My pronunciation

Pronunciation is a vital aspect for our future as translators or interpreters. Having a vast knowledge of vocabulary and grammar is equally as important but you should still pay enough attention to your pronunciation. A lot of people don't focus on their pronunciation at all and that is why I think it is a very good idea to make it a part of our upcoming progress check.

I think that my pronunciation is quite good. When required to speak freely though, I sometimes stumble over my words or mispronounce things, simply because I feel pressured.  If I come across a word that I am not sure about as how to pronounce it, I simply look it up in my monolingual dictionary. This dictionary, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, is really a very helpful tool for me. The CD version of this dictionary is extraordinary because it offers both audio files for the American and the British pronunciation and therefore helps me with distinguishing the American pronunciation from the British. It helps me not only to improve my pronunciation but also makes me aware of the differences in pronunciation in different cultures.

A webpage recommended in class called shiporsheep.com. is apparently very helpful if you’re trying to improve your pronunciation. I decided to take a look at the website to see for myself.
So this is how the page basically works: The homepage consists of a table filled with word pairs . The pronunciation of the illustrated word pairs is very similar and therefore they are often mispronounced. Sometimes the correct pronunciation depends on a sole vowel sound. On this page you can click on the particular vowel sound of the words which then redirects you to another table of word pairs for that particular vowel you chose.

An example would be the similar sound of the vowels “e”and “ae” as in the words “pedal” and “paddle”.  Only reading or seeing the difference doesn’t really help with mesmerising the information though, which is why the website provides AUDIO FILES. You can listen to them as often as you like in order to properly learn the difference between the two words. I really find these audio files helpful because non-native speakers who might have difficulty pronouncing certain things can easily improve with the help of this website.

 
I worked through about half of the words on the website and I realized that there are (already!) three different vowel sounds I have difficulty with: the “I” and the “e” as in tin or ten, “Ae” and “a” as in had or hard and “ae” and “a” as in am or arm. Before finding out about this website I thought that my pronunciation was quite good. I only realised that I still need to work on my pronunciation after going through the contents of this page. I am definitely going to work through the rest of the examples on the website because I  think it is the best thing I could possibly do to improve my pronunciation. I recommend you take a look at this website as well because it will show you that there is so much more to learn about pronunciation and in the end you'll benefit greatly from it.