Learn Fast English Pronunciation ALONE

28,777 views ・ 2022-02-07

RealLife English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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As language learners, we often strive for perfect pronunciation
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because how we sound is the first thing that people hear when we speak.
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Now we're afraid that if we make a mistake,
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especially when it comes to pronunciation, our value will diminish
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and others will realize that maybe we're not as good as we say we are.
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But let's be honest.
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In many cases, English pronunciation makes no sense.
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Now, unlike some other phonetic languages that I've learned, like Spanish,
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for example, where words that are spelled in a particular way
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usually have a predictable sound, in English words that are spelt
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the same way might sound different like read and read, and words
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that are spelt different might sound the same, like vain and vain.
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Now if this drives you crazy. You are not alone.
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Many English learners feel frustrated, wondering how they should
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learn pronunciation and what they can do to effectively improve.
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Well, in today's lesson our Beyond Borders
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Guests will share some of the best method that you can use
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to improve your pronunciation, so get ready to be inspired.
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And hey, if you are new here, then be sure to hit that subscribe button
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and the bell down below,
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because we want to join you on your English learning journey
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every week and help you to go from being a bored and ineffective
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English learner to being a confident and natural English speaker.
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So join our community of over 300,000 so that you don't miss new
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lessons every single week.
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So Idahosa, in your opinion,
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where is the best place to start when it comes to practicing pronunciation?
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Yeah, well I start with listening.
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So the highest, most effective
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technique in that, in our set, in our universe
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is something called syllable, syllable shadowing.
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There's a way you can train your listening.
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I'll take that last sentence. There's a way you can train your listening,
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there's a way you can train your listening, there's a way you can train your listening.
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You might be trained to listen for the words I'm saying.
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There is a way. Right?
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But that's how I'm saying,
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there's a way you can train your listening
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there's a way you can train your listening.
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You can hear it as syllables.
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So what you would do is you'd practice may be clapping along with it.
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There's a way you can train your listening. There's a way you can train your listening.
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I'm getting people to sync with the rhythm of the speech
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with their bodies. So you can do it with your hands.
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There's a way you can train your listening. You can move your lips with it.
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Alright, so it sounds weird, weird stuff. But man, does it work!
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What you do is you just get English phrases, you get whatever you're watching
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and then you practice being in sync with it, with your own body.
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And paying attention and making the adjustments.
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You do that very specific, deliberate training for like 30 minutes a day,
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it has massive effects on listening comprehension.
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And here's why it works. Because
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you understand me for this reason,
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this is what babies are doing when we were, when we were kids.
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The most fundamental layer of speech is the rhythm duh, duh-duh-duh, duh, duh-duh-duh.
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So that's, that's a technique for listening comprehension.
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And I'll leave it at that. Because all the pronunciation things come out of that.
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I totally agree.
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Practicing listening is fundamental to good pronunciation,
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just as we memorize and understand
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songs and music by listening closely to the lyrics and other features.
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We can also master difficult words by listening carefully to the rhythm
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and the way that certain syllables sound.
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The key here is to listen carefully to how words are used.
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Break them down when practicing them
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until you're comfortable enough to start using them in conversation.
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And do you find experts’, like Idahosa’s, advice valuable
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for improving your English?
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Well, if you want to learn more with some of the best teachers in the world,
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then download the free RealLife App.
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Now there you can listen to the full interviews with each of them
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with an interactive transcript and vocabulary definitions.
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And so many of you have told me that you are frustrated
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because you have no way to practice speaking English.
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Well, we decided to go ahead and solve that. On the RealLife App.
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Just press a button
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and you can speak English instantly with someone in another part of the world.
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Again, it's all free and you really have nothing to lose.
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So just search for RealLife English in the Apple app or Google Play Store,
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or you can click up here or in the description down below.
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So Mark Hancock has written 26 books on the subject
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of English pronunciation, so you could say that he's a bit of an expert.
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Mark, what can learners do to help them to remember the sound patterns
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of the words that they're learning? - (Mark) The rhymes and raps are great for,
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like drilling type work, you know, practicing getting your mouth around it.
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And they also stick in the memory
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like an earworm, something which sticks in your memory.
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I mentioned before the shits and sheet different straight in the eye.
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So I'm just going to
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do a rap for you, which I often do to focus on
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this difference in words like fit and feet,
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bit/beat and so on.
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He's got plenty of examples of these minimal pairs.
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So it goes like this.
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So you do things like that, you do it.
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And then you get students to repeat line after line with you, and then you get
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students started doing it where one half of the class say one line
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and the next day the next line, different kinds of formats like that.
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But by the end, when they're walking home,
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hopefully this will be going round and round in their heads. Like a earworm.
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And so it's the pronunciation points
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that helps the student to fix them in their memory.
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So raps are really good for that. Raps,
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songs, poems, wordplay generally, those kind of things.
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That’s super interesting!
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So practicing with minimal pairs can help you to isolate
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and focus on those sounds that might be most difficult for you.
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So figure out what sounds
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are most difficult for you to pronounce and then make a list of minimal pairs.
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And you can even find many of these lists online with a simple search.
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Print it out and put it somewhere that you'll see it all the time and commit
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to practicing with minimal pairs for at least a few minutes every day.
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Now, as Mark said, songs, poetry and wraps are also great for this.
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Now, when I was in High School, I was lucky to have the opportunity
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to study abroad in a small village in Germany for six months.
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I had taken German classes at my school for three years,
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so I was feeling pretty confident that I would have a good base
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and would pick it up naturally as soon I was in the country
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surrounded by the language.
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But to my surprise, when I arrived, no one could understand me.
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Despite studying vocabulary and grammar for three years,
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my teacher never thought to focus on correct pronunciation,
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so I filtered my pronunciation naturally through English.
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And as an English teacher, I've seen that many learners make the same mistake.
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Why is it that this happens?
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Sometimes the listener hears what they expect to hear.
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So your teacher is saying "ir" but you you think that the teachers sad "ihc",
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you somehow filter the message
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that was coming in your ears, you filter it through your own language.
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What fixes in your memory is actually
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a side version in this case of the other language.
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This happens a lot.
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And part of what pronunciation teaching is about
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is about helping students to hear objectively.
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You know, that makes sense.
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So when learning a new language,
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especially when it comes to pronunciation, it's important that you set aside
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the rules and structures of your native language,
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as this can not only confuse you, but also delay your progress.
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Of course, as adults,
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it's not as easy to learn a new language without the interference
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of our native tongue, but it is important to be aware of this
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and consistently try to avoid the first language interference.
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So once you are familiar with the sounds, you need to work on a great way
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for you to train your mouth to pronounce the correct sounds is with tongue
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twisters. Hadar, are you ready to practice?
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Very good!
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I love this one.
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And I love this one.
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This is. This is, this one is really good for practicing theaspirated P. Peter in the high E sound too.
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That was really fun.
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Tongue twisters help the brain to control the tongue better, improving
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pronunciation and clarity.
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Anna, do you find it is effective for learners to be super strict on themselves when it comes to pronunciation?
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You know, I'm not very eloquent in my native language
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and I make mistakes and I stumble over my words
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and I mispronounce words even in my native Ukrainian language.
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So it's not something supernatural for me, and I do this in English,
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and I have come to terms with this because I was really like,
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I was beating myself up over this like you.
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You need to speak perfectly in English.
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You need to master the skill.
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But that was my mistake, I was too
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too strict and too harsh on myself and I wa yous know too hard, too hard on myself.
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And because of that, I had moments of disappointment and burning out.
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So I remember that
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I literally was so afraid to skip even a day of my learning routine
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because I was so afraid that I was going to lose
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any progress that I gained, or I was going to lose my skills.
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And that was so ridiculous.
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I didn't give myself time to even rest.
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Yeah, it's so important to keep the balance between working hard
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and being kind to yourself, because when you experience
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that much pressure, learning a language stops being enjoyable and you run the risk
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of losing your motivation to keep learning.
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And finally, when it comes
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to pronunciation, is it important which accent learners choose to adopt?
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If you enjoy learning English and if you enjoy working on your pronunciation
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and speaking with an American or British or whatever accent, just go for it.
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Just do it! You do you!
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There you have it.
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Expert tips from our exceptional guests
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for improving your pronunciation fast on your own. Just a recap.
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They are:
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Remember that if any of their tips really stuck out to you,
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then you can check out the full interview with them on the RealLife
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app linked down in the description below.
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Next, you might want to check out our lesson about imposter syndrome,
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which will help you to identify ways to overcome the fears and pressures
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of perfectionism. Let's watch a clip from that.
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OK, so according to a study published by the Journal of Behavioral Sciences,
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approximately 70% of people suffer from imposter syndrome.
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People of all ages from a variety of careers and jobs
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struggle with it every single day of their lives.
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You've probably experienced it on some level yourself,
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like not believing in your ability to do something and fearing that people
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will find out judging your capability to the point of calling yourself a fraud
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and believing that everyone else is better than you are.
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