While pronunciation is emphasized in language learning blogs, I think it needs even more focus because it is one of the most fundamental aspects of a language.

If you are planning to speak the language for years or even for life, you should definitely take your time to master phonetics (and to some extent, intonation) before you proceed to learn vocabulary and grammar. While this might seem like a major time investment, it will definitely pay off in the long run. (If you choose to ignore pronunciation, you might make more progress early on, but you will hit a plateau in your learning.)

Consider two learners A and B:

Learner A spends 1 week on pronunciation (“good enough”) + 2-3 years learning the language + 1-2 years to reduce the accent.

Learner B spend 2-3 months on pronunciation (“perfect”) + 2-3 years learning the language + 1 week to fix any minor mistakes such as mispronouncing a rare word

If you are going to be using the language for years, taking weeks or even months in the beginning to work on pronunciation is a small price to pay. This may sound extreme for a lot of you, but if you really want to be as native as possible, it costs much less to fix your accent now than it does later.



(There are a few exceptions such as (1) you need the language for your job or (2) you are stuck in a foreign country and need to use it right now. In either case, you will not have the luxury of focusing exclusively on pronunciation.)

The reason you invest in pronunciation early on is because if you don’t, you will develop a distinct accent that is difficult to eliminate. As time goes on, most mispronunciation habits becomes more ingrained, making it harder for you to fix. Even if you work tirelessly, it still takes years to reduce the accent.

But if you focus on pronunciation first and only move on after you have mastered it to the best of your ability, you will have increased confidence in speaking and develop an intuitive feel for the language. This does not guarantee that you will be a native speaker or fluent, but it increases the likelihood of success greatly.

You may be wondering how can you learn pronunciation before you learn any words. While you cannot learn the pronunciation of every vocabulary word all at once, you can still study phonetics in the beginning and make sure that you can pronounce all the individual sounds correctly.

The most accurate resources are the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and an audio file. The IPA table maps out the sounds of the language to each mouth position, so you know exactly how each sound is produced.

Usually each sound (such as the pronunciation for the letter “r”) is accompanied by an example word along with an audio recording. First get the mouth position correct and then pronounce the example word exactly as the audio. To ensure you pronounced everything correctly, you can record yourself saying a word and ask native speakers to critique. Feedback from multiple speakers will allow you to build correct habits early on.

Even after you have mastered phonetics, you will still have to learn the pronunciation of each new word as you proceed. If you have taken your time, you should have a much easier time pronouncing new words correctly. This is a continuous process that must be done during all stages of language learning. The pronunciation of a word is not optional. It is required.

If you want to know the methods used to achieve perfect pronunciation, it would be wise to study past language learners who have achieved native accents. This article will examine two independent successful cases: the first is an American learning Japanese and the second is a Chinese learning English. Keep in mind that achieving a native accent after the critical period is extremely uncommon, thus I cannot provide a large number of case studies.

Case 1: An American named Dogen (his Youtube username) learns Japanese

Dogen made a few Youtube videos on Japaneses phonetics. In this video, he explains not only his background, but also the importance of pronunciation and how it helped him develop a native-like accent. While I will summarize the key points, I strongly recommend you watch the video (especially the first half) to understand his philosophy and motivation.

Summary:

While he was in Japanese 101, he also took a linguistics class which gave him 2 valuable insights:

Over half of the languages in the world do not have writing systems. A living language can be spoken but not written, but never written but not spoken. No matter how you write the language (for Japanese, this would be using Kanji, Latin letters, etc.), the spoken part of the language is still the same. Thus, he concludes that the very essence of language lies in the spoken part. The brain’s ability to mimic spoken language deteriorates greatly over time. Of course a lot of people know that children have it easier than adults when it comes to speaking. Unlike children, adults have to consciously and deliberately pay attention to pronunciation and intonation.

Only when studying phonetics brought diminishing returns did he switch to actually learning and using the language.

The implication of all of this is not to just give up in frustration because it seems nearly impossible or settle for a mediocre “good enough”. Focus on the fundamentals because they will be used from here on. While grammar and vocabulary are still necessary, advanced phrases can always be learned later (Bad habits in grammar and communication should also be avoided, but I won’t cover that here).

As you learn new words, you cannot make any guesses or assumptions. Often your native language has a set of sounds and patterns that may bias your pronunciation in a foreign language. Always check the dictionary and make sure you’re getting each word right.

However, there are cases where some words may be spelled the same, but pronounced differently depending on context. When in doubt, check the example sentences in the dictionary and/or ask a reliable native speaker.

Case 2: A Chinese named Jerry Dai learns English

Originally from China, Jerry Dai came to Canada at the age of 20. What’s impressive is he managed to learn and speak English with a native accent well after the critical period. He explains his study methods in this interview. Even though most of it is in Mandarin, he does speak some English from 0:45 to 1:00. (If you are interested in a full translation, you can go here and scroll down the page)

An excerpt from the translation (formatted for clarity):

Interviewer: Yes. When people now hear you speak English, if they know nothing about your background, they might think that you were born in Canada, so is it really that pronunciation has turned out to be the most useful thing for you while learning English? Jerry: Actually, when we are learning languages, pronunciation is often neglected by a lot of people, but I feel that the most important thing while learning languages is to learn them through pronunciation (he literally said it), because pronunciation will develop a feel for the language in us. Interviewer: How did you learn correct pronunciation? Jerry: At the time, the way I was learning pronunciation was very tiring. For instance there were a lot of things that I had to learn by heart, repeating things more than ten thousand times, sometimes even more.

Notice how he had to really focus all his energy on English pronunciation, using far more effort than most people are willing to put in. We know that it pays off for him because he can speak with lots of confidence and native English speakers can understand him perfectly. It can pay off for you too if you are willing to go the extra mile.

Conclusion

If you haven’t started learning the language or feel that everyone is ahead of you, do not despair! It is not too late at all to start today even with a clean slate. Really invest in pronunciation as it will pay dividends in the future when you speak with confidence and clarity. Even if your language ability is behind other people, you will catch up in no time. Remember, you can always learn new words later, but bad pronunciation habits will be extremely difficult to fix.