Do you want to pronounce well? Of course you do, who doesn’t? When you hear someone speaking English in perfect manner you may have been scourged with envy and dream to be one such a good speaker of English. You are not wrong. Who does not want to be a perfect speaker of the English language?
Well if you want to know how to speak English in an elegant manner you have to learn to pronounce every word accordingly. It is the IPA or the International Phonetic Alphabet that may guide you step by step to learn how to pronounce English quite correctly. With the help of IPA you can master the art but what you need to do in the very beginning is to follow some steps so that you can be sure that you are pronouncing accurately.
The first thing you have to do is to collect a copy of the sounds represented by symbols. You are sure to be confused in the very beginning. Next try to copy the symbols on a sheet of paper. You would find in the chart about 44 sounds among which there are 20 vowels along with 24 consonants. There is controversy regarding the number of the sounds but anyway try to learn them by heart.
Now it is your turn to write a word representing a sound stated by the symbol. You may have a chart that may offer you the same thing but if you do it yourself you may be familiarized with the sound and the symbol.
You must know that one symbol represents only one sound whether a vowel or a consonant. The English charts contain both the vowels and consonant divided into different columns. As a result you may get the picture ready before your eyes. Next there is the elaborate description of the position of your tongue and the lips and the process of flowing of the air through your nasal cavity during the particular period of articulation.
You may find the diphthongs hat sound very much like the vowels but glide in general to a different sound. It is hard to transcribe them in details but you may break them up in similar section to get the best result. You must know that the vowels seem to be the hardest factors as they have much variability. If you have an IPA chart in front of you, you can break the symbols down into different categories.
The moment you can master the sound that a symbol represents you are now ready to find out the characteristic feature of the symbols. Now try to grasp he list of the vowels and consonants along with their definitions.
Read the sound aloud. Repeat again and again until the perfection comes. You may consult a dictionary where the phonetic transcription is elaborated beside the word. The dictionary would help you in two ways. You may learn the correct spelling and on the other hand what the actual pronunciation of the word is at your own grip in an instant.