"Pronunciation, pronunciation"

Will anyone understand you
if your pronunciation is wrong ?

Accent and pronunciation are not the same thing!

• First - learn PHONETICS. This is something that you need to do right at the beginning.
  You may think that this is not important, but remember - English, is NOT spoken the
  way it is written !
• Learning phonetics will seriously aid your pronunciation.  Every word in the dictionary
  has its own phonetic spelling in parentheses' (brackets) right after it.

• There are many English sites on-line to help you, and a good one comes from the
  BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation). This is an extensive website that will
  teach you the correct pronunciation.
• Another good site is fonetics. This is more for beginners (or children) and shows how
  to pronounce and write all the letters of the alphabet together with example words.

• Songs are a good idea. Not because the pronunciation is good, but because the music will help you to remember what you hear.
• Children’s story books are also a good idea - they are nice and simple.  Read them aloud and if you can, record yourself doing this. 
• Follow the diagrams on this site (courtesy of the University of Iowa) and watch yourself in the mirror as you pronounce the various phonetic sounds.
• Remember - learn the pronunciation FIRST - otherwise you will pick up bad habits and nobody will understand you when you are speaking.

Now the next thing to take a look at is our page on Grammar