If you have been learning English for some time and you still feel unable to use it in a real life communication, you should definitively start practicing your pronunciation.
As much as your teacher focuses on practicing grammar and vocabulary, you should definitively start focusing on your own speaking skills.
If somewhere in the process of learning English you forgot about practicing pronunciation and you wish to start working on it seriously, here are a few general tips for you.
By following these rules you would be able to reduce the fear of speaking English and finally start speaking fluently.
Do: - Practice speaking whenever you have the possibility to do so: engage in class discussions, communicate in English with your best friend or family members; - Travel, meet people and maintain communication with them via Skype; - Read out loud when you are alone, especially if you are a shy person in nature - this will help you relax and get used to speaking English; - Record your voice and listen to it to see what mistakes you are making; Listening to your own voice will help you get a clear picture of how you sound in English.
- Get acquainted with the basics of English philology; explore how English sounds differ from the sounds in your mother tongue; pay special attention to practicing pronunciation of sounds that don't exist in your native languages.
- Use software programs to learn English online and practice pronunciation; - Be confident about yourself; learn that making mistakes is natural and that every non-native speaker of English makes them.
Don't: - Don't avoid communicating with native speakers.
If you don't understand what somebody is saying don't be shy to ask them to repeat it; - Don't pretend you don't speak English when you are in a foreign country.
You should engage in real-world communication even if this would mean exchanging only a couple of sentences.
- Don't be afraid of your voice in English; you have to get used to the fact that English sounds different than your mother tongue; - Don't speak in a low voice; even those who speak English very well may sometimes be misunderstood if they speak quietly.
- Don't quit if you fail to see an improvement after a couple of days.
It takes time and practice to get used to learn English pronunciation and no one can do it over night; - Don't be lazy! If you really want improvements, you need to work hard to make them possible.
- Don't ignore the importance of proper pronunciation; even if it may appear pointless to bother around practicing a single sound, this can significantly affect your overall language skills.
Even though they may appear silly to you, these are actually very important steps in your language learning process.
Practicing vocabulary for hours by filling in pages and pages of workbooks will help you memorize the words only temporarily.
You need to use them constantly so they would constantly remain in your head.
Similarly, memorizing the correct sentences can only partially help you communicate in English.
You need to be ready to speak, to construct sentences on your own and utter them out loud.
With these simple tips you can start right away!