Pronunciation and listening (continued…)

Audio Podcasts

A great way to improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation is with the audio Podcasts produced by Radio Languages Network. These Weekly publications are available in English and Spanish and consist of a 20 minute Program on Podcast covering a wide range of vocabulary and pronunciation techniques. The accompanying PDF Guide and Vocabulary Audio include a full transcript of the program plus vocabulary and notes.

Learning pronunciation

With your ears tuned to the sounds and rhythms of your Second Language, you'll find learning how to pronounce the language with very less difficulty.

If your language course includes a recorded pronunciation guide and exercises, listen to them until you have absorbed all the points, but don't try to learn everything in one shot. Beware of pronunciation guides that compare the sounds of your Second Language with your First Language. This can be misleading as the sounds, particularly the vowels, are often different.

Alternatively or additionally you could try finding a native speaker to help you with pronunciation. Ask them to speak slowly and to enunciate each word clearly. Then try to mimic them. Pay attention to the shapes their lips make, and also to their postures and any gestures they make.

Radio Profesor language courses are very good at teaching you pronunciation: when introducing new words they break them up and teach you how to pronounce each syllable. Rosetta Stone courses are also good for learning pronunciation: they include the facility to record your voice and to visually compare it with a native speaker's voice.

Once you've got a grip with the pronunciation of your Second Language, you need to learn how to map the sounds to the written form of the language. This is fairly straight forward for languages like Italian, Spanish and German, which have consistent and regular spelling. Other languages, such as English, French and Danish, present more of a challenge with their irregular and somewhat chaotic spelling. Learning a language written with a different writing system adds an extra level of difficulty.

Better pronunciation through song

If you enjoy singing, try learning some songs in the language you're learning. This is a fun way to improve your pronunciation and vocabulary. You could also try learning to sing poems and stories. Listening to songs in your Second Language is an enjoyable way to improve your listening comprehension, especially if you have the lyrics handy, so that you can follow them as you listen.

To be continued…