Lesson Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome to The Monthly Review, the monthly show on language learning, where you discover new learning strategies, motivational tips, study tools, and resources.
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Okay, today's topic is...
Your pronunciation is terrible.
Is pronunciation important or not?
And this is a controversial topic for some.
If you're wondering if you should aim for perfect pronunciation or not, be sure to watch this first.
You'll discover how to approach pronunciation as a beginner, how to perfect your pronunciation with our program, and much more.
But first, if you're looking for new, free language resources and downloads, here are this month's new lessons and resources.
Be sure to download these now before we take them down in a few days.
First, the Talking About Age PDF Conversation Cheat Sheet.
This cheat sheet will teach you how to say how old you are, ask others for their age, and learn a whole bunch of age-related words and phrases.
Second, master 1,500 words with our printable visual flashcards.
Just download, print them out, and review as much as you want.
These PDF flashcards are yours to keep for life.
To get your free resources, click the link in the description below right now.
They're yours to keep forever.
And here are this month's updates for our language learning system.
If you want to boost your vocabulary and speak more of the language, stay tuned.
We're launching the second season of our core word series, which will teach you the 2,000 most common words and phrases.
And it includes a new review section at the end that'll test you on the words you learned in the lesson.
Your pronunciation is terrible.
Is pronunciation important or not?
Part 1.
How to Approach Pronunciation as a Beginner So, is perfect pronunciation important?
This can be a controversial topic, and the answer may depend on personal preference.
Some learners prefer to get everything just right.
Some learners go for good enough and may revisit pronunciation later.
And some, whether they realize it or not, move on with so-so pronunciation and never look back.
Where do you fit in?
Leave us a comment and let us know.
But is there a right answer to this question?
For the most part, we all want to say, yes, it is important, and it's hard to argue otherwise.
Perfect pronunciation is ideal in an ideal world, but it gets a little complicated in the real world.
First, language learning takes time.
Second, it's not always easy to develop a perfect accent when you're an adult.
So if you're a busy adult, time is something you may not have a lot of.
If you want to have perfect pronunciation, or something close to it, you'll need to invest a lot more time.
And even if you're not a busy adult, you still have to delay progress in speaking while you perfect your pronunciation.
This may not be so fun for impatient learners who don't want to sit and drill one thing all day.
So it ultimately also becomes a question of, do you want to focus on pronunciation and not really speak much of the language?
Or do you want to speak a whole lot of the language with so-so pronunciation?
Let us know in the comments.
Which do you prefer?
Now, if you have all the time in the world to practice, go for perfect pronunciation.
If not, then it's up to you how you want to spend your time.
But if you're a beginner and you're worried about getting everything right, it's okay to get a basic understanding of the pronunciation and move to other areas of the language.
You don't have to get it all right on the first try.
Remember, language is a tool we use for communication.
If the tool is good enough, and if you can get your point across, that's good enough for now.
You can always come back to perfect things later on.
But this approach does require some confidence, because there will be times when native speakers won't immediately understand you, and you have to deal with that.
Now, what if you do want to improve your pronunciation?
Part two.
How you can perfect your pronunciation with our program.
First, if you haven't done so already, learn the alphabet.
This tip is only for brand new beginners.
Learning the alphabet sets the foundation of your pronunciation, and for this, you can download our free printable alphabet PDF worksheet to master it.
Second, check out our pronunciation course in the lesson library.
This course should get you good enough at the pronunciation.
You'll understand how the language sounds, what the important rules are, and what the most common mistakes are, so you can avoid them.
If you're an absolute beginner or a beginner, we recommend you take these lessons.
Third, increase your exposure to the target language.
This tip is for learners of all levels, whether you're beginner or intermediate.
The more you're exposed to native speech, the more you'll get used to the pronunciation.
As you know, native speakers don't exactly sound like the slow, clean textbook examples you'd learn in most apps.
You can do it with our lessons inside the recommended learning pathway or by listening to music, podcasts, and even watching TV shows in your target language.
This is something you should be doing on a consistent basis.
Fourth, use our pronunciation practice tool.
You'll find it in the dialogue section of every audio lesson.
With this tool, you can listen to the native speaker say a line and record yourself saying the same line, and play the two recordings side by side to see how close you get.
The more you do it, the better your pronunciation will get.
Fifth, work with a native teacher, because the best judge of your pronunciation will always be a native speaker.
With our Premium Plus plan, you can send voice recordings to your Premium Plus teacher and get feedback and corrections.
Your native teacher will instantly know where you need adjustment and help you improve.
But again, don't worry if you don't get it right away.
Good pronunciation comes with practice.
And even if you have a not-so-perfect accent, natives will still be able to understand you.
And that is good enough.
So thank you for watching this episode of Monthly Review.
Next time, we'll talk about how to master 500 words with spaced repetition.
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See you next time.
Bye!

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