My pronouciation journey(corrected text)
I have been caught up with a "pronunciation fever" since last year. I find it hard to work on my pronunciation on my own and I took a correspondence course at first. Their method looked good. I enjoyed practicing with their textbook and DVD. It was very interesting to learn how you pronounce each sound. However, it was not easy to submit the assignment. They required taking a video of my performance. I didn't like adjusting the lighting or the angle,or zooming inside of my mouth with a little video function on my cell phone which was the only tool that I could find. I stopped it after three months.
Then I switched to a different pronunciation school. I only could afford to attend once a month since the school was very far. It sure was fun and rewarding to learn face to face. On the other hand,it was so tiring to take two lessons at a time as required in the contract.I would lose focus during the second class most of the times. In addition, the curriculum seemed too long. I didn't go back to school after six months.
We have a proverb which says "Third time does it". I have just restarted working on my pronouciation at The Linguist and I hope to prove the proverb true with the tutor Kerri. Looking back to the approaches I took, the biggest reason that it didn't work was I didn't try hard enough. I was just finding faults with each school and making excuses.
It can be challenging to be instructed pronunciation in English on the internet,but I am determind to keep practicing to overcome the difficulties.
My goal is to be able to speak English in front of people comfortably. I believe that pronounciation contributes to a big part of it!
Comments
Hi Yukiko,
You seem so keen on English pronunciation!! Are you now a premium member who can have more 1 on 1 with Kerri??
I highly recommend that you should join The Linguist karaoke bar. Choose one of your favorite English songs and sing it over and over until you fully catch it. Then, record it and post on the Vox. The Linguist Judge will judge your recording!! I think that it is a good and fun way of improving English pronunciation, don't you think??
Tony,
I upgraded to premium and have been taking 1 on 1 pronounciation session with Kerri !
The Linguist Karaoke bar sounds fun :D I know Satomi improved her pronounciation by singing English songs. I should practice some songs once I learned the basic on pronouciation from Kerri :)
Hi Yukiko ans Tony!
My favorite karaoke songs are "Super Star" and "Top of the World" by The Carpenters. Those are old songs but I love the beautiful voice and pronouciation of Karen Carpenter's.
I would like to improve my hearling comprehension with L and R sounds as well as making those sounds properly by myself. I can't distinguish both sounds when people speak, and I hate to admit, 90% of time I make mistake which is which. :-<
When I speak any word containing R/L, like "vocabuLaRy", I always spell them out in my head, and try to make sound, but sometimes I can't remember spelling, then I mix up them like "vocabuRaLy" or "EngRish" :-P
Hi Satomi,
I imagine that practicing old English songs is better than recent ones since they are clearer (same as Japanese songs) :D
I am also confuse with L and R sounds with listening and spelling. I hope I can overcome this difficulty :)