How to improve English pronunciation by reading books

Despite the development of various web resources, learning English from books is still more than relevant. This is largely justified by the fact that specialised literature, especially certified textbooks, provides information in the most meaningful and structured way, because such books are developed by specialists with appropriate qualifications. 

In addition to learning the language directly, books are an obvious opportunity to improve your reading and pronunciation of words, because you are working directly with the text. In order to do this correctly and as effectively as possible, you should follow a few recommendations on how to improve your reading in English, which we will gladly provide you with in this text. 

Choose the pronunciation option you prefer

English transcription is the subject of constant debate as to how to pronounce a word correctly. Of course, all these disputes do not have a single correct solution, because there can be a huge number of pronunciations of the same word in English. Much depends on the peculiarities of the dialect of this or that English-speaking region. However, in the case of a person who is not a native speaker of a dialect, such discussions can be called nothing more than manipulation of facts.

If you are a serious language learner, you should pronounce words based on the literary or stable everyday speech of a major English-speaking region. We are talking about the so-called British and American English. There are also Australian, Canadian and Scottish English, but these are less commonly learnt for reasons of lower prevalence. 

It is best to choose and study the transcription that you like best or that will be useful to you in the future. Read books and use dictionaries written in a particular type of English. In the future, you will have no problem mastering different pronunciations and learning to distinguish between them, but at first it is better to settle on one to avoid confusion.

Start with the sounds and practise reading a text in English correctly

If your reading and pronunciation skills are at an elementary level, you should first learn how to pronounce all the sounds of English. This applies especially to sounds that are not familiar to our language, such as [θ] in "think" or [ð] in "the". It is better to first learn to pronounce the sounds clearly and then move on to different words in which they are used ("think", "thought", "path", etc.). 

The same is true for other sounds that are in your native language but are pronounced differently. This applies to almost all vowels: 

• "a" - [eɪ], [æ];
• "a" - [i:], [e];
• "i" is [aɪ];
• "o" - [әц], [ɒ];
• "u" - [ju:], [u:], [ʌ];
• "y" is [wai], [ɪ], [j].

As you may have noticed, all of these sounds can be pronounced differently. Usually it depends on where they are in the word, but they can also be exceptions - there are many such cases in English. For example, in an open stressed syllable the letter "a" in the words gain, rain, baker, crane, cable, will be read as [ei], but the exceptions are many, have, said. Only memorisation and regular practice will help you learn all the sounds by heart.

How can I improve my pronunciation in English? Work on individual sounds to improve your pronunciation

Understanding how sounds are pronounced is very important. At first you may think you are pronouncing them correctly and sonorously. In fact, a native speaker will be able to hear your accent perfectly. Getting rid of your accent altogether is a difficult task, and not for everyone, frankly speaking, necessary. However, if you are going to live and work in an English-speaking country, correct pronunciation will be a significant advantage.

Many sounds, such as long vowels (e.g. in "beet" and "beat") or sounds not found in other languages, and especially their combinations, require special exercises. 

To practise the sounds, you can read the text in the standard way, but you can do a more targeted activity, namely, using cursive phrases. "The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday" will help to better feel the sound [θ] and [ð]. "Joe told Chloe to go slow on the road" helps you learn the [əʊ] sound. The more different colloquialisms you memorise, the better your pronunciation will improve and your speech apparatus will become accustomed to the correct movements, so that sounds will come out of your mouth more naturally. This is a simple and interesting way to get rid of the Russian accent in English.

Use reading technique exercises to improve fluency

The speed of reading certainly affects the quality of pronunciation as well, because your brain and your speech apparatus must work in unison. If your speech lags behind, you will pronounce words slowly, and if your comprehension lags behind, your brain will lag behind, causing you to make mistakes all the time. 

To improve your reading technique, it is important to engage in specially designed fluency exercises. Among such exercises for reading technique English is reading for time: choose a small text or passage and try to read it as quickly and correctly as possible. The key word here is correct. Be sure to understand each word in the text, look at its transcription, even if you think you already know English at a good level. Believe me, it takes years of practice and perfect knowledge of the language to pronounce every word in a text correctly. People, if they are not in constant conversational practice with native speakers, will make mistakes. That's why it just doesn't make sense to read a text without transcription, especially for a beginner - this way he will only complicate his life by learning the pronunciation of the word incorrectly. It will be more difficult to re-learn.

So, to do the reading technique exercise, do the following steps:

• Choose a part of the text. This can be a specially selected reading test text from a textbook or any passage from your favourite book.
• Translate it completely to understand the meaning of what you read 100%. 
• Take each word and write out its transcription. Let's emphasise every word! Except for the ones you learn to pronounce in school. That is, you need to write out the transcription of about 80% of the words in the text. You will be very surprised at how many of them you would read incorrectly!
• You can use various programmes to listen to the pronunciation of a particular word.
• You can sign the pronunciation of the most difficult words right in the book or electronic document (next to it, on top, whatever is convenient).
• Read the text with all of the above in mind.
• Repeat the reading several times until you get better at it and until you have most of the words memorised.

This exercise not only helps you develop English correct reading, but also improves your perception of the language. By repeating the text several times, you will gradually increase your speed while reducing pronunciation errors.

Pay attention to intonation and emphasis when reading aloud

When studying the transcription of words, many people miss such important details as intonation and accent. Especially since most often they are placed based on the context and there is no way to check them in a dictionary. There is really only one solution here - listening and imitating the speaker. There are quite a lot of special exercises that offer various texts with audio accompaniment. We recommend using them and alternating the types. Study dialogues, descriptions, questions and statements - this way you will get a broader experience and will be able to learn how to accentuate words and intonations correctly depending on the situation. In addition, it is recommended to work with each text several (dozens?) times, until you memorise the intonation by heart. Memorisation in this case will be subconsciously stored in your mind.

Record your speech to track your progress and correct mistakes

Many people do not like their voice because it sounds different from the outside than it does from the first person. Let's tell you more, it is often difficult to perceive not only the timbre, but also the intonation of your voice, the pronunciation of different words and sounds. While you read the text for yourself, it seems that everything is fine, but when listening to it from the outside you will be surprised how many flaws you will find. Therefore, write down short passages of text and then listen to them, trying to find weak points like insufficient accent, distortion of sounds.

It is particularly useful to compare your recordings with the audio version of the original. For example, choose an audiobook, read a passage, record it and compare your reading with the audio version. This will help you see the difference and realise what you need to work on.

Work on how to increase your reading speed in English

English is a very fast and informative language. Watching films in the original or talking to native speakers, you may have noticed that real English speech is fast and therefore not always understandable. Ideally, we need to train our brains to perceive it at this speed, as well as how to dub it. However, this should not be at the expense of quality. 

Do the reading technique exercises described above and gradually try to speak faster and faster, setting new personal records for the number of words spoken per minute. Gradual acceleration of reading helps to make speech more natural, get rid of accent. You can read quickly and correctly not only familiar memorized texts, but also, for example, short domestic dialogues, which at the same time will help to work out certain situations. This is a great way to increase your reading speed in English.

Listen to audiobooks and compare your pronunciation with native speakers

Make it a habit to listen to audiobooks every day. Whether meaningfully or in the background, they will help you remember the intonation of words, the pronunciation of sounds. Even if you do not understand too well or do not understand at all the meaning of speech, you will still remember the speech and unconsciously reproduce it. Choose books with expressive reading, where the speaker especially supports intonation and rhythm. It is also not superfluous to occasionally listen to the recitation of poems. Although the intonations in them may go to the extreme for everyday life, you can memorise them better thanks to this emphasis.

To improve your reading, read the text aloud in parallel with the audio recording using the shadowing method. This is an exercise where you listen to a text read by a native speaker and repeat the text at the same time. This approach helps to develop intonation, rhythm and pace of speech and improves listening comprehension.

By doing all the above exercises regularly and carefully, you will be pleasantly surprised at the speed of your progress. All this will help you not only to improve your speech, but also to significantly expand your vocabulary and memorise stable constructions, which will make your speech fluent. Good luck!