Word stress is one of the important keys to improving your English comprehension skills. Without a good grasp of where stress appears in the language, it becomes difficult for a second language learner to communicate clearly with a native speaker. And the confusion goes both ways.
In English, each word always has a single point of stress, meaning there’s one syllable that you accentuate. You pronounce this syllable loudly, all while staying quiet with all the others. If you hear two stresses, then the speaker just said out two words and so on.
In some languages, such as Japanese and French, all syllables are given equal emphasis. As such, native users of these vernaculars typically have a difficult time making out a conversation among native English speakers. It’s like learning a whole new system of using sound all on its own.
When you’re trying to learn word stress in English, the simplest rule you must bear in mind is that the stress is always on the vowel. There are many other rules, too, although learning them all will likely complicate matters if you’re only trying to get a good grasp of communication skills.
Rather than perform calculations on the fly, we recommend the following to wrap your head around various English pronunciations:
- When you memorize vocabulary with your language software, memorize word stress too.
- Realize that word stress is a big part of the language. Without learning where the stress falls on a word, you’re not learning a word completely.
- Listen to native speakers – either in person, on talk radio or in films. That’s the easiest way to get used to the way native English speakers use word stress.