How to work on pronunciation

[LMBLBM]

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I moved to the states in 2004, and my weakest strength is English. When I was young, I had difficulties even with my own language.

I was offered 10 interviews but accepted to only two places because of my pronunciation. I am not worried about the first two years of medical school, but am worried about last two years of medical school when communication skill is crucial. How do I get better? I cannot afford any class or private tutor.

 

[ciestar]

I moved to the states in 2004, and my weakest strength is English. When I was young, I had difficulties even with my own language.

I was offered 10 interviews but accepted to only two places because of my pronunciation. I am not worried about the first two years of medical school, but am worried about last two years of medical school when communication skill is crucial. How do I get better? I cannot afford any class or private tutor.

I couldn't suggest anything else but to practice. Maybe try a job in retail or something where you're forced to interact and speak to people all day long.

And if you're starting school in a month, that obviously won't work. But still, practice. Talk with your peers

 

[DokterMom]

I moved to the states in 2004, and my weakest strength is English. When I was young, I had difficulties even with my own language.

I was offered 10 interviews but accepted to only two places because of my pronunciation. I am not worried about the first two years of medical school, but am worried about last two years of medical school when communication skill is crucial. How do I get better? I cannot afford any class or private tutor.

Do you think you have a speech deficit? Something a Speech Language Pathologist should treat? (If so, is there a program at a university near you?)

Or is it just general comfort with the language and practice speaking? If it's the latter, how about offering lessons to Americans in your native language in exchange for help with standard American pronunciation from them?

 

[Lya]

I had a similar issue. Whenever I talk, I hate if people are not paying attention to what I say but to how I say. I hated it absolutely. I felt like a monkey being watched by humans. It can be extremely humiliating, at least to me.

I did two things. Mimic and consciously practice.

I was a teaching assistant since my freshman year, trying to practice and to gain some confidence in my speech and conversation in general. Also I listened very closely to my friends, professors or colleagues who pronounce and articulate things in a way that I love or that I hope to be able to do similarly. So whenever I talk or give a speech, I consciously try to talk like those friends or colleagues. I even copied and used their common words, sentences or idioms. I consciously try not to use "um," "like," or other filler words. This conscious effort is the most important.

It took me more than 5 years to erase my Asian accent as well as to pronounce better. It might take shorter for you, but I would suggest to mimic and practice consciously.

 

[LMBLBM]

I had a similar issue. Whenever I talk, I hate if people are not paying attention to what I say but to how I say. I hated it absolutely. I felt like a monkey being watched by humans. It can be extremely humiliating, at least to me.

I did two things. Mimic and consciously practice.

I was a teaching assistant since my freshman year, trying to practice and to gain some confidence in my speech and conversation in general. Also I listened very closely to my friends, professors or colleagues who pronounce and articulate things in a way that I love or that I hope to be able to do similarly. So whenever I talk or give a speech, I consciously try to talk like those friends or colleagues. I even copied and used their common words, sentences or idioms. I consciously try not to use "um," "like," or other filler words. This conscious effort is the most important.

It took me more than 5 years to erase my Asian accent as well as to pronounce better. It might take shorter for you, but I would suggest to mimic and practice consciously.

Thank you very much. I will definitely start to work on it

 

[LMBLBM]

Do you think you have a speech deficit? Something a Speech Language Pathologist should treat? (If so, is there a program at a university near you?)

Or is it just general comfort with the language and practice speaking? If it's the latter, how about offering lessons to Americans in your native language in exchange for help with standard American pronunciation from them?

I was treated by Speech Language Pathologist before I moved to the States. In general, I think that I just suck with language in general.

 

[mehc012]

Thank you very much. I will definitely start to work on it

Tell your friends that you would really, really like to be told when you're saying something incorrectly. I know that I never corrected the grammar/pronunciation of my international friends unless they asked - I imagine it is the same with your friends. Most people tune out minor differences, but may have a lot to say if you asked them to look out for it. For example, writing-wise, if you want to start being nit-picky:

I moved to the states in 2004, and my weakest strength is English.

this phrasing does not quite fit - most would say 'biggest weakness' or something along those lines.

When I was young, I had difficulties even with my own language. I was offered 10 interviews but accepted to only two places because of my pronunciation. I am not worried about the first two years of medical school, but am worried about last two years of medical school when communication skill is crucial.

for some reason, this is typically plural - communication skills are crucial

How do I get better? I cannot afford any class or private tutor.

When you use 'any', it's plural. This would be either 'any classes or a private tutor' or 'a class or private tutor'.

Tiny differences, sure...but those are the easiest to work on. Likewise, if your friends point out a few words here and there, it'll build.

This is only a viable plan, however, if you don't see yourself getting angry at your friends for their corrections.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

Hooked on phonics

I knew those commercials were good for something

 

[LMBLBM]

Tell your friends that you would really, really like to be told when you're saying something incorrectly. I know that I never corrected the grammar/pronunciation of my international friends unless they asked - I imagine it is the same with your friends. Most people tune out minor differences, but may have a lot to say if you asked them to look out for it. For example, writing-wise, if you want to start being nit-picky:
this phrasing does not quite fit - most would say 'biggest weakness' or something along those lines.
for some reason, this is typically plural - communication skills are crucial
When you use 'any', it's plural. This would be either 'any classes or a private tutor' or 'a class or private tutor'.

Tiny differences, sure...but those are the easiest to work on. Likewise, if your friends point out a few words here and there, it'll build.

This is only a viable plan, however, if you don't see yourself getting angry at your friends for their corrections.

Yeah I know...... I had to read my PS several times... If grammatical mistakes are underlined, I can easily fix them. I just have hard time finding errors

 

[CW 2010]

To add to everything suggested above, I also have a dictionary app on my phone and every time I am not sure how to pronounce the word I click on a little speaker icon and the dictionary pronounces it for me 🙂 If you do it consistently, there will be more and more words that you DO know how to pronounce.

 

[mehc012]

Yeah I know...... I had to read my PS several times... If grammatical mistakes are underlined, I can easily fix them. I just have hard time finding errors

A lot of it isn't even error; there are patterns and tendencies which are ingrained in our culture without being an actual part of our language, really.
The best way to catch those subtle things is by having native speakers point them out...but honestly, your English is quite good, so most people likely don't even think to do so because you don't come across as being at a level where you would feel the need to improve further.

TL;DR: Your English is actually good; English is just a silly language, so definitely ask a native speaker if you want to get those last few degrees of nuance.

 

[Hobakie]

Friends, friends and more friends. You need to surround yourself with people that speak English fluently and with what you believe is a nice or proper accent. When you are hanging out or having a conversation you are forced to practice to stay within the flow of the conversation and it helps with speed when you are speaking back and I find it more comfortable when you are being corrected for something said incorrectly by someone you are comfortable with. Honestly practice is the best way to go.

English is my first language ,but this helped me when I was learning Chinese, I like any other non-native had pronunciation issues, so I would surround myself with native speakers and eventually it got ALOT better. Another thing I did with words I didn't know how to pronounce I wrote them down and would practice for about 30min at the end of a day after getting the correct pronunciation.

 

[Aerus]

If you were accepted to medical school, adcoms must have found your English sufficient to communicate with patients. But, I highly recommend what @mehc012 suggested. Have your friends correct you when you make mistakes. There's no better time to be corrected than during a casual conversation when you're likely to not even be paying attention to how you speak.

 

[Lya]

Tell your friends that you would really, really like to be told when you're saying something incorrectly. I know that I never corrected the grammar/pronunciation of my international friends unless they asked - I imagine it is the same with your friends. Most people tune out minor differences, but may have a lot to say if you asked them to look out for it. For example, writing-wise, if you want to start being nit-picky:
this phrasing does not quite fit - most would say 'biggest weakness' or something along those lines.
for some reason, this is typically plural - communication skills are crucial
When you use 'any', it's plural. This would be either 'any classes or a private tutor' or 'a class or private tutor'.

Tiny differences, sure...but those are the easiest to work on. Likewise, if your friends point out a few words here and there, it'll build.

This is only a viable plan, however, if you don't see yourself getting angry at your friends for their corrections.

If you were accepted to medical school, adcoms must have found your English sufficient to communicate with patients. But, I highly recommend what @mehc012 suggested. Have your friends correct you when you make mistakes. There's no better time to be corrected than during a casual conversation when you're likely to not even be paying attention to how you speak.

I agree.

However, I don't think that being corrected constantly is sufficient. How I talk to my friends is different from talking to my professors, girls, children, or strangers. Not all of them can correct mistakes, and the pace of your improvement might not be rapid enough. Idioms and word choices are all different depending on the context. You also need someone who can even suggest how to phrase better or how to articulate your statements more effectively.

Your grammar and pronunciation might be as perfect as you wish, but this is insufficient if your speeches, sentence structures, and word choices are constantly at a high school level. You need a mentor who can guide you, much beyond correcting grammar mistakes in your casual conversation with friends.

 

[Aerus]

I agree.

However, I don't think that being corrected constantly is sufficient. How I talk to my friends is different from talking to my professors, girls, children, or strangers. Not all of them can correct mistakes, and the pace of your improvement might not be rapid enough. Idioms and word choices are all different depending on the context. You also need someone who can even suggest how to phrase better or how to articulate your statements more effectively.

Your grammar and pronunciation might be as perfect as you wish, but this is insufficient if your speeches, sentence structures, and word choices are constantly at a high school level. You need a mentor who can guide you, much beyond correcting grammar mistakes in your casual conversation with friends.

The problem is that language is best developed when used frequently. There is no way a mentor can follow you around everywhere and correct you. They may do regular sessions, but that won't do as much. There's a reason why people who are most successful at developing fluency outside of childhood are people who have lived in a country that speaks it. Developing an implicit sense of the language is key and that is through frequency of conversation.

Yes, being able to speak scholarly in the English language is an even greater goal, but that isn't the level that OP should focus on right now.

 

[allantois]

It also depends on what your first language is. People from Scandinavia have little trouble picking up English while people from Latin and Asian countries have generally a lot more trouble. Your age when you moved here also makes a HUGE difference. This is a great article which explains what prevents us from picking up a second language from a certain age on. But your English is obviously good as reflected by your acceptance to medical school.

http://crackingthelearningcode.com/bonus7.html

Edit: I do realize that the article is not from a scientific journal.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

You can use television as an aid. Watch a show with some substance. It could be news (probably better when ppl are being interviewed), a detective show, or whatever you're comfortable with. You can pause if you have a DVR and repeat what the characters have said. On the other hand, if a political question is asked during a news show, you can practice by answering it to the tv. I'm actually somewhat of a politics junkie and I have done this before with current events/politics. I've even done it with sports.

 

[Gauss44]

I moved to the states in 2004, and my weakest strength is English. When I was young, I had difficulties even with my own language.

I was offered 10 interviews but accepted to only two places because of my pronunciation. I am not worried about the first two years of medical school, but am worried about last two years of medical school when communication skill is crucial. How do I get better? I cannot afford any class or private tutor.

Take a Voice and Articulation class. Like this one: http://www.ccri.edu/comm/courses/voice_artic.html

You have the option of taking a class like this at a college that doesn't offer transcripts or from a private instructor so you can focus on learning instead of worrying about grades (or impacting your med school application).

As a second option, I've heard that Rosetta Stone offers this kind of help. If Rosetta Stone actually works (and I don't know if it does for this), perhaps you could do a combo of practice with Rosetta and check in with a tutor to make sure it's going well.

 

[Fabio Lanzoni]

I moved to the states in 2004, and my weakest strength is English. When I was young, I had difficulties even with my own language.

I was offered 10 interviews but accepted to only two places because of my pronunciation. I am not worried about the first two years of medical school, but am worried about last two years of medical school when communication skill is crucial. How do I get better? I cannot afford any class or private tutor.

I agree with what most people have said here. I am also not a native speaker and I think those tips are good tips to get you started. That said, I think your English seems pretty good from reading your posts. Also, maybe you didn't get into 8 of your schools due to reasons other than pronunciation (maybe you didn't come across as confident, nerves, etc) so I don't think you have much to worry about! I don't think 2 schools would have accepted you if your accent was so bad that the other schools wouldn't want you.

 

[LMBLBM]

Thank you all for great opinions! I would definitely try them all