English Pronunciation Practice: \"2 Things\" You MUST Know
EngFluent
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[1] 00:00In this video, we're going to talk about how you can improve your pronunciation quickly
[3] 00:07And at the end of this video, I'll give you a link to a webpage that links to a lot of
[4] 00:12free pronunciation exercises.
[5] 00:15Let's start by talking about a very frustrating problem.
[6] 00:19Suppose I currently mispronounce this word.
[7] 00:23Suppose I say pogam instead of program.
[8] 00:27I want to fix this mistake.
[9] 00:29So I learn the right pronunciation and I repeat it over and over.
[10] 00:34program program program.
[11] 00:37Now here's the problem.
[12] 00:39Because I have mispronounced this word for so long, the incorrect pronunciation has become
[15] 00:51If I don't pay attention, I will revert back to the old habit.
[16] 00:56So how can I solve this problem?
[17] 00:58Well, the answer is...I have to increase the number of repetitions.
[18] 01:04Imagine that right now inside my brain there are two memories associated with the word
[22] 01:14The old memory represents the wrong pronunciation - the bad habit.
[23] 01:19The new one represents the right pronunciation that I've just learned.
[24] 01:23So these are memories of how to coordinate the muscles in my tongue, lips, and other
[25] 01:28parts to say the word "program".
[26] 01:31The reason that I mispronounce this word if I don't pay attention is that the old memory
[28] 01:38If I want to break this old habit, I have to repeat the right pronunciation many, many
[30] 01:45Every time I do that, the new memory gets stronger, and the old memory gets weaker.
[31] 01:51I repeat - the old memory doesn't stay the same.
[32] 01:54It actually gets weaker.
[33] 01:56This phenomenon is called Retrieval-Induced Forgetting.
[34] 02:00It happens when there are two or more memories competing with each others.
[35] 02:05It's a phenomenon where retrieving one memory makes us forget other memories.
[36] 02:10This is why you have to be careful when fixing a mistake.
[38] 02:20that you're trying to make, making the problem worse.
[39] 02:23So that's the first thing to keep in mind.
[40] 02:25You have to repeat, repeat, and repeat.
[41] 02:29This sounds good in theory.
[42] 02:31But in practice, there's huge problem with repetition.
[43] 02:35So what's the problem with repetition?
[44] 02:37Well, it takes a tremendous amount of time.
[45] 02:41Fixing just one mistake requires a lot of repetition.
[46] 02:44Who has time for that?
[47] 02:46After all, you probably have lot of mistakes to eliminate.
[49] 02:53Fortunately, there's a technique that you can use to speed up the process.
[50] 02:58And that is exaggeration.
[51] 03:01Going back to our previous example, suppose I pronounce this word as pogam.
[52] 03:07That's incorrect because the R sound is missing.
[53] 03:10If I want to fix this mistake quickly, I will exaggerate the R sound.
[54] 03:16pRogRam pRogRam pRogRam.
[55] 03:19Here's another example: Let's say I pronounce this word as "banana".
[56] 03:24This is incorrect because I don't stress the second syllable.
[57] 03:28So to fix this, I will stress the second syllable real hard.
[59] 03:35This sounds silly but you will not believe how much faster your pronunciation will improve
[60] 03:41when you exaggerate.
[61] 03:43But how does this technique help you improve your pronunciation faster?
[62] 03:47Well, one of the reasons that we mispronounce words is that we replace certain sounds with
[63] 03:54other sounds that are easier to say.
[64] 03:57So a non-native speaker might pronounce this word as "taught" instead of "thought".
[65] 04:03We also tend ignore certain sounds.
[66] 04:05So we might pronounce this word as hoss instead of horse.
[67] 04:10This is because the brain is lazy.
[68] 04:13It has the tendency to pronounce words in the easiest way possible.
[69] 04:17But when you exaggerate, you're telling your lazy brain that the sounds being exaggerating
[71] 04:25You're basically telling your brain, "Hey, these sounds are important.
[72] 04:29Do not ignore them."
[73] 04:31So you when speak normally, you will sound much clearer.
[75] 04:36When you exaggerate, you're strengthening the muscles involved in speaking, especially
[76] 04:41your tongue muscles.
[77] 04:42This is a huge benefit because if those muscles are strong, you will speak much clearer.
[78] 04:49So to summarize: There are two things that you can do to quickly and permanently improve
[80] 04:55Number one: You can use repetition to break bad speaking habits and replace them with
[83] 05:08Alright, that's all for today.
[86] 05:17So click here to go to that page.