Pronunciation

Pronounce Anything: 
language, accent, or dialect

Chances are, you would agree that flawless pronunciation is what everyone wants. It's the key to sounding like a native speaker. It's awesome.

Let me reassure you: sounding like a native IS possible. 

These are some concepts I've played with that apply across the board to learning any target language.

Basically, there are only 4 aspects to language learning:

1.  Pronunciation
2. Vocabulary
3. Grammar
4.  Fluency

Let’s dissect the first one. 

Pronunciation

Simply put, there is nothing more impressive than having flawless pronunciation. With that said, how do the world’s greatest linguists have perfect pronunciation of a language without having to hear it from an early age? And, on the contrary, why are Americans so bad at foreign pronunciation? (not all Americans are, but we all know it’s true).

GOAL: Have flawless pronunciation in any language or dialect.

PROCESS:

Tip 1. The real secret to pronouncing any language or dialect is more simple than you would think.

Here it is…

Ready?

It’s all about vowels.

If you can pronounce any vowel perfectly in a language, then you’re well on your way to sounding like a native.

(LIFE TIP: Consonants are generally pronounced the same for most languages, so we don’t need to worry about them for now, although some languages have a few consonants that require more attention, like Arabic. Additionally, intonations, stresses, and tones will come naturally over time, so they too are not the focus, but rather a bonus).

The vowels are what differ vastly.

They are the bones of the language structure. 

Let me explain.

Take the Australian accent for example (my favorite accent of all time!).

If you can just pronounce the vowels used in Australian English, then you’re well off in sounding like a native Aussie. Here, I’ll help you have a perfect Aussie accent right now in 3 seconds:

Say the phrase “Rise Up Lights” quickly with a standard American accent.

Now, if you did it right, then you’ll realize that you’re saying “Razorblades” with a cool Australian accent. See, it’s not that hard after all : )
The [a] in the Australian "Razorblades" is pronounced similarly to the [i] in the American "Rise" and "Lights".

The key to perfect pronunciation is VOWELS.
(LIFE TIP: Mastering vowels is particularly important for learning East Asia languages (Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, etc). European languages generally use the same phonetic sounds for vowels across the board.)

Conclusion: Find out how many vowels are used in your target language, and just REPEAT them until you sound like a true Aussie mate. Get a native speaker to correct you.

(For more on Aussie accents and fun vowel pronunciation, see the “English” tab)

Tip 2. Language Programs:

I would recommend any language program that is an audiobook, and involves the listener repeating a native speaker. That’s exactly what we want to do when trying to polish pronunciation. (LIFE TIP: Try walking while listening (rather than sitting), and using hand gestures and facial expressions to express what you are saying. This associates gestures with conversation fluency).

If you’re looking for a good language program and are willing to pay some money for it, DON’T get Rosetta Stone (expensive AND inefficient IMHO). Rosetta Stone does not teach the bare essentials of a language. It often times dives into teaching phrases that are not actually used in everyday conversation. I tried out Rosetta Stone for Korean, but gave up within one week when I was required to learn how to say "the boy jumps off the boat"... It didn't even teach me how to say "Hello, my name is___."!
If you want to go with a language program, the #1 BEST language program out there is Pimsleur, definitely, hands down, without a doubt, cross my heart and hope to die (that’s strange to type…). I think Pimsleur is the best for 3 solid reasons: it’s cheap, it’s only 30-minutes a day, and it leaves you feeling like a boss at languages.

On the other hand, it’s important to note that the following four aspects of language learning are NOT important, contrary to popular belief:

1. Speaking
2. Listening
3. Reading
4. Writing

These four aspects are unimportant to us, because focusing too much on them won’t actually help you effectively master a language. Speaking is the main goal. Listening, Reading, and Writing will come naturally if we can speak the language FIRST.

When I took Spanish at University, I learned to read and write Spanish before I could speak properly, and it completely through off my focus. It took much, MUCH longer to learn Spanish than if I just focused on conversation. Academic language classes often make this vital mistake of simultaneously teaching to read and write while also learning conversational skills, and thus most people (I’d say 95%) that took a foreign language in High School can’t speak even a few sentences properly. If you disagree, try teaching a child to read before the child can speak, then let me know how that goes. It doesn't make much sense, and it takes too long. But, chances are you would agree that Speaking is the most important of the four.

Benjy Uyama

September 29, 2013 (Home, NC)