A short, presenter-led YouTube tutorial by Hadar Shemesh offering practical, immediate exercises to improve English pronunciation and fluency. Core advice includes: speak aloud as often as possible (with partners or to yourself), read aloud daily for 5–10 minutes, practice 3–5 tongue twisters, use imitation (shadowing) of native speech, and fold these practices into a short daily routine.
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Hi, it's Hadar and you're watching the accents way your way to finding clarity, confidence and freedom in English. And today we're going to talk about a few things you can do, starting from this exact moment, that will help you get more comfortable with how English feels in your mouth. Help the words be more accessible so you won't have to search one hour for one word, and of course improve your clarity. So what are we waiting for? Let's get started. Speak as much as possible now. Yeah, I know it may seem like an obvious and trivial advice. Probably is. But if you live in a non English speaking country, you already know that finding situations to practice your English are a little bit harder to find. So basically, you need to artificially set up situations for conversation. And here are a few examples on how you can do it. Find a friend who's also interested in practicing his or her English and meet up with them for coffee and English once a week. Practice English at home with your spouses, your parents, your children. Speak English for an entire hour without switching back to your native tongue. Even though you get stuck or you need to say something really quickly. The act of searching for the words, hearing your voice out loud, and even getting stuck, you know those moments are the most interesting and productive moments. It may be frustrating, but then when you search for the word, you make it more accessible. All right? And then in a more important situation when you have to use this word, it's already going to be available. Another thing you can do is try conversationexchange.com that's where you can find native speakers who are interested in practicing your native tongue. And then you just have a conversation both in English and your native tongue. So try and the last thing I want to recommend is to speak to yourself. The good thing about speaking is that you don't have to have anyone around you. So speak out your thoughts. List things that you need to do. Simulate conversations. Anything works as long as you keep English not only in your head. Read out loud Reading is great, but it's still passive. If you're looking to improve your speech, reading aloud will enable you to detect the difficult sounds where you get stuck and what words you're not sure on how to pronounce. Also, it's a really great muscle. Practice Read aloud for five to ten minutes every day. Doesn't matter what it can be an article, a book, an email. If you come across an interesting word, put it down in your word list. If you're looking to improve your pronunciation, then focus on one sound and make sure that you use it throughout the text. Since we started in 1985, that wisdom has helped to guide us practice tongue twisters. For example, there was a minimum of cinnamon in the aluminum pan. Think of it as taking your tongue to the gym. I love this practice because it combines your brain, your eyes, and your tongue muscles. Below this video, you'll find a list of my favorite tongue twisters and a link to many more. Pick three to five tongue twisters every day and practice them a few times. Start slowly and make sure that you pronounce all sounds and all the transitions are smooth. And then see if you can start saying them a little quicker. If you and only stop when you're saying all of them smoothly and quickly. You'll see that when you deal with difficult transitions in practice, you're a lot more equipped to deal with difficult transitions in your daily speech. Sic Sleek the 6th sick chic 6th sheep sick sick seek the S Imitation Exercises Now, I wouldn't say it about anything else in life, but when it comes to practicing your speech, imitation really, really helps. Pick a movie scene that you like, an interview, a talk. I personally love using TED Talks or NPR News items. Listen to the audio or video for a line or two, pause it and repeat. Try to detect the sounds. If you have the script with you, you can also mark the important sounds, stressed words, or just difficult transitions. I find it super useful. It doesn't matter if you get everything right. It's all about getting the fluency and the flow of whatever you're working with. Who's gonna do it? You, lieutenant Weinberg? You, lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. And let me tell you a little secret. When I walk behind native speakers and I hear them speak out loud, I always imitate them out loud. I'm just repeating whatever they're saying. I'm kind of like echoing what they're saying. I find it super useful and a lot of fun. And I haven't been caught yet. Yet. The last tip for today has to do with your actual practice. All the tips and pronunciation practices you got here today should become a part of your daily routine. Do it on your way to work, in the car, when you walk your dog, or in the shower. You know what? Especially in the shower, don't count on freeing up 30 minutes every day just to do your English practice. Now, don't get me wrong, it's great, but from my experience, it's going to last exactly four days because there is always something more important to do and then it becomes a burden on too much. So no, do it on the go. You 10 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon when you're doing something else. It's effective and you're probably going to find it a lot more fun. Do you have something that works really well for you that helps you improve your English and your clarity, something you find super effective? If you do, please share it with us below this video and I might just add it to the next Pronunciation Tips video. Alright, now turn off your computer and start talking to yourself. But before that, if you like this video, please share it with your friends. I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
