What do you do to improve your pronunciation, when studying other languages or maybe could you advise me to improve English pronunciation?
Teaching pronunciation is a speciality. Some teachers have training in linguistics (phonetics) and can help you a lot in a short time. It is important to learn the sound system of the language. If you can't distinguish the sounds, then you will have trouble with listening comprehension and with pronunciation. For example, English has more vowels than Japanese. Example: beet, bit, bait, bet, bat, bot, but, boat, book, boot, bout, bite.
My first suggestion is that you hire a teacher with appropriate qualifications. You can make a lot of progress in ten lessons.
My second suggestion is that you read and listen to simplified books (Oxford Bookworms or Penguin Readers are availabe from Amazon). By exposure, you will learn the sound system, the pronunciation of the most common 3000 words, and you will gradually shift your own pronunciation to match what you hear. There are many exceptions in English pronunciation, so extensive listening exposure to common words is an important learning activity (which helps your listening comprehension and your pronunciation accuracy).
My third suggestion is to practice pronunciation with a helpful native speaker (preferably an experienced teacher or tutor). You read a short story or news article out loud. The native speaker does not interrupt but makes a list of problem words. You practice the words. You reread the story out loud. The native speaker marks the words as correct or incorrect. You reread the story out loud a final time.
If your level is low, the native speaker should read out loud and you should repeat. The speaker reads a phrase or a short sentence and you repeat. After each paragraph, you reread the paragraph out loud by yourself.
This third suggestion (reading out loud) works best if suggestions one and two are followed.
Good luck !
There are few methods that I have been following for years. These methods have proved quite useful for me.
1. Imitate native English speakers. Try to copy the speech while watching any show in English.
2. Tongue twisters - you could get thousands of tongue twisters online.
Immersion, immersion, immersion :)
Continue to surround yourself with the English language as much as possible and let it soak in!
Hello, Yuji! If you're interested in British English, watch this video, it really can help. Good luck.
And yeah I'm interested in British accent so the video will help me :)
