The Dream of Perfect Pronunciation in English

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Acquiring a perfect pronunciation in English is every students' lifelong dream. Every now and then, someone asks me how they can sound like a native. My answer is: if you're not a native speaker of the language, you'll never sound like a native speaker of the language. Although this is extremely frustrating, you have to accept that this is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

You surely have to acquire good pronunciation. However, according to Antimoon, in the article "What is good English Pronunciation?", "good pronunciation is not perfect American or British accent". I totally agree with this view. You, learner of English, have to worry about communicating your ideas clearly. In order to achieve this, you have to pronounce words correctly, but that doesn't mean you have to become American or British somehow.

Please don't get too stressed out about perfect pronunciation [accent]. Some sounds common in English are not common in Portuguse. So, you may never learn how to pronounce them correctly. Don't think that you'll never be understood because of that. Of course, you will. When one speaks, people who are listening get the whole sequence of words. They are not paying attention to the sounds only. There are much more to listen to.

If you don't know if you're saying 'man' or 'men', don't worry. It's not the word alone that will hinder communication. The listener will get the whole sentence [there are two men outside...], not word for word or 'sound for sound'. The whole sentence makes it clear that you're saying something in the plural not singular.

Another example is 'beach' and 'bitch'. If you say 'Copacabana is a wonderful beach', people will understand that you're talking about an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake [= praia]. They'll not get the wrong idea.

In case you're a beginner, remember that you have much more to learn. It's not only pronunciation. In case you're an intermediate, you'll have to pay a bit more attention to some sounds. Now, if you're an advanced learner of the language, you'll have to practice more. It's all a matter of goals [what do you really want and why do you want it?]. But keep in mind that "you don't have to sound like the Queen of England or the President of the United States of America".

In some regions of the United States or even United Kingdom, the sounf of the 'th' vary. That is, some people may pronounce it as if it were a 't', a 'd', a 'z', an 's' or an 'f'. I'm not making this thing up. This is written in English Pronunciation in Use, published by Cambridge University Press, a book used all around the world to teach and learn English pronunciation.

To sum up, don't be too strict about your pronunciation. Listen to English as much as you can. Repeat a couple of sentences. Whenever possible, repeat them but don't worry if you don't sound like the guy on the CD. Watch TV and try to get close to the standards. This is the great secret: just try to get close to the standard and communicate your idea.