Part 3
of 3: Going the Extra Mile
3
Learn the IPA. That stands for the International Phonetic Alphabet, by the way. Seriously. It may seem like a lot of work, but it'll be so useful and so handy once you know it. You can look up a word in any dictionary and know exactly how it's pronounced. You can see the differences between American, British, and Australian English. You can look at your own pronunciation and see what vowels you're actually making. And it's fascinating!
- ɪts ˈlaɪk ə ˈsiːkrət koʊd! (It's like a secret code!) Pass notes with your friends! But remember, each accent is slightly different. If you run into a weird pronunciation, take note of whether it's general American, RP, or other.
- ˈsɪriəsli, ˈɪts ˈɑːsəm.
4
Record yourself. You probably know how it should sound, but how does it sound when the words come out of your mouth? Probably a bit different. So record yourself! Then you can go back and notice your strengths and weaknesses. It's a little hard listening to your own voice at first (you may feel self-concious), but it does go away. And it's a surefire way to see your progress!
- Take the time to learn pronunciation patterns. Because English is a conglomeration of a bunch of languages, there's no hard and fast rule, but there are general patterns. Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (project), whereas 2 syllable nouns (project) and adjectives (happy) stress the first. And, in general, the stress goes on the antipenultimate syllable (though this isn't always true): photographer, continuous, national, et cetera. Does your speech mirror this?
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