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Every language is different in sound to every other. Some are very different and some not so. Each person from any language can completely master the pronunciation of English, as long as become aware of the differences and work to eliminate them. Becoming aware of them is the first step.

Once you do that, you then need to learn what it is you have to do and keep doing to eliminate a difference. You can read more about that here.....

In this post I will bring to your attention one key difference from the following languages. As well as that, I will talk a little about what you need to do in your mouth to start to approximate to the English version. Sometimes you have to do the thing before you can actually hear it!

If you cast your eyes down the list, you will see that sometimes you may have the same problem as a speaker of another language.

Once you have worked at a sound and got a measure of success, scroll to the bottom and read what I suggest you do next.

Mandarin Chinese

Vietnamese

Russian

Spanish

Arabic

As in mastering any skill, there are further steps that need to be taken to ensure mastery. Once you can master the problem in one area, you need to then see if you can do same thing with the same sound in different words, longer words, words having that sound in phrases, in sentences and then in natural speech. 

Once you can do all that, all the time remaining sensitive to falling back into old ways, you maximise the chances of making permanent improvements to your speech.

Have you ever wondered what would be that one question you could ask a prospective language coach that would show you that this person is exactly who you are looking for? Well if you have, or you think such a question would be useful, I am going to tell you it here.

The reality is that at more advanced levels of English, what you need from your English language coach is not just more English. If that is all you are getting, expect your learning to take a LONG time. You, in fact, I suggest need someone who can do far more than that. So let's quickly look at what else you need and why. Once you understand that, then I believe the question you need to ask will become more clear.

I would like to make a few key observations here about what you need understand about learning English.

We have to learn by ourselves
The first key one is that there is a big difference between formal learning, of the kind we do in most classes, with text books or in online courses and what we do when we learn as we are using the language. Let's call that informal learning.

With formal learning, we are being led towards something that someone else decides we need to learn. With informal learning, we decide what we learn and we do it usually without the help of anyone else.

You may be surprised to know that once we are close to native like, most of the language we learned through informal means. Of course there are many things that can be learned formally. However, there are literally millions of things in a language we have to learn by ourselves before we can master it. These things can relate to, for example, finer uses of the language, like conveying subtleties of meaning. These are conveyed by tone, by inflexions, by pauses, by facial expressions, by turn of phrase and so on.  A native speaker can say the same thing in MANY ways. To get to that level, we have to master the language. Mastery requires us to learn much about the nature and character of the English language.  Not really possible to do that in a formal way.

If you answered yes for either of these questions, there is a good likelihood that your perceptions are not guiding you. That is a recipe for very slow progress, one that will come to a premature end.

For such people, my suggestion would be to work just as hard on learning to trust yourself as you are learning English. I say this because I have seen people like this have difficulty bringing what they learn into their speech.

Feedback IS understood by most people to be important but it remains one of the least understood areas in learning a language. Without feedback, how can we improve? The answer is we can't. Feedback is like water; without it, learning cannot survive for too long.

If you want to learn more effectively, then you need to learn to better recognise it and to value more what you see, hear and understand. When we learn to drive, we use our experiences to improve our skills. We learn that if we move the steering wheel too far, we turn more than we need to. We learn that the speed we drive affects how fast and how far we need to turn the steering wheel. And so on. No one can teach us all the variations. We have to learn them by ourselves through watching and feeling. All that we see and feel is feedback.

Learning a language is similar, in that no one can teach us all there is to know in a language. We have to learn it ourselves by becoming more and more observant. In every area of language, we are talking about different kinds of feedback. In the area of pronunciation, our awareness at different times has to stretch to many areas, including:

• how we say each each sound in a word
• how we link the sounds together within a word
• how we link words together
• what rhythm do we use to tie a stream of words together 
• how we express meaning in the tones we use

When we come to an awareness about how we speak, we then have to relate that to how others speak. If we discern differences, we then have to change how we speak in some way and then see if the changes have brought us closer or further away.

Each and every aspect of what I just talked about requires that we recognise the information that comes to us. The information we get is feedback.

Others can also consciously give us feedback, like a teacher. Sometimes our friends and family give us feedback, some of which we welcome and some of which we may not! 🙂 Sometimes they give us feedback without even noticing they do...like with a smile, a raised eyebrow or a grimace.

If you are having difficulty in improving, it can be because you are either not looking for OR  recognising the feedback you are getting. Getting some professional feedback can sometimes act to change that and put you on a quite different road, a road where you start to open your eyes and ears more. That can make all the difference.

The key challenge of how to improve English pronunciation is something that each learner faces and needs to master. Even if you just want to be understood, the challenge is there. Of course, the better you want your pronunciation to be, the bigger will be the task. Most people struggle to get really good pronunciation. This can be because the way they approach learning the pronunciation is not really effective. Learning pronunciation is all to do with learning skills, not knowledge. You need to be able to know how to improve it, not just know about it.

English pronunciation has its own unique demands. When your first language lacks some of the core features of the English system, then the problem will be more demanding. For example, generally Vietnamese people seem to struggle the most, as the Vietnamese language lacks final consonants and has a tonal quality which is quite different to English. Having said that there are some Vietnamese people who manage this as well as anyone else. Which all goes to show that once you know how to learn the skills, nothing can stop you.

Then, there are people from languages that are not that dissimilar to English (in terms of sounds) but they can still struggle to make themselves understood. So if you are going about learning pronunciation in unsuitable ways, than no matter how much you need to learn, you can still struggle badly.

So what is an effective way to learn English pronunciation skills. For the purposes of this article I will bring it down to the 4 basic steps. If you master these steps, then you will know how to improve your pronunciation, to the level you want.

I have seen advanced language learners spend a lot of time working on their pronunciation with little improvement. That won't be your experience when you try what I suggest below.  It is important to keep it simple and not be distracted by the next new thing as you work on a strategy. If we bring the learning right down to the basics, then following these 4 steps will enable you to get to any level you want.

Step 1. Listen and become aware of what sound an English speakers makes, that you               don't make.

Step 2: Say what you believe approximates to what you hear them say.

Step 3: Listen carefully to what you are saying and recognise any difference between                 the two

Step 4: Return to step 2 and continue until Step 3 gives you no difference.

It seems simple, but what goes wrong is that so many people don't spend enough time and energy on Step 1. Instead they try to work at what they think English sounds like. Or what a book/recording/teacher tells them it sounds like. That will never work.

Your listening is a key factor
Improving English pronunciation is all about improving, deepening, widening and sensitising what you can hear. For people whose hearing has become desensitised or very "narrow", there may be a need to work in various ways so that they can become more attentive to what they are hearing. One way to "stretch" your hearing is to listen to other languages you are not familiar with. Don't worry about the meaning, just focus on the sounds and work to hear what you can. Play with the new sounds and combinations in your mouth.

As your whole attention is on the sounds ( as you can't understand it!  ), you are likely to hear more than you do when some of your attention is on the meaning. Try this when you are driving or have a little time to spare and see how you go. 

To help your vocal apparatus relax and become more supple, there are various physical exercises that can be of help here. I have provided a few below for you to work on.

Becoming aware of your mouth,

Other factors that need to be considered

Remember that pronunciation IS a skill. So as with any skill, using it is a fundamental need. Studying a skill will not. 

Speak as much English as you can

There are different elements to mastery of a skill apart from what I have mentioned, a key one is to use the skill you are learning. Without using a skill sufficiently and in different "environments", mastery will be difficult to impossible to reach.

Make sure you stay engaged in what you do.

A critical element is to be fully engaged in using that skill. If you find your attention wavering, it is time to do something different.  Engaged means that you want to do more. You don't have to push yourself. That way you will learn more. If you think about the areas where you have some skills, you will realise I am sure that in those areas you spent quality time. Time you enjoyed and were fully engaged in. That is the kind of energy you need to find in improving your pronunciation

Improving your pronunciation in English IS fully achievable, to any level you desire, as long as you follow the steps mentioned above, you find ways that enable you to stay fully engaged in the process of improvement and you get plenty of chance to use it!

All of this you can do for yourself. However if you find little progress or it is too slow for your liking, then a guide or English coach can be of great help here. The function of this person is to not only to help you to improve your English pronunciation but also to help you become better at doing what is required. That way you can learn to keep improving. Without learning effective ways of improving pronunciation, you will only go so far and no further.