If only we could just change our accents, vocabulary and grammar to sound exactly like native English speakers. Fortunately, there are practical steps you can take to speak English like a native speaker. With these tips, plus patience and practice, you’ll be on your way to becoming a language chameleon in no time.
The first thing you should know when learning how to speak English like a native speaker is that it takes practice.
5 Tips to help you speak English like a native.
1 FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH DIFFERENT ENGLISH ACCENTS.
Native English speech doesn’t sound the same across the globe. Someone from the U.S. would sound very different from someone who was born and raised in Australia.
Even within English-speaking countries, accents differ. In the U.S., For example, someone from New York would have a different accent from someone who grew up in Texas. In the United Kingdom, the King’s English (the standard form of English in that country) is different from Scottish, Welsh and Irish.
The good news is you don’t have to master all of these accents. The English you’re studying right now will probably be understandable to most native speakers—though there will be differences in pronunciation and the like.
2 IMITATE NATIVE PRONUNCIATION.
Now that you have some idea of what different English accents sound like, how do you go about actually learning native pronunciation?
You can start by watching and imitating authentic English videos. These will expose you to real English pronunciation and speech. They also allow you to study the speakers’ mouth and lip movements so you can imitate them.
After someone speaks, pause the video and repeat back what they said. Turning the subtitles on can help you keep track of the words.
3 LEARN THE FLOW OF ENGLISH.
Although pronunciation is important, it’s not everything. You also need to learn the way English flows.
So what does that mean, exactly?
That’s where “connected speech” comes in. Connected speech refers to the way the end of one word and the beginning of the next word interact in English.
4 USE SLANG WHEN YOU SPEAK ENGLISH.
“Slang” refers to informal (and sometimes vulgar or offensive) words and phrases.
Like the English language itself, slang differs depending on where it’s used. To see how different it can be, check out this hilarious (funny) “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” interview with the actor Hugh Laurie.
5 LEARN ENGLISH IDIOMS.
English idioms are phrases that have meanings you can’t immediately know just from looking at the words themselves.
You can check this topic in our previous article. English idioms.
