Mastering Pronunciation of a Foreign Language: For Independent Language Learners

By Ronald Tichenor

In my ebook Mastering Pronunciation of a Foreign Language : For Independent Language Learners, I look at the problem of learning spoken language a little differently than they do in most published courses. And I try to solve it in two specific ways.

One is that I break down spoken language into two fundamental features that you need to identify and begin to use in order to pronounce it correctly and speak with a good accent.

Every language course introduces you to the first of those fundamental features, but they don't really follow up on it as they should.

And the second? They hardly ever even mention it!

It's not necessary to understand this feature in order speak a language at a basic level, but it's absolutely essential to develop a really good accent. Understanding this can give you the key to improving pronunciation to master-level.

The other way I approach learning spoken language is that I view learning to speak as actual physical training. When you learn a new language, you must use your mouth, lips, tongue, cheeks, heck even your breathing differently in order to speak properly.

You can't simply be introduced to a few new sounds of a language and then speak it like a native. It just doesn't work that way. There are tons of subtle differences in many of the sounds you must make when learning a language. And putting it all together to try to sound good requires a lot of focused effort.

Most courses will tell you that, but won't give you a real path to do it.

In my ebook, I outline a three-step process that does just that. I show how to use two simple techniques that allow you to work toward an outstanding accent that will impress the natives and stun other learners.

Disclaimer - I said simple because these techniques are simple to understand. But they're not easy. They require a lot of work. But if you've read this far, I know you're the kind of serious language learner that can benefit from this!

Anyone can learn how to do these techniques and you can use them throughout your study of a language and beyond.

And if you've already studied a language before and just want to fix your flawed accent? You can do that, too.

The beauty in this process is that it can be used alongside any other course that you're studying from. In fact, it isn't even a course so much as a complementary process of techniques that anyone can use with just about any language at any point in their learning process.

The upshot is that if you understand these basic principles, and use these techniques, you can develop your pronunciation more efficiently and faster than the typical approach.

It won't cost more than a few extra dollars at most and you can even do this right from the beginning of studying a language.

In fact, you will have even better results if you do this from the beginning!

Using these techniques results in improved pattern recognition with regards to word order, verb forms, and noun cases, easier vocabulary recognition and memorization, better parsing skills, and improved overall listening skills.

Mastering your pronunciation as you learn the language makes the entire language learning journey a better and more successful one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronald Tichenor
• Release date: Sep 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370317424

Ronald Tichenor

Ron likes to seek the dark places where language and literature build their lairs. He has been studying languages, both natural and constructed, and inventing new ones for over 3 decades while helping others do the same. He has a BA in Anthropology and is finishing a Master's Degree in Language and Literature with a concentration in Germanic Philology. When not working on languages Ron is writing fantasy or science fiction, writing about cryptocurrencies, or just trying to play that one dang Holdsworth riff he could never figure out.

Book preview

Mastering Pronunciation

of a

Foreign Language

For Independent

Language Learners

By Ronald Tichenor

Copyright

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2017 by Ronald Tichenor

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, contact the author at the address below.

[e-mail]

Mission Statement

I see this ebook as primarily for two sets of language learners -

Those who are just beginning study of a new language, whether it’s your first or not.

Those who have already studied a language to some degree and want to fix a flawed accent or just improve their pronunciation.

The sequence of techniques I propose to use in this ebook can be helpful for either case with only a few slight adjustments.

There are two fundamental features of your target language that you need to identify and begin to use in order to pronounce it correctly and speak with a good accent.

The Sound Set of the target language, that is, the inventory of sounds that the natives use to speak the language.

And what I call the Dynamic Signature of the language - the patterns of rhythm, stress, and intonation that natives use.

The purpose of the techniques I propose is pretty straightforward. They will allow you to identify the Sound Set and the Dynamic Signature of the language and begin to practice and use them right from the beginning, even before you have learned anything else in the language.

You can do this alongside any other language learning materials you are using and studying from.

It doesn’t have to cost anything more than what you have already invested. I will offer recommendations and suggestions for additional materials, none of which are very expensive and many can be found for free.

I believe this can be done with any language, although there are some languages that will have some limiting factors and caveats that I will get into later.

What I’m offering you in this ebook is just one approach.

There are, of course, other techniques, tools, and methods that you can use outside of what I recommend in this ebook.

I don’t want to tell you what to do but rather to show you what can be done.

I believe that creating our own language learning plan and defining our own individual process is the key to being a successful language learner.

The approach I propose with these techniques and tools features a focus on pronunciation and accent improvement that provides a clear and simple path to develop and fine-tune pronunciation of a foreign language.

I believe that anyone using this approach can achieve an exceptional accent in any language in a more efficient manner and at a vastly improved rate over the typical approach.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Mission Statement

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Overview of This Ebook

Who is this ebook for?

Step 1 – The Pronunciation Guide

What materials you will need

How much time to spend on this step

Using the Pronunciation Guide – A First Run-Through

A More Thorough Run-Through

Isolation

Approximate

Exaggerate

Re-integration

The Circuit

Your Native English Sound Set

Constructing Your New Sound Set

Step 2 - Reading Aloud

What materials you will need

Reading Aloud

The Dynamic Signature - Rhythm, Dynamics, Stress, Speed, Intonation

Uncovering the Dynamic Signature

Variations on Reading Aloud

Getting the Most out of Reading Aloud

Notes on Non-Roman Writing Systems

Moving Forward

Step 3 - Shadowing

What materials you will need

What is Shadowing?

Variations on Shadowing

Physical Training

Putting It All Together

A Natural Progression

The Keys

Listen a lot

Speak a lot

Establish a Routine

Set Goals

Diminishing Returns

Evolving Use Over Time

Wrapping Up

Appendices

A - Pronunciation Neglected By Native English Speakers

B - Why the Approach Presented Here Works

C - What Do I Mean By ‘Mastering’ Pronunciation Anyway?

D - Case Studies

Case Study #1 - Darren

Case Study #2 - Sophie

Case Study #3 - Andre

Acknowledgements

Preface

When I wrote out this ebook in a first draft, I looked back at it and realized that I placed all of the background and support material in the first chapters. It seemed logical to lay out that part first to make it easiest for you, the reader, to understand how and why the techniques I am proposing here work, and how I came to write this.

But then I realized that you aren’t here to read my ebook for its own sake. What I mean is, you’re not here as just a reader. You are here as a language learner. Being a learner, especially a language learner, is a far more active role than being a reader. I think it requires a different mindset than learning other subjects.

So I turned everything on its head.

Now, I just have a brief introduction describing how this ebook works and who it is for. Then I get right into the techniques.

I eliminated much of that support and background material or moved it to the end. You can look at it whenever you like. I shouldn’t assume that you need it or even want it, so I’m not going to force you into reading that stuff. You want action. Let’s get down to it as quickly as possible.

Introduction

If you are studying a foreign language and you want to focus on your pronunciation, you need to use techniques and tools that will help you do exactly that. You also need to spend a significant portion of your study time specifically on pronunciation and speaking, over and above what is normally expected in a typical language learning regimen.

That much may seem obvious, but - the earlier you do this, the better.

Of course you are going to say "hey, how can I possibly focus on pronunciation and speaking when I haven’t learned anything in the language yet?" A very reasonable question. However, with a few caveats, that’s exactly what we are going to do.

What I am proposing is this –

You should specifically focus on pronunciation without concern for meaning.

You can do this very early in your language study, before you are burdened with having to understand any grammar and vocabulary.

I’ll show you how you can do this.

You will be doing a lot of listening in order to get the sounds of the language into your head, so that you know what it is supposed to sound like coming out of your mouth.

But through isolating and exploring the sounds of the language, Reading Aloud, and Shadowing techniques, you can develop your pronunciation from the very beginning. You will achieve rapid early progress with your pronunciation, allowing you to spend time fine-tuning your accent through the rest of your language study.

When front-loading your language learning regimen by focusing on pronunciation like this, the results are quite interesting. It has an effect on the rest of your learning from that point on -

Greater pattern recognition with regards to word order, verb forms, noun cases, and other grammatical types

Easier vocabulary recognition and learning

Better parsing skills

Improved overall listening skills

This comes about by being exposed to a lot of intermediate and advanced language, before you even know what it is, and by interacting with