55. 5 Steps to Improve Your Pronunciation and Communication Skills

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar, your host, and I'm obsessed with pronunciation and fluency hacks because I myself am a non native speaker who helps non native speakers to speak with clarity, confidence and freedom. And today's episode is all about pronunciation and improving your clarity in English. I'm going to teach you the five steps that you need to take in order for you to improve your clarity and and confidence when it comes to speaking in English without moving to a different country or spending 10 hours a day practicing. Hey everyone, thank you for joining me. And after this fancy schmancy intro with a lot of words you might be asking yourself, especially if you've been following me for a while, you might be asking, asking yourself, but Hadar, wait a minute. You always talk about speak like yourself and it's okay for you to have an accent and you should own your identity and all of those things that you talk about that resonate with me so much, why all of a sudden you're talking about improving your pronunciation and accent? I mean, doesn't it contradict what you're always saying? So I want to answer you, my friend, because this is a really, really good question. And in the conversations that I'm having with you here on the podcast, my channel, in the comments and on Instagram, I go into it in more depth. But it's hard to talk about this complexity in one conversation because first of all, different people need different things. So nothing I say is the absolute truth. Whenever anyone tells you this is what you should do, then be like, well, no, because different people have different needs. Different people learn things differently. Some people, they need to hear everything. So podcasts, for example, work really well for them. Others need to see it, right? Then videos might work better for them. And there are some people who need the interaction. They need back and forth, they need to ask questions. So for them, maybe learning without any community or teachers or mentors or guides, that would be impossible for them. And for others, they're like solo players. They don't need more people. They need to sit down and do the work on their own, right? So that's the idea about teaching something that the basic understanding is that what I teach right now may not work for everyone. And this is why, by the way, in my program, my signature program, Accent Makeover, I offer different modalities for the students. So we do have workshops and conversation groups, but we also have videos that you can consume on your own. We have the audio version for those who just need to Listen to it, right? And we have mentorship and coaching so, like, that people can find themselves in the program. So I don't decide what's right. I offer different things, and people take whatever they can. And it has been working. So you need to understand when. When you look at something and you feel, wait, this is not working for me, maybe it's that form in which it's being delivered and you need to find something else that does work for you that helps you see it or understand it better. Right. If you're a visual person and you need to see it written down, you know, or if you're more auditory, you need to hear it again and again and again. So decide which one you are and consume the content that is relevant for you. Okay, that was a little bit of a detour to get to where I want, which is, I have an idea to present to you today. And action steps. But before that, going back to the conversation about, okay, should I work on my pronunciation? If I'm working on embracing my accent and embracing that identity of me. So pronunciation and an accent, which is, you know, like, everyone has an accent, so we don't want necessarily to learn one specific accent, but when we think about an accent, we think about all the cultural nuances that go into it. I always talk about an accent as a tool for you to get what you want. It's like a costume that you put on and you take off whenever you need it. Okay? So it's not about changing yourself or changing your identity. It's just about gaining more power. So that is one thing. Right? So learning pronunciation helps you not to change who you are. And it doesn't mean that you're going to lose your accent if you work on your pronunciation. This is why you also need to embrace your accent. Because when you go through a program and accent training or pronunciation training, which is, you know, for our purposes right now, it's exactly the same. So when you go through that, we need to set our expectations that unless you put in a lot of work, you are probably not going to lose your accent completely. And this is why the part about embracing your identity and embracing your accent is so incredibly important. Now, I'm not saying it's not possible to reach a level where you, you know, you use the language flawlessly and effortlessly and you master this pronunciation or accent because you love it, and you love the melody and the music and all of that stuff that goes into it. That's okay. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but do it for the right reasons, Right? Because you are passionate about it, not because you're afraid that people are not going to like you because you have an accent. At the same time, I understand the complexity of this world that we live in. And some people are less patient or less accepting when they feel a communication barrier. And a communication barrier is caused sometimes by a different use of the language, Right. So if I were to speak, to say something, and I would use different intonation. So, for example, listen to the difference between, hey, what's up? How are you doing today? Versus, hey, what's up? How are you doing today? Now, the first one sounds a little more friendly because I used my voice differently in my pitch. The second one sounded a little angry, Right. And the second one was pretty much my Israeli intonation. I'm going to say something in Hebrew now, Right? And it kind of like it sounds flat now in Hebrew. That's totally fine. Right? That's how we speak. So I don't feel offended, and I don't feel like, you know, this intonation insinuates that I'm angry. But if I use that intonation in English, then the person listening to me because they're expecting to hear something else, and they hear this. And this intonation pattern is associated with being angry or aggressive or just short or just like, I don't have any patience for you. So if I do that, it will affect the communication. And as a speaker, I would like to know that. Right? I would like to know that I'm not making some silly communication mistakes just because I'm unaware. Right. And awareness is key because all of a sudden, sometimes when you recognize that that's an issue, then it's really easy to change it. I mean, we need a system and, you know, develop the muscle memory, all of that.

Yes.

But at the same time, awareness is key, which, you know, I talk about it later on when I talk about the five steps. But also, that was intonation. Also, when it comes to speaking with, you know, I'm substituting sounds, pronunciation, and let's say I tend to drop consonants at the end of words. So I might saying, I don't mind reading the tech, I don't mind reading the tech. And someone might listen to me and say, okay, the tech what? And I meant to say text. But because of my pronunciation patterns in my native language, let's say I speak Spanish or Korean or Japanese, where words don't end with a lot of consonants at the end. So sometimes subconsciously, I may drop those consonants because I'm trying To fit it into the structure of my native language. So what happens is that people may think I'm saying different things, which puts me in an inferior position because I'm not able to get my message across, right? And it will affect the communication. And when there is a challenge and friction in the communication, the person who pays the price is you. So if you want to be an empowered speaker, and if you want to have that place where you use the language to get what you want, pronunciation is key. This is why I love it so much. And I also love it because it is easy to see the transformation if you do the work. Period. If you do the work. My intonation was a little messed up here. It sounded like I'm about to continue, but then I actually ended the sentence. See how much it matters? Like understanding the intonation. Because then people might wait for you to continue and not ask the questions, whereas you're like, I'm done. Why are they quiet? Anyway, okay, so that's what I'm saying, right? Like, you need to be able to deliver your message clearly. And the only way to do that is to understand how things work in English and what people expect to hear. So you are on the same page. And lastly, the reason why I think pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, stress, all of that stuff is crucial for confidence is because when we speak a second language, we know words, right? We know sometimes tenses, like grammar, all of that. Sometimes it's a little vague, but it's easy for us to find an answer. Like, it's easy for us to go to Google or ask someone, should I.

Say it like this or like that?

But when it comes to pronunciation, first, a lot of times you're not aware that you're making a mistake or that you're being unclear, because a lot of the stuff that goes into it is, you know, it's just like the BR filters it out. You know, you're not even aware that it exists. So that's one thing. And another reason is that you don't know where to go for answers. I mean, you might look at a word and see how it's being pronounced, but then, you know, you hear it and you say it, but what comes out of your mouth, it's just not the same. And you don't know what you need to do to change it. You don't know if it's the R or the L in the word or the vowel. Like, it's not super clear in your head. And that space of ambiguity affects your confidence. And confidence is a huge pillar of fluency, right? So when you are not confident, of course it's going to affect your fluency. And ultimately that's what we want. I mean, we think that we want to master pronunciation, but ultimately it's about being there, present when speaking and getting everything out of your head into the ears of the other person effortlessly and with precision like that you end up saying what you wanted to say, right? That it doesn't start somewhere in your head and ends elsewhere. Right? It's like playing golf where you're like, I'm going to. No, you know what A better example? Playing pool. I used to love playing pool and a few, I think it was a year ago we went on vacation with my parents and as a kid I loved playing pool with my dad. And you know, he used to teach me how to hold the stick and how to aim for the white ball and all of that. And then I remember that was a year ago, right? Like as an adult, I was like, okay, I'm really going to make this shot. And I was aiming and I was looking at the ball and I was trying to hit it right in the middle and then it just like skipped over and fell to the floor. So I was aiming somewhere and I knew I'm gonna get there. But it ended up not only not hitting the red ball, but it ended up on the floor. I don't think there are even rules that talk about what happens if the ball falls on the floor. It doesn't even exist in the pool world and there I was managing to do that. So sometimes I feel like pronunciation is like that. You have a target, you have a goal, you know what you want to say, but then what comes out of your mouth is totally different and you don't know what you did wrong. Learning pronunciation gives you that power, right? Like mastering that aspect of spoken English. And this is why it's so important for ultimate fluency and confidence when speaking, you get back the power, the power that is taken away from you when you shift from your native language to a new language. And this is why I created this five step system that I'm going to share with you today. So you know what you need to do when it comes to improving your pronunciation and mastering spoken English and ultimately speaking like a badass. Let's listen.

Hey, it's Hadar. And this is the accents way. Today I'm going to tell you what are the things that you have to do if you're looking to improve your accent and clarity in English. Now a lot of people think that improving Your accent is dealing with luxury problems and that you have to start working on your accent and pronunciation when your English is good enough. Now, I don't believe this is true. I think an accent is one of the core elements of spoken English, and it should be taught from day one. An accent is, as one of my smart students defined ones, the performance of English is basically how you take everything you know about English and your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and the intuition that you've developed along the years, and you turn it into spoken English, how you execute everything. And it's important to work on your accent because this is actually how you hear yourself and how you perceive yourself as a speaker of English. So the first thing you need to work on is your perception or your listening skill. You need to start identifying the differences between the sounds that exist in your native tongue and the sounds of English. And also you need to start hearing the difference between the different sounds in English, even if the differences are very, very subtle. Because if you can't hear it, you can't make it. So first you have to recognize it. Our brain filters out so much information, and a lot of the information that it filters out is not necessary because it doesn't exist in your native tongue. But it's essential in English because sometimes that's the difference between one word and another. So let's put it to test. Can you hear the difference between thanks and tanks? Thanks. Tanks. Thanks.

Th.

Tanks. T, T, T. What about reach and rich? Reach. Rich. So the first one is the tense e and the second one is the relaxed I. So maybe you can hear it now when I do it slowly in isolation. But do you notice the difference between those vowels when you listen to people speaking English? And yes, maybe it's clear now when I put these two sounds in isolation, but maybe these are things that you don't notice usually when you hear people speak English and you have to start noticing it because, again, when you hear it, you can make it. What about cake versus cake?

Cake.

Cake. It's a little more challenging, right? So the first K sound was a regular K, cake. The second one was aspirated as you should pronounce it in English, Cake. So it feels like there is a little H right after the k sound. Listen again. Cake. Cake. Everything else was the same. Now, you may have not noticed it the first time I said it, but now if you listen closely, you can totally hear it, right?

Cake.

Cake. And I bet you'll start hearing it all the time around you when you hear people speak. These were just A few examples of the differences that you need to start paying attention to when you listen to English. And you shouldn't just listen to words as they come at you as just words, right? As they're represented in the dictionary. No words are comprised of consonants and vowels. And these consonants or vowels may be different than how you think they should be pronounced. And some syllables are longer and stressed, and some are reduced and short. Okay? So you need to think of it as if you're listening to a new language that you've never heard before, and you're trying to recognize those, all of those new sounds that you are not familiar with. The next thing is your pronunciation. You need to know how to pronounce the sounds that don't exist in your native tongue. These are the sounds that are going to be a little more challenging for you to pronounce because you're not used to them and maybe you're not sure how you're supposed to pronounce them. Sounds are consonants, sounds that are stopped or partially stopped, like. Or vowels, sounds that are not interrupted, like A, e, and oo. Now, when it comes to pronunciation, there is pretty much one way you should pronounce the sound, and that's about it. So it's very specific, very technical. Your tongue needs to be here, your lips need to do that, and your jaw needs to be this open, and that's it. And when you get it right, you get it right. Of course, it has to do with tension and trying not to let old habits interfere, which is the pronunciation habits that you have from your native tongue. So we need to take all of that into consideration, of course. But the good news is that you'll always have a clear answer when it comes to what you need to do with your mouth when pronouncing a certain sound. So improving your pronunciation is an important step when improving your accent. The third thing is improving your intonation. While pronunciation is the building blocks of the language, intonation is how you put it all together, what you stress, what you don't stress, the melody of the language, the attitude that is conveyed. Now, when we speak English as a second language, we usually use the intonational patterns from our native tongue. That means that either the language can be reduced to a very monotone melody, or it can be very pitchy, going up and down, because this is how it is in your native tongue if you speak a tonal language, for example. So again, we need to be aware of that. We need to be aware of the differences between how you play the music in your language. And how you play the music in English. Because your message can be compromised if you're stressing too many words or if you're stressing the wrong words. Because that's how you do it in your native tongue. Intonation is also the rhythm of the language. The internal feel, the long versus short, the times where you go fast and when you slow down. So all of these things are really important when you're speaking and help you to convey a strong message. Now, if you're looking to improve your intonation even more, I will put the links to the videos where I teach intonation right below in the description. The next thing is effective practice. It's one thing to learn it and to understand it and to be able to pronounce it clearly or to get the right melody. It's another thing to make it your own, to turn it into a habit, to overcome the old pronunciation habits or old intonational habits and actually start using it in real life without thinking about it. Because when you're practicing, you want to develop muscle memory. And one more thing. When you practice, you train the muscles. Your muscles need to be in good shape, just like when you work out or when you play an instrument. You got to practice every single day to get the right muscle tone, to be able to round your lips really tight for the oo sound or for the r, and to be able to shift from the s to the th, this tricky transition really quickly. So your tongue needs to be fast and quick and in control. The only way to do it is with effective practice, drilling the words in a certain way and then applying it in words, phrases, and sentences. Now, look, this is not hard work. It's not something that you have to do every day for five hours a day. No, you can invest only 15 or 20 minutes a day. But it has to be effective and you have to see results. So if you've been practicing for a while and you're still not happy with the result, and then maybe your practice was not effective enough, maybe you were practicing wrong, Maybe you were repeating the same mistakes and ultimately just wasting time. So this is why accurate practice and effective practice is another key component in improving your accent and clarity. The last thing you want to take into consideration when improving your accent is whatever you're practicing is not going to show up immediately in conversation. Okay? And that's totally natural. The idea is that you develop the muscle memory until your tongue remembers the right placements and you start working on the intonation until your body feels it and you start using it without thinking about it, right? So there is a lot of room for intuition and there's a lot of room for just the work to show up as you speak. So. But that takes time. But what you could do in order to integrate everything that you're learning into your day to day speech is to start having those conscious conversations, conversations that are not too demanding. So it shouldn't be a job interview or an important meeting, but a conversation where you can start thinking or being very aware of the sounds that you're currently practicing. So for example, if you're practicing your sheepship vowel pair, okay. And you're trying to make that distinction, and you've been drilling the sounds and you've been reading a lot of sentences and analyzing texts and doing all of the work, so you might want to start using it more consciously when you speak. Now ultimately, if you do the work and if you practice, it will show up. It will, believe me, I've done it. I did the work, I practiced and now I don't think about the sounds when I speak. Speak. Okay? So I'm telling you from my own experience. But if you want to expedite the process, then start using these sounds consciously when you speak. And that way, first, you create a lot of awareness. And second, you really start using it on a day to day basis. And when you hear yourself using it and you become confident about it, then it gives you also the confidence to keep on doing it and to improve. And that's what we're looking for, progress, not perfection. So these were the five things that you need to start doing in order to improve your clarity and your accent. And if you haven't started thinking about it, about improving your accent, maybe you should, because you will be surprised that it opens doors. It opens your English door. It opens the channel of free communication and fluency. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.