You practice your pronunciation.
You watch YouTube videos, do your shadowing exercises, you repeat words and you say them correctly in your lessons and recordings.
You even say the th in the correctly while you're practicing by yourself, but then, as soon as it comes to speaking with someone in real life,
It's like your pronunciation just switches off.
You go to say the but you automatically default to duh.
You say the phrase this one when you're practicing at home, but then, in conversations with either your friends or colleagues, You say dis one.
And all these pronunciation rules that you've worked so hard to learn and practice.
They just go out the window when you have a conversation.
It's frustrating, right?
You know what you're supposed to say because you've practiced.
But it's just in these conversations where
Your pronunciation keeps going back to this old habit.
If this sounds like you, then keep watching, because today I'm going to explain to you why this happens and, most importantly, how you can stop slipping back into your old pronunciation habits when you're having conversations.
Hello, my name is Emma and welcome to my channel Pronunciation with Emma.
Here is where I help English learners improve their British English pronunciation and listening skills.
So some of my students inside Emma's Pronunciation Hub actually inspired me to do this video.
One of the students during the live hangout I did, which is a live group QA call.
I do every single month with all the members.
They basically said Emma, every time I practice with you or I practice inside the course, I can do all the sounds, I can say everything.
I understand the rules.
But then when I have a conversation with someone, it's like I just slip back into the pronunciation habits I was doing before and I don't know how to get out of this.
What do I do?
And of course, on the call, I gave them some advice.
And after that call, I thought, this is such a common question.
I think I'm asked this question every single month during the live Hangouts.
So I wanted to do this video to not just help the people inside my membership, but to help everyone, to help as many people as I can, because it's such a common question.
So let me start by saying, first of all, a lot of people have this problem.
You are completely normal.
You are not, and I quote one of my students here, you're not stupid.
Because one of my students was like, am I stupid?
Is it me that's the problem?
And I had to say, no, it's not you.
This happens to everyone.
It's completely normal.
So first of all, if you have this problem, let me reassure you that you are not alone.
This is by far the most common question I get from my students.
The problem is that you know you're trying to learn a sound, but then when you're speaking, it's like your brain just forgets to do that sound.
What's happening is that, while you're talking, your mouth and the muscles are just resorting back to this default position that it's most comfortable with.
So let me explain with an example.
Let's imagine that you've been learning English for the past 10 years and you spent 10 years of your life saying this that these those, duh.
Okay, then one day, with your teacher, you start practicing the voiced th sound.
In your lesson, you correctly pronounce this that these those, the.
So you can do the sounds perfectly and your teacher's like Great, well done.
You can do the sounds.
Now go into the world and practice.
So you do.
You go into the world and you practice.
You start having conversations with people.
But then you notice something. you're not using the TH sounds.
You're actually defaulting back to this .
And what's happening when you're having this conversation is your brain is no longer concentrating solely on the pronunciation.
You're now thinking about, What's that word that they just said?
Or the vocabulary.
You're thinking of a word that you need to use, or you're thinking of something that the person's just said, or you're thinking of what grammatical structure do I need to use?
There's a lot of work going on inside your brain when you're having a conversation.
And while you're thinking of the grammar and vocabulary and what the person is saying, your brain isn't thinking.
Oh yes, I must pronounce the voiced TH sound in all of these words.
Instead your muscles, because they've developed muscle memory.
At this point they are going to default back to discharge.
These does
So the problem isn't with you, the problem is with your muscle memory.
So let's talk a little bit more about some reasons why you're probably defaulting back to these old pronunciation habits.
As I just mentioned with the example before, when you're having a conversation, you're thinking more about what is this conversation about?
You're thinking about grammar vocabulary.
The topic itself and your pronunciation takes a bit of a back seat.
Another reason is that you've spent many years pronouncing that word or sound in a certain way.
So when you try to change it, it's quite tricky, because now you've developed this habit and the muscles in your mouth default back to the way that they're most comfortable saying that sound or word.
This can sometimes happen as well because of a mother tongue influence.
So if your native language doesn't have that sound and suddenly you're learning a new sound in English, your mouth may default back to how you were saying it before, because you're used to saying that sound in your native language.
The same with words.
If there's a word that's quite similar in English and your native language, but the pronunciation is just slightly different, your brain may automatically default back to how you would say it in your native language, because that's where it's more complicated.
Finally, another reason could be your anxiety.
If you're feeling anxious, scared, or shy when you have to speak English, your muscles can tense up.
When you tense up, This can affect how you articulate the sounds.
Now, of course, it's not as easy as just saying chill out, relax.
Why are you nervous when you speak English?
It's not as easy as that and I know because I speak multiple languages as well.
So now you have some reasons why this may be happening to you, let's look at how to fix this.
Now these are not techniques that are going to fix everything straight away.
What we're talking about is developing muscle memory.
And muscle memory takes time.
So this is going to require some effort and some hard work on your part.
If you're not willing to put in the effort to develop a new habit, then there's not much more i can do to help you.
This is something that only you can do.
I cannot move the muscles for you as much as i would love to.
So technique number one repeat repeat, repeat and then repeat.
Some more repetition isn't boring, it is.
If you're working on the pronunciation of this and dis, then don't just practice it once and then move on to the next sound.
Practice it many, many, many times.
As I said, you are training muscle memory.
You know that you can say this, that, these, those. you can do that.
What you're doing is helping your muscles remember this new default position.
And don't just practice for a few minutes in the morning, practice throughout the day.
You can practice in little pockets of time that you have during the day.
So you're not trying to find time and then studying with books and everything.
This is something you can do throughout your day.
For example, you can be making your bed, you can be cooking, you can be in the shower.
You can be gonna say brushing your teeth, but maybe don't practice your pronunciation while brushing your teeth.
That could get messy.
But it could be while you're driving to work, while you're walking your dog to the park.
Anytime where your mouth is not needed, you can be practising your pronunciation and doing repetitive exercises.
Another thing you can do is have a word or sentence of the day.
So you can say that word over and over and, over and, over and over again, or that phrase over and over and, over and over again, and keep saying it until that sound or word feels comfortable.
Don't just stop when you're like, ah, I'm bored of this word now.
Say it until you really, really, really feel comfortable.
Let's say you're practising a specific word.
What you could do is have a different sentence every day.
So it doesn't have to be the same sentence every day.
You can mix it up and make it a bit more interesting by changing the sentence.
Or if you're practicing a specific sound, then each day just have one word that has that sound.
Change the word each day.
So it doesn't have to be the same word or the same sound every day.
You can mix and match and change it.
Practice the sound at the start of a word one day.
Practice it in the middle.
Practice it at the end.
Practice it in different sentences with different combinations.
For example, a really common problem my students have is pronouncing and or together.
So like this thing is really difficult for a lot of my students.
And I'm like, well, are you practicing this phrase?
And they're like, well, yeah, I practiced it with you.
And I'll say, yeah, but are you practicing this phrase every day?
And they'll say, well, Yeah, I practice it a few minutes a day.
No, but are you really practicing this?
Are you saying this thing, this thing, this thing?
Are you saying it over and over and over again, to the point where people around you think you're going crazy?
Because you've got to develop the muscle memory.
You've got to... do it to the point where it just starts to feel comfortable and natural for you.
And that only comes by you doing this repeated exercise over and over and over and over again.
Not just for a few minutes in the morning or a few minutes before you go to bed, but throughout the day, every day.
You're building muscle memory.
I keep saying this because it's so important.
And to build muscle memory with any muscle of your body, you need to keep doing that same activity over and over and over again.
Remember if you're practicing words and sounds to put them into phrases that you use every day as well.
So let's say you have a problem with the word spreadsheet and you're really scared about saying to your colleagues the spreadsheet.
Then start practicing that phrase, that word, in different phrases.
So on monday you'll say the spreadsheet is ready, the spreadsheet is ready, the spreadsheet is ready.
On tuesday you'll say something like Where is the spreadsheet?
Where is the spreadsheet?
So you're using the same word that you have problems with, but you're using it in different phrases that you know that you use every day or ones that you commonly use.
So this will start making you feel more comfortable when you use those phrases, because you'll have already trained for those phrases.
Technique number two is to catch yourself in the moment when you're making those mistakes.
This one definitely takes some time to get used to, because you need to be very, very aware of yourself when you're speaking.
However, it's an amazing technique if you are able to use it.
So when you're speaking, try to notice when you slip.
So did you say wait a second instead of wait a second?
This is the one instead of this is the one.
In that moment, just acknowledge what you want to change, pause and then repeat yourself with the correction.
If you're having a conversation and it's flowing and it would be a bit awkward if you stopped and self-corrected, then instead just make a mental note.
What you're doing is you're developing hyper-awareness of yourself and how you're speaking.
I want to make it very clear that you are not being critical of yourself here.
You're just catching your mistakes in the moments that they happen.
Then you can correct these mistakes, whether it's through verbal self-correction or it's just a mental note.
The key is that you're not judging yourself for these.
So if you say this one instead of this one, so long as the other person understood you, it doesn't matter.
It's not the end of the world.
But just make a note of it, self-correct if you want to correct in that moment and then continue with the conversation.
Don't get frustrated.
Don't beat yourself up about this and think, I'm never going to improve.
Because if you have that mentality of I'm never going to improve and this is too difficult, what's going to happen?
You're never going to improve.
You're going to create a mental block for yourself and you don't want that.
Approach these mistakes as if a child made these mistakes.
Just acknowledge it and be like, okay, that's a mistake, I will correct it, and life will go on.
I know a lot of people.
They get really, really frustrated when they make mistakes.
But mistakes are all part of the process.
They're all part of learning.
And you also don't have to correct yourself every single time.
But the more you catch yourself making these mistakes, the quicker your brain will learn.
Remember that your old pronunciation habits are habits.
That's why they're automatic when you speak.
What you're trying to do is now break those habits and replace them with a new one.
If you'd like to get serious about discovering and correcting your pronunciation mistakes, then you can download my free English pronunciation pack.
You can scan this QR code here or click the link in the description.
With my free pronunciation pack, you will know how to self-assess your pronunciation and correct your mistakes.
You'll also learn how to form good pronunciation habits.
So to download your free pronunciation pack, Scan the QR code or click the link down below in the description.
Thank you very much for watching today's lesson.
I hope you've enjoyed it and you've learned that your problem is not just you.
Thousands of people have the same problem.
And I hope that this video helps you overcome that problem.
Subscribe if you're brand new to my channel and you'd like to see more videos to help you improve your English pronunciation.
Give this video a like if you've learned something new.
And I will see you in the next video.
Bye-bye!
