Tips for Speaking English with Proper Intonation

Learners of English rarely feel comfortable about their speaking skills.  Since the English language is now recognized as the standard in international discussions of economics and politics, it is vital for every individual to improve his/her accent.  Now, how is that possible?

SEE ALSO: Five common mistakes you should avoid while speaking English

There are numerous ways to acquire a proper accent.  I personally consider the following measures mandatory for such an improvement:

Tip 1: Improve pronunciation

Practicing intonation and pronunciation can help you substantially improve your spoken English skills.  Pronunciation practice teaches you the correct way to utter a word.  At times, native English speakers may fail to comprehend the word you are trying to say because your pronunciation is incorrect.

For instance, a Spanish speaker may not consider the aspiration of /p/ when saying ‘pin’, hence an American speaker may hear ‘bin’ instead.  To make an improvement in this respect, the best advice is to observe the tongue and mouth movements of native English speakers.

One of the good ways to do this is to watch news in English.  Focus on the newscaster’s lip movements and try to imitate their accent.  This will help your muscles get flexibility.  Include this exercise in your daily routine, it will soon reap benefits.

Tip 2: Best friend = English dictionary

We no longer live in times when one would have to lift a big, heavy dictionary in order to find a specific term or understand its pronunciation.  Technology has made this very simple.

Smart phones give you the opportunity to download the best dictionary applications.  The major benefit of such apps is the fact they enable you to hear audio pronunciation for every word, so one may always refer to them for better guidance.  Merriam-Webster-dictionary & dictionary.com-dictionary are two interesting options for daily usage.

Tip 3: Practice

Buy yourself some audio English books and listen to them intently.  Get a hard-copy of the same book as well.  I would strongly recommend this link as it will reveal to you the best collection of English audiobooks, audioarticles and useful exercises for learning English.

Once you are done with a single story you may then begin self-evaluation tests.

Read out the book (hard copy) aloud and record your voice.  Replay and listen to your voice to determine your mistakes and inconsistencies with the original version.  Make a mental or written note of your faults, and keep reading till you are most close to the optimum results.

Tip 4: Slow down

Speaking too fast is a common problem among learners of English.  They tend to rush, gobbling down words and slipping syllables, which all makes their speech distorted.  How to put a full stop in oral conversations is a tough task especially when one is habitual of speaking fast.

You can always begin with the notion of “breathing more often”.  This will get your voice some strength, make your words clear, and let your tongue muscles pronounce words with ease.  Emphasize particular points or ideas, and make breaks at the end of clauses and phrases.

Tip 5: Have some fun with learning

Listen to English songs and watch movies because this can be of great help to you.  Fictional characters may have different accents but they will help you get an overview of the different ways English is spoken.  Moreover, they will help you get used to native-like intonation and remember correct pronunciation of some complicated English words.

You may listen to Skeeter Davis, Albert Campbell and Kathryn LaBouff.  Also you may watch HBO and star movies for correcting your pronunciation and intonation.

Photo credits: YLev, martin.nedeliak

Author Bio: Maegan Meredith is an experienced SEO consultant for pro research papers.  She has been rocking the SEO industry for last few years.  She loves to spend her leisure time in blogging and watching movies.