How Do We Change How We Speak?
Learning to improve your American English pronunciation is a form of motor learning. Just as we learn to swing a tennis racket, drive a car, type, or dance, changing the way we speak requires the brain and muscles to learn new movement patterns.
Motor learning of ALL types requires repetition. The brain only forms new patterns, new habits, with repetition. When a new skill is rehearsed enough times, it activates other brain areas and becomes a HABIT. That is what we want with accent modification: to learn new movements of the articulators in the mouth (the tongue, lips, oral cavity) and the vocal folds producing the right amount of ‘voicing’ for certain sounds, as well as learning how to use the musicality of American English, the intonation. We want the new pronunciation to become a habit!
Practice is ESSENTIAL! Without enough practice, the new motor patterns are not committed to memory, to new habits. One can perhaps understand what they need to do to sound clearer and more intelligible in American English, but without enough practice, the new movements will not be part of a new motor pathway, and speech will not change. When we are speaking any language, we do NOT want to think about HOW we are speaking. We want to think about WHAT we are saying!
Practice can be boring, of course. This is where commitment and motivation come in! If you want to learn any new motor skill, you must practice! Practice swinging the tennis racket, the golf club, driving the car and using the pedals accurately, practicing typing, going to a dance class to practice. AND, to change one’s speech, to acquire a clearer American English pronunciation, PRACTICE IS ESSENTIAL! ((Sorry, there is NO way around it!!)) Good luck!
Not sure what pronunciation features you should practice? I can identify your most important pronunciation issues and create personalized practice materials for you!
Get Your Personalized American English Pronunciation Practice Program
