sounds you are currently using vs. the sounds of English. (Many of the sounds in your language may be exactly the same or very, very close to English. Some may be very different.)

2. The knowledge and feeling of how to make the sounds that are new to you.

3. Practice and habit building to make the new sounds part of your entire sound system.

Since it is difficult to know what you are missing, chances are that you won’t be able to do this all on your own. This is where I can help.

My job is to teach you what the sounds of English are and how to pronounce them. Because you can’t always hear the differences in the beginning, I want you to feel them as well, both physically and emotionally. I want to point out what you are already doing and show you how English speakers are doing it and how you can, too.

Your first job is to recognize and become aware of these new sounds in everyday life. Then, after you start entering this new world of sound, you need to train your mouth and your brain to consistently use them. You need to develop some new habits, so at some point, you won’t have to think about what you are doing. You will just do it automatically.

If you do these things, you can change the way you sound in English and you can lose your pronunciation deafness forever.

Well, it seems simple enough…

SPEAK it!

You won’t learn to be a good speaker just by studying grammar and vocabulary. Sure, these are the building blocks of the language. But when you only focus on grammar and vocabulary, your new language is not connected. And while you may pick up pieces here and there, you won’t ever become fluent.

Reading and writing help you to see and “feel” the whole language. It’s a step beyond studying grammar and vocabulary because you can see how both grammar and vocabulary are used in real context. Reading is a fantastic way for your brain to pick up the “nuances” of the language.

Listening takes you a step further to being a good speaker. Listening prepares you for speech. Do you realize that you will always be able to understand more than you can speak? Babies understand a lot even before they start speaking. And if you are honest with yourself, you will recognize that you understand a lot more in your native language than you actually use in your everyday speech.

But truly, the best way to be a good speaker of a new language is by speaking it. Put yourself in situations whenever you can to use the language. Don’t be shy. And don’t worry too much about making mistakes. They will happen until you have enough experience speaking a lot. Just expect it.
So what if you don’t have many opportunities to speak the new language?

I recommend that you talk to yourself. Yes, I know that sounds a little crazy, and it might be if you are in a group. So do this when you are alone. Talk to yourself and think about the words and grammar that you want to use. You can also think about the pronunciation you are using and make slight changes to be sure you are sounding good.

Go ahead and ask yourself questions and then give the answers. You can pretend that you are telling someone about your day. Or give a speech to an imaginary audience.

These kinds of scenarios give you practice for when you are in a real conversation.
This is not crazy stuff. This really works. Talking to yourself can be very helpful in becoming a better speaker of any new language.

If you haven’t had a chance to download the free mp3 and transcript on How to Speak Better English, go to http://www.accentworkshop.com/speakbetterenglish.htm and do it now. This 50 minute audio will give you lots of tips on how to become a better speaker of English.