The biggest pronunciation mistake everyone makes in English is ...
...not stressing the correct syllable.
Really! Everyone gets anxious about the 20 different vowel sounds spelled irregularly with only 5 letters. Or the difficult TH sound. Or the R that is uniquely English. But it's not those sounds that make the biggest difference in clarity, it's primary stress. Not that you don't have to worry about the other sounds. You do. You definitely do, but if you want to make the biggest improvement for your effort, learn where to put the primary stress in a multi-syllabic word.
Primary Stress is the syllable in the word that is pronounced longer, higher, and louder.
Even two syllable words need to have the stress on the correct syllable to be clear. The difference between reFUSE and REfuse is not just in the sound, but also in meaning. ReFUSE means to say no to something. I reFUSE to go to work. REfuse is another word for garbage. Separate the REfuse from recyclables.
Unlike in languages such as Czech where the accent is always on the first syllable or in Spanish where they clearly mark any word that doesn't conform to their stress pattern, English stress is irregular and unmarked. It can be on any syllable in the word and there is no way to tell by looking at it.
Thank you, English!
If I had one gift to give to the world, it would be to change the spelling of English to be phonetic.
It is a true sorrow for me not to have magic and be able to just give it to you like a gift in a box.
I will just have to do my best to teach you.
There are a few patterns but none of them are easy. I've included them at the end of this article so that you can try them out. Who knows, they may work for you, but they're complicated, not foolproof, and there are just a lot of them.
For those of us who aren't so analytical? You need to do two things:
1. Listen.
You already know a lot of English if you are reading this. Are you positive about where the primary stress goes in all of the multi-syllabic words you know? Listen to how they are pronounced by native or completely fluent speakers. YES, you must listen to a native speaking accent to make sure the stress is on the correct syllable. I work with AMAZING non-native English teachers and INCREDIBLY high English students learners and it is still common for them to make errors in primary stress. Even native speakers make mistakes. Heck, even I do! (Don't tell anyone.)
If you don't have a native English speaking teacher in your back pocket, use these online tools to help you out. DON'T fire your non-native teacher if you have a good one! There are plenty of lousy native English speaking teachers out there and there are fabulous non-native teachers who are worth their weight in gold.
Google "how to pronounce" your word. There are tons of videos and audio clips out there that will solve your problem in two seconds flat.
Oxford Learner’s Dictionary This website gives you the British and American pronunciations, variations in pronunciation, example sentences, synonyms, the word origin, and so on. Very good.
Youglish. This site gives you YouTube clips of people using your word in real settings. You can even set the accent. Learning how people connect the word in a sentence is quite valuable.
2. Memorizing the pronunciation of new words.
Pay SPECIAL attention to the stress. It's more important than the other sounds. When you mispronounce atmosphere /AT mos fɪr/ (pronouncing the "o" in the middle syllable), we completely understand you even though it's not correct. When you pronounce it /at MəS fɪr/, it is hard to understand even though all the rest is pronounced correctly. Learn the primary stress first!
That's it.
You're welcome.
P.S. If I get my magic fairy powers any time soon, I will make English phonetic, I promise. Right after world peace and making the horrible coronavirus disappear. And a little fairy cottage in the forest at the foothills of a mountain range with lots of sunshine and giant trees. And lose ten pounds and take ten years of wrinkles off my face.
The very next thing.
Promise!
I also promised you:
Practice Primary Stress
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