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.
If you’re going to learn English, you’ll have to understand one of the main characteristics that complicate it – it’s not a phonetic language. That means, we do not always pronounce words the way they are spelled.
Some words bear the same spelling, but need to be pronounced differently. For example, the word “read” is mouthed off differently in these two sentences:
- Read the paper from yesterday.
- I have read yesterday’s paper.
Some words are pronounced the exact same way, yet are spelled differently. For example, the words “way” and “weigh” are complete separate things, yet are mouthed off in exactly the same manner.
- Show me the way.
- How much do you weigh?
Unless you’ve specifically studied both uses of the word, there’s no way you could have known how to differentiate one from the other. Most likely, you will make mistakes with such words during the course of your study with your language software. Just know that it’s nothing to be embarrassed about – those phonetic differences are things you will need to recognize and remember whenever you encounter them.
There are a total of 52 different sounds in the English language, each of which you will likely encounter during your attempts at mastering it. You should learn all these different pronunciations if you want to both speak and listen more capably.
With English as second language, proper pronunciation in the vernacular can be more difficult than usual. These few tips should help you get a good grasp on it.
1. Speak Slowly. The faster you speak, the more mistakes you’re going to make. Unless you’ve already mastered a language, a slower pace will be of tremendous benefit. The faster you speak, the more pronounced your accent is going to be. In the English language, taking 2.5 seconds to utter a word is perfectly normal for non-native speakers.
2. Pronounce All The Sounds. As someone who’s more familiar with the nuances of a language other than English, it’s tempting to ignore certain sounds if you’re unused to doing them in your native tongue. Problem is, those utterances could be what separates one phrase from another, so make it a point to enunciate everything completely. Use your language software or audio course to learn the proper way to pronounce each portion of the speech.
3. Record Your Speech. A great way to be alerted of your weaknesses in pronunciation is to make a habit of speaking into a recorder and studying your speech. Recording lines that you hear from a movie, for instance, allows you to compare your speech to that of a better speaker. With enough practice, you can train yourself to deliver words in the correct manner by mimicking the source.
4. Speak Louder. Many folks speaking an unfamiliar language tend to drown out their speech with their thoughts, basically speaking with too soft a voice due to fear of saying the wrong things. Unfortunately, doing so just reinforces any bad pronunciation as they are unable to hear themselves clearly, apart from making it harder for others to properly make out what they’re saying.
