Hey there!
To begin with, I would like to ask a question: why is pronunciation so important?
Many people think that pronunciation is not actually that important if your grammar and vocabulary in general is good. Wrong. Pronunciation is the key to a successful communication. Done right, it enables you to understand the person you are talking to without any problems. This fact is also more than important for becoming a good interpreter. Who is going to enjoy listening to an interpreter whose accent is much worse than Arny‘s?
How good does the pronunciation have to be?
For my part, I am a perfectionist (which is undoubtedly not the right way to start off the day), so I want to speak like an American, not like an Austrian that tries to talk like an American. However, I think in general it is not important if you do not sound exactly like a native. You should have a good, more or less neutrally pronounced English. That means that you should not pronounce a Spanish r instead of an English one, for example.
How can you improve your pronunciation?
- One of the best ways to improve your pronunciation is undoubtedly talking to natives. This means, get a tandempartner! There are so many Americans in Graz if you just start searching for them. First of all you will have the chance to generally improve your English (grammar, vocab, expression) and secondly you learn so much just by listening how they pronounce a word. In addition to that you also see what they do with their lips when they pronounce a word. Babies only learn by imitating their parents, for example. Why shouldn‘t that be possible for us too? Imitate, imitate, imitate! :)
- Now that we did pronunciation exercises in class and most of you know what you still have to work on, you can also ask one of your fellow students to help you. As we don‘t all have the same problems, this is also very helpful in improving your pronunciation.
- I would also recommend watching TV shows or series. That's how you also learn how the words should sound. Even if you don‘t directly speak while watching them your brain is capable of memorizing the sound and after some time it automatically reproduces them.
- Vocabulary.com and dictionary.reference.com are also good measures to improve your pronunciation. You can listen to the words, dictionary.reference.com also shows you where exactly the word is stressed and where the difference lies between pronouncing the verb and the noun.
What have I done so far to improve my pronunciation?
I love speaking English. That is why I try to talk as often as possible to my friends from the States. I also learn by imitating people and as stated before, I think that is one of the best ways to improve pronunciation. I also watch series and TV shows, which can be as well considered as learning by imitating. Vocabulary.com and dictionary.reference.com always help me to find out how to pronounce a word correctly and, again, as you can listen to how it is pronounced correctly, you learn by imitating. I am really a fan of learning by imitating (as you might have noticed), because if i hear a word once, it usually stays in my mind and I immediately memorize it.
