I never pay too much attention to pronunciation since I learned English, one of the reasons why I didn't care was because I thought "If I can understand people whose learning Spanish despite their pronunciation, English speakers should understand me as well" but since I traveled to US, I discovered the opposite of that thought.
Despite my accent, people understood me very well, but there were certain words that have a specific pronunciation which gave me in return weird faces from those who were hearing me. In these situations, I didn't know who felt more ashamed, if me for the fact I didn't know how to pronounce the word correctly or them because they feel bad because they couldn't understand me, those situations stressed me a lot, but we have to know that when we are learning we don't have to be ashamed of trying, because those failures will let us learn and get better at it.
Knowing 2 languages is a must in these days, technology and social media let us connect with any person around the world and the most spoken languages are Spanish and English. People admire those who put effort into learning about other cultures, and when they discover they can communicate and talk with you, they feel really pleased, same do I when I see an US native trying to speak to me in Spanish.
How do I practice my pronunciation?
During that trip to US was easier because I had native English speakers who could correct me and taught me the way to pronounce the word correctly. But after I returned home it got harder because I couldn't speak English with people around here.
Youtube videos
Are a great way to practice, there are a huge amount of videos where we can correct our pronunciation. I subscribed to 2 accounts that have helped me improve my pronunciation a lot EnglishClass101 and Aprender Ingles Americano.
Enter to Discord servers
Is another way to practice what you've learned, when I have free time, I practice my English with other users. It is normal to feel shy at the beginning, but bear in mind that no one knows you, and they don't care.
So, take a breath, count to 10 and just say Hi!
Sing!
this is something I always do when I am alone at home. For example, I like Imagine Dragons and Linking Park a lot, so I just search the lyrics and start singing. It's very useful for understanding the meaning of the song and it helps your listening as well.
I have been with these 3 things since I came back from the US and it has helped me a lot, hopefully it will help you too in your journey.
Just try it!
Well, pronunciation is still a great concern for me in my learning of Español.
Since I am not in an environment where they speak Spanish, it is very difficult for me. Sometimes I pronounce some words just like the normal way I'll do to an Englush word.
Well, I need to give it more time though...
Nice points by the way
That's fine, hopefully once the hivelingual discord server is created, I think we will be able to practice a lot there.
Yes, and I am really happy about it.
Thank you for your time
There are apps that address that, I suggest checking out Tandem as well as other alternatives like Elza Speak and even Google Assistant.
What's good @antoniojoseha, it's really encouraging to see new members posting in the community. I believe we have to try to get to a point where our English becomes understandable, after reaching that level we can up it a bit and focus more in our pronunciations skills as we are learning to understand other accents. The tips you mention are a must in order to put into practice our skills regardless of our level. The idea of HiveLingual is precisely to provide a space where hivers can practice together and learn. Will have a conversational club anytime soon. Stay tuned. Welcome aboard!
Sounds great!! Count on me
hej, thanks for upping this post! It is something I was also thinking about a lot recently. Who actually determines that a pronunciation is the "correct" one. i wanna thrown an observation into this:
English belongs to all of us now. If you are happy with your pronunciation, you are good. If someone says to you: "oh, your pronunciation is incorrect" this person needs a holiday!
Who defines, whats right whats wrong. Adding the fact that English has become a most random language.
If you look at those words: "read" can be pronounced as "reed" or as simply "red" as in past tense. Still they spell it the same "read"?? Or "meet" and "meat", identical in pronunciation, only the context and syntax can help. How about "break" and "brake"? You get me? Random!!
English has got latin in its core (from history right?), who wld oppose something that beautiful as a re.latinisation of English.
If you worry about the tone/sound of your english, if imitation is your goal?, then practice is the way i guess. But I think we should move on from this, and clarify in any professional context, before english people get controlling about other ppls pronunciation. The most sloppy english speakers are prob the English themselves. Ever been to Liverpool? I wanna go hear this live 360C°..