How to use the sounds you practice in conversation?

Hey, it's Hadar.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Today we have an 'Ask Hadar' episode where I answer your questions.

Today we have Silvia from Brazil, and she asks:

"Hello, Hadar.

I'm so glad to be here and get a chance to ask you question.

I started to work on my speaking skills at the very end of the last year, so I

started to show up more in conversation.

Therefore, I started paying more attention to my pronunciation, and work on it.

But I have to say, it's not easy at all.

I still struggle with some sounds and pronunciation, especially when

I'm in conversation with someone.

It's quite difficult for me be aware about the right pronunciation.

And then my question is, What things are important for pronunciation

practice to be successful?

Hadar, I want to say thank you.

I really appreciate you, you are amazing.

And have a nice one, bye."

All right, Silvia, what a great question.

And thank you so much for your sweet words.

I'm so happy that you submitted this question.

All right, so this is something that a lot of students struggle with: how to

take the work that you do when you work on your pronunciation, and actually feel

like you're using it in conversation.

So Silvia, what you're feeling is not exceptional.

It's not like you are just incapable of putting into practice what you learn.

No, this is a very common struggle.

Because it's very easy to learn pronunciation and to focus on it

and to practice it in isolation.

But it's very hard to remember all of those things or to be able to use it when

you also need to think about what to say, how to retrieve all the words that you

wanna use, how to listen and understand what the other person is saying, right?

So there are all these things that are happening while you're in conversation,

that it feels almost impossible to also think about pronunciation.

So here's what I have to say about it.

You're not supposed to think about your pronunciation or to focus on

pronunciation when you are in a conversation, unless it's a practice

conversation and you're deliberately concentrated on specific things, like

your pronunciation intentionally.

But when you are speaking to normal people, not your practice partners,

out in the world, and you have to show up like yourself, you shouldn't

be focusing on your pronunciation.

Because it will take away from your confidence and from your fluency, cuz

your brain is constantly going to be consumed with the TH and the R and the

consonants and sounds and all of that.

So my recommendation is, you have to, first of all, trust that when you

practice it effectively, gradually you'll start noticing that you're using those

sounds spontaneously, without thinking about it, in a conversation as well.

So you're actually teaching your muscles to pronounce some of the

sounds differently than how you were used to, and you're actually

building new speaking habits.

But just like with any habit, you have to do it again and again and again.

Repetition is key for you to be able to use it without thinking about it.

So, practice and repetition is critical.

And while you probably have a lot of things to practice, I recommend

that you focus on the key sounds that are important for your clarity and

practice them more than the rest.

And really, repeat those sounds in this practice so that you'll

start noticing it consistently when you're speaking to others.

But also, there is something that I call intentional practice that

I incorporate in my teaching, and my students all know about it.

And that is after you practice, you want to practice speaking on

your own: ideally, you know, making a video or recording yourself

answering some sort of a question.

And as you're speaking, you want to focus on the sound that you just practiced.

So let's say you practiced the R sound.

And now you feel pretty confident with how to pronounce the R, and

your practice is really good.

I want you to just record yourself speaking, focusing on

the R sound, and making sure that you're pronouncing it correctly.

And when you're done, I want you to listen to it and ask

yourself: "Was I doing a good job?

What words did I pronounce correctly?

What words did I not pronounce correctly with the R?"

And see if you can improve that.

So you're doing a very focused work on speaking while being very

intentional about your pronunciation.

Now, this can only happen when you are in practice mode, not

when you are in conversation mode.

But when you do that, you're actually getting closer to being able to use

it when you are in conversation.

Silvia, I hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your question.

And you guys, if you have any more questions, I'm going to link to my 'Ask

Hadar' link where you can submit your question on video or audio or text.

Thank you so much.

Have a beautiful, beautiful day everyone.

And I'll see you next week in the next video.

Bye.