Step One - PRONUNCIATION (continued)
How exactly do I learn the pronunciation of a new language?
Because learning the pronunciation of a new language is so important, I spend a lot of time on it.
I do an average of ten to fifteen minutes twice a day -- morning and evening.
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I start with the alphabet on YouTube.
I repeat this until I can say the alphabet the correct way without cheating (looking or listening).
Also, I use my phone to record myself, and then I compare my sound to that of the person teaching it, letter by letter.
Once I can spell my name (my whole name, made of 18 letters) correctly in the new language without any difficulty, I move on...
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Then I learn the pronunciation of basic words, also on YouTube. I repeat this process a few times until I've learned those basic words, and then I move on to another similar video with other basic words.
The unexpected sounds I encounter are the ones I need to jot down and practice more.
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The process of learning the pronunciation of a new language can take from one day to a few months, depending on how different the new language is, compared to the languages I know. For instance, learning Spanish pronunciation might take a day (or two), but learning Swedish pronunciation could easily take two to three weeks, and learning the pronunciation of Chinese, a tonal language (and a real challenge for me) could takes months.
This doesn't mean I won't learn anything in the new language until my pronunciation is perfect. While I'm learning to pronounce basic words, I'm learning vocabulary... and possibly some everyday phrases. It just means the focus is on getting the pronunciation right and practicing the correct way of saying words in the language... because my teaching experience has taught me that unlearning an incorrect way is harder than learning the correct way. Did you pay attention to that last part? Unlearning something that is incorrect is harder than learning something new correctly.
