Speak slowly and take your time. Grammar is important. Accents are acceptable.
Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
71–80 of 341 posts
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#72What I've found interesting about learning pronunciation is how deliberate you can be about fixing it. A lot of people from Slavic countries tend to pronounce the "th" sound as "d" or "s", including me, but I've stopped doing that mistake literally right after an American pointed out that I do it.
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#73its cool that it still works across all locales (US, UK) for words spelt differently between countries.
E.G. searching “aluminum” still got both US and UK results, even though the later writes it “aluminium”.
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#74Mmm... I think there's a danger here. The example "coup de grâce", for example, should be pronounced with the final "s" sound. Otherwise it sounds like "coup de gras", ("strike of fat" instead of "strike of mercy"). But the YouTube videos accidentally leave out the final S. Maybe it's a Britishism? I dunno. Wiktionary calls this a "hyperforeignism", and if you just copy the YouTube videos, you'd never know the differ…
Possibly a Britishism, like you say. Personally I've never heard the 'S' pronounced here.
"Coo du grar"
Edit : Just remembered this scene from Kill Bill where Michael Madsen says it : https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/50fcbf85-e7ca-4d07-8242-adb15db...
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#75Something I’ve learned as someone with high proficiency in another language that I learned in adulthood (I would never say fluent, maybe “functionally” fluent): Poor pronunciation (I.e. thick accent) but good grammar is usually more forgiven by a native than great pronunciation but poor grammar. Because then you sound more native, but you sound a bit… mentally slow. I am in the latter camp. My Mandarin Chinese accent…
I agree. I've been speaking (American) English 99% of the time for the past thirty years but still have a noticeable German accent, never get any flak for that. Apparently Joseph Conrad spoke with a heavy Polish accent so that's my excuse. What's sad is that educated people look down on people speaking "grammatically incorrect" even if their way of speaking is consistent within their group and conveying meaning perfe…
>but still have a noticeable German accent
my German accent only got less notable after speaking a ton of English living in English speaking countries for several years. For some reason losing the accent was way harder than getting rid of an accent in French.
Especially words like 'strength'. If German is your first language there is something about 'r' and 'th' sounds that's so hard to get right.
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> most populous country that's located in two continents should not be called Pavo I don't get this reference :( > Cocoa Co-co? Co-co-ah? What's right?
(wrong: Turkiye/Turkey used to often be called the spanish word for Turkey.) (corrected for second most, as Russia is also in two continents, not sure it's correct) Cacao. Edit: it appears I was mistaken about Pavo, it was articles in Spanish about the official change in English name from Turkey to Turkiyé. On maps in Spanish I see a lot of other countries with spanish names that are quite different like Costa de Mar…
> Russia is also in two continents
Egypt is too, as well as the US I suppose (to mention only countries more populated than Turkey). Their population distribution is more unbalanced than Turkey or Russia though.
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#77I really do like this. Cool Idea!
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
(wrong: Turkiye/Turkey used to often be called the spanish word for Turkey.) (corrected for second most, as Russia is also in two continents, not sure it's correct) Cacao. Edit: it appears I was mistaken about Pavo, it was articles in Spanish about the official change in English name from Turkey to Turkiyé. On maps in Spanish I see a lot of other countries with spanish names that are quite different like Costa de Mar…
> Russia is also in two continents Egypt is too, as well as the US I suppose (to mention only countries more populated than Turkey). Their population distribution is more unbalanced than Turkey or Russia though.
Oh, of course :) Though I didn't realize it was more populated than Turkiye.
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#79Please dont... "YouTube voice," the narration style(s) that so many creators have picked up, is very annoying. It's worse than "newscaster voice." Edit: This is a cool tool though
Is that where the speaker randomly pauses between words, as if they want to check that you're still watching?
My guess is that it refers to the really "hype" voice that a lot of YouTubers use. Like Mr. Beast, and most Minecraft YouTubers (but usually not ones on Hermitcraft) (source: I've had to listen to my little brother watching Minecraft videos way too much).
Re: Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
#80Something I’ve learned as someone with high proficiency in another language that I learned in adulthood (I would never say fluent, maybe “functionally” fluent): Poor pronunciation (I.e. thick accent) but good grammar is usually more forgiven by a native than great pronunciation but poor grammar. Because then you sound more native, but you sound a bit… mentally slow. I am in the latter camp. My Mandarin Chinese accent…
Fellow good accent, poor grammar haver (but in Czech) - hello! I agree completely. In fact we are not alone, here’s a video where a YouTuber is praised for his use of English (including contemporary idioms etc) in comparison to someone who has a good accent but comparatively poor command of the language itself: https://youtu.be/-81TSnMUA68?si=4j4mxiSssnQIBVRq
Personally when it comes to speaking English I find a false American or English accent quite unnerving.