Is it still possible to improve pronunciation?

Question

I'm 21 years old, English is my second language. Basically, I want to improve my pronunciation to that of a native speaker. I should be satisfied with my current level of English, but I'm not.

I'm going to be taking advanced English courses and I was wondering if they would improve my pronunciation/speaking skills? And is it possible for me, being 21, to improve my English to that of a native speaker?

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

1. Consider your own native tongue. Do you know anybody whose second language it is and whose pronunciation is as natural as yours?

Accept that you will never be able to speak English like a native, and that it doesn't matter as long as you can be understood.

2. My own British pronunciation is quite different from that of Americans, Canadians, South Africans, Australians and other nationalities whose native language is English. I don't try to copy them all.

Rover

Anonymous · Answer

I always feel BAD when I mispronounce a word and I feel terrible and embarrassed. It ruins everything. I was just wondering if I can still improve it at least? I will be moving to Canada soon and I want my English to be very good. I don't mispronounce a lot of words since I tend to avoid words that I know I can't pronounce correctly.

Raindoctor · Answer

Yes, it is possible to speak like a native. Do you have all resources required to achieve that? These resources include time, money, your curiosity, finding right people, etc.

Getting rid of accent is like cleaning a dump site. Do these things.

1. Take some one on one accent reduction course.
2. Study the phonological history of English: lexical sets; splits and mergers; grapheme to sound correspondences; great vowel shift; stress patterns.
3. Study how your fellow countrymen anglicize words from your native language, and how they map English graphmes to sounds.
4. Learn articulatory phonetics and do some experiments like those in JC Catford's Practical Introduction to Phonetics. This time around, take lessons from some one who is good at articulatory phonetics and those in 2.
5. Develop further sensitivity to pitch patterns. Even those exercises taught to singers are helpful.

Once you are done with these, find and fix other issues.

Taking some advanced courses in your country do not add much, except for reading and writing. In fact, such courses focused on writing, spelling and grammar just pervert you to the extent that you end up saying "Native speakers do not know how to speak".

If you are looking for some university courses, yeah, go to drama and theater departments like York University, Toronto. They have courses on some of these stuff. Again, start with a basic one on one accent reduction course. That's just a start!

Ivanhr · Answer

AnonymousI always feel BAD when I mispronounce a word and I feel terrible and embarrassed. It ruins everything

If your written English is any indication of your spoken English, then I would say that you speak just fine. However, I suggest that you post a recording of you reading some lines and I'm sure that native speakers here will pass their judgment on your vocal skills and give you some tips on what needs to be improved.

Is it still possible to improve pronunciation?

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