Even when you know the words in a language, communication remains difficult when you don’t have the right accent. While it will probably take a while to develop a native-like style of pronunciation, you can improve on it day to day with a few activities.
- Do all the speaking exercises in your language software, focusing on your pronunciation every time.
- Read prose (books, news items, blogs) in the foreign language aloud. Do your reading like you’re reciting it to an audience, enunciating words clearly and emphasizing phrases so that others can understand them as well as you do. If you find certain words or phrases difficult, jot them down for later review.
- Sing along to foreign songs. Find a foreign song you like and sing to it repeatedly until you memorize the lines. If you can’t understand certain passages, try doing a search online. Try to focus on slower songs (they’re easier and more similar to speaking) and emulate the singer’s diction.
- Parrot native speakers talking. If you aren’t around any native speakers that you can copy, pick up a movie and mimic the actors talking. In case you don’t have access to films, try Youtube – people record themselves talking in nearly every language imaginable.
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