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For many non-native speakers, one of the most troublesome aspects of English pronunciation is that it requires significantly more movement of the lower mandible than does their native language. By one linguist’s count, there are actually 21 vowel sounds in American English! And this means you must move your mouth A LOT in order to distinguish between them. Many non-native speakers (especially Japanese, Cantonese, and Russians) tend to keep their mouth in a neutral position. You don’t open your mouth very much, and in English, that’s going to affect the way you produce vowel sounds, thereby negatively impacting your intelligibility - meaning how people understand you.
Notably, this can also significantly reduce your score on the IELTS Speaking Test!
So, what can you do? Rule #1 is RELAX! Don’t be shy, and certainly don’t worry about being strictly polite. These are cultural nuances not shared by most native English speakers (especially Americans and Australians).
Rule #2 is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! For example, I recommend that my students begin each morning by standing in front of a mirror and repeating the following sentence 10 times:
“I saw 66 farmers laughing on the phone.”
I know, I know - this sentence is really weird, and before you think I’m getting pretty strange here, you should know that I did not create it. It was actually written by a speech pathologist several years ago when I was in graduate school, and it's specifically designed to promote “open mouth” speaking.
Lastly, I recommend you enroll in my free English Counseling Lesson. In this way, we can become better acquainted, and I can then make some specific recommendations about improving your English pronunciation.
Enjoy the spring and summer weather, and I hope to meet you soon.
Art
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