Did you know that Mandarin is challenging English’s popularity? In 2023, Statista surveyed the world’s most spoken languages. Undoubtedly, English took the first position, with over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide.
It was closely followed by Mandarin, which had 1.1 billion speakers across the world. Speaking specifically of the United States, its citizens speak over 350 languages but English is most widely used. The US version is popularly known as American English with its distinct spellings, colloquial terms, and pronunciation.
Unsurprisingly, English is the most widely used second language among non-native speakers. Being globally recognized, it offers access to vast information, business opportunities, and entertainment.
If you’re a non-native speaker looking to learn American English for professional purposes, the pronunciation will be as important as the spelling or vocabulary.
We understand that it can seem challenging to pick up at times. Fret not! This article will discuss four useful tips that will help you speak the American version of English.
Record Yourself
Recording yourself as you speak the words out loud is a good start. It will help you understand your vocabulary, grammar, and intonation better. We know that this practice may seem strange at first. You could feel awkward or shy while recording yourself.
However, it is crucial to improve your American English pronunciation. Simply pick a topic from a coursebook or online and prepare notes on what you will say out loud. Then, record yourself and carefully listen to the recording.
If you feel like something seems off, note the word or phrase down. You can take this opportunity to note down vocabulary or grammatical errors as well. Share the recording with your personal language trainer or even a native American English speaker.
Do this as often as you deem necessary. Over time, your vocabulary and grammar skills will get better. You can work your way up to longer passages or debates. This will give you greater confidence in expressing your thoughts. Additionally, you will be able to organize your ideas more efficiently.
The ideal frequency for recording and practicing pronunciation would be twice or three times a week in the beginning. Then, you can increase the length of your topic while maintaining the recording frequency at once a week. In between, don’t forget to compare your past recordings to current ones for tracking progress.
Pick up an Accent
Some non-native English speakers believe that it is impossible to master the American accent. It will be challenging undoubtedly, but it is not unfeasible.
By picking up an American accent, you stand a better chance of improving your pronunciation. Start by listening attentively to native speakers. A US Census Bureau report stated that native Spanish speakers were less likely to be naturalized US citizens.
Given the vast differences in the two languages as well as specific spelling rules, Spanish speakers find it more challenging to develop the American accent. It’s important to understand that English has a more irregular pronunciation system because of silent letters in a word, complex history, and linguistic borrowing.
It is difficult to mimic the accent if one is not willing to listen to native speakers. So, watch American reality shows, soap operas, and movies. Train your ear to identify the key sound differences from your native language. An example would be the distinct vowel sounds.
Another challenging area is the ‘r’ sound which is usually clearer in the American accent than others. However, this may differ for some places in the Northeast. This means while the pronunciation of ‘r’ is clear in most words, it may become more ‘bunched’ or subtle in other words.
Those in the South tend to use a third variation of the ‘r’ sound, known as the velarized version. Practice the ‘r’ variations depending on the region you’re trying to imitate. Don’t neglect the intonation as it will help you understand where Americans usually put their emphasis.
Depending on that, specific words need to be said in a high or low pitch voice. Finally, you can create a list of commonly mispronounced American English words by non-native speakers. Practice these in particular by referring to our previous point on recording yourself.
Consider Going for Speech Therapy
Since your goal is to refine how you sound while speaking English, you could benefit immensely from the support of an experienced speech pathologist. They are experts in the mechanics of speech production, including voice quality, articulation, and fluency. Ithaca College shares that speech pathologists are required in the following areas of speech development –
- Voice and resonance
- Fluency of language
- Articulation
- Reception and expression
- Social aspects of communication
These professionals are usually trained through offline or online speech pathology programs to address speech-language problems. This means they can help your case in the following ways –
- Helping you understand the mechanics of pronunciation
- Recommending proper tongue placement for distinct vowel and consonant sounds
- Teaching you patterns of English rhythm and tone
Your speech pathologist can even help you with non-verbal communication skills. These would encompass body language, facial expressions, and eye contact. It is the aura and essence of a person that helps them pass as a native speaker when they’re not.
Understand Phonetics and Its Importance
The study of how humans produce and perceive different sounds is known as phonetics. It is a branch of linguistics that helps distinguish and classify between different speech sounds.
A huge part of learning a new language involves tuning in the ear and observing the interaction of the tongue, lips, and teeth. This allows you to perceive and replicate the sounds of different vowels and consonants in that language. Even within one language, the sound of different syllables may differ based on the word or dialect.
In other words, English encompasses different dialects, which refer to specific variations of English as spoken by a particular group of people. Even under American English, there may be dialects like the Midland and Southern dialects. Even under American English, there may be dialects like the Midland and Southern dialects.
While the Midland dialect is distinguished by a distinct ‘r’ sound for all words, the Southern is quickly identified by its expressions like “y’all.” It is the chief aim of phonetics to help language learners distinguish between these differences in vowel sounds and intonation patterns to understand the dialect of the speaker.
To improve your phonetic skills, the most important thing you can do is ‘listen and see.’ The ear, eyes, and brain have their way of recognizing even slight variations in pronunciations and intonation. Instead of recording yourself and listening, here you need to listen to speeches of American speakers from different dialects.
Listen to an audio multiple times if needed to develop your awareness of how different syllables sound and how the narrator is changing their intonation to convey their thoughts. Watch their tongue, teeth, and lips to understand how the three move to produce a certain sound. This is a lot like how babies learn to speak through careful imitation.
There are English language podcasts or phonetic transcriptions you can refer to. They will help you understand the key differences involved in pronouncing the same word within the same sentence.
If you struggle to get certain pronunciations right, speak slowly, focusing on picking up the new sound. As you build tongue and brain memory, the correct sounds will naturally flow over time.
So, are you ready to apply the information this article has equipped you with? Studies have found that at least one in five people worldwide can speak English. This includes those for whom English is not their first language.
Being the language of business and modern international communication, it is more crucial than ever to take time to refine your English pronunciation, especially your pronunciation of American English.
However, there’s nothing that an attentive ear and lots of practice cannot achieve! In this case, you will be able to sound like a native speaker.