Tips to Improve Your Pronunciation From Expert

🔥 Learn languages like I do with LingQ: bit.ly/3XeN9e9
CC subtitles available in multiple languages.
Improving in a language, especially in pronunciation, is a matter of technique, practice and attitude. Hadar knows this from her experience learning English, and becoming an actress in New York, as a non-native speaker.
0:00 Who is Hadar Shemesh and how did she start Accent's Way?
3:49 How can the average language learner become confident when they speak a new language?
6:06 How to let go of fear when learning a language.
10:15 Hadar's techniques to improve pronunciation in your target language.
Find Hadar online:
Website - hadarshemesh.com/
KZbin - / @hadar.shemesh
Instagram - / hadar.accentsway
___
Study a language on LingQ: bit.ly/3XeN9e9
Study this video as a lesson on LingQ: bit.ly/3XXG6Yo
My Podcast:
Soundcloud: bit.ly/3iZsbic
Apple: apple.co/3z1F1lD
Google: bit.ly/2W3DYmK
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4TbcX8i...
Get my 10 Secrets of Language Learning: www.thelinguist.com
FREE grammar guides: www.lingq.com/en/grammar-reso...
Join the LingQ Discord server: / discord
My language learning blog on The Linguist: bit.ly/2MW83Ab
My Instagram page: / lingosteve_
My TikTok: / lingosteve
The LingQ language learning blog: bit.ly/35yvaqK
#languagelearning #pronunciation #polyglot

[@Thelinguist]

The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3XeN9e9 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com Are you working on your pronunciation in your target language? If so, what strategy/strategies are you finding helpful?

[@hadar.shemesh]

Thank you for inviting me, it was lovely speaking with you 🙏🏽

[@rayanrayan9167]

Your are great both of you ! Really ! I am your Follower et Fan from Casablanca , Morocco

[@FearlessRefactoring]

Up until this interview I could 100% detect even the best adult foreign English learners that supposedly have a perfect "American accent". Something always gave them away as non native. Hadar's accent is the best I have ever heard and in no way would I have thought she was not a native born American. Incredible!

[@ericcsuf]

There are very small "tells", but I bet they are more things she picked up from living in New York than a result of her Hebrew upbringing!

[@romanlakes]

@@ericcsufI felt like I may have noticed some small tells, but knowing she’s a non-native might have kind of made my perception a bit biased. Really she sounds essentially perfect, but I’m from Britain. That said, we grow up with American tv and film here, so I think I can detect authentic American accents basically as well as someone from the US and I don’t think any of us would have noticed any ‘tells’ if we hadn’t known she was a non-native

[@JaeHimself]

@@ericcsuf I agree, there are tells but not very many. I'm from NY and none of this is a NY accent lol but certain things sound like a forced N. American accent. Her accent is remarkable either way all things considered. Anyone who can achieve this level of native-like skill in a new language is incredible.

[@zahleer]

I asked my accent coach and she's 95% accurate based on the Californian dialect. Very few people could really tell she's not native. Perhaps you all were paying more attention knowing that she has a phenomenal North American Accent.

[@jennifermarea8011]

I’m American and I easily hear that she has an accent. She pronounces certain sounds like t too much. But it’s not HORRIBLE because people on the West Coast and people who grow up bilingual also tend to do that. The way she does it is just a little awkward. But her English is still amazing either way

[@BR-lq6fc]

What makes Hadar's accent so impressive is not just the articulation of phonemes - after all there's always a certain degree of acceptable allophonic variation - but her prosody. This means the chunking of speech into tone units, with clear tone movement on the tonic syllable (the key word in each unit), and, of course, micropauses between these units. Incidentally, it's these pauses that are the key determinant in the perception of fluency. What's the key to all this? Lexical chunks: pre-fabricated multi-word units like sentence starters, collocations, fixed phrases, discourse markers etc. We speak in chunks, not word-by-word. My point is that an awareness of lexical chunks, along with resulting fluency-perception boost, will feed in to the perception of natural pronunciation. Of course, individual sounds are important, but the phonology of connected speech is also essential

[@DawnPeacock]

Well put!

[@HKr18358]

Couldn't have expressed better. Completely agree.

[@armenalexanian]

Brilliant!

[@user-ic4ce8xb5v]

I'm so impressed by her English pronunciation

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

It’s nice that he let her talk freely, she’s clearly very skilled at language acquisition methods.

[@michaelbodine9240]

I once travelled with a man in Mexico who spoke several languages. We were in Oaxaca one night when he overheard a group of French speakers. He turned to me a asked if I minded he go speak with them awhile, and claimed he missed speaking French as there were ways of expressing himself in French that he missed experiencing when speaking English. The fact that each language has a unique view of the world and your place in it, I think, plays a huge role in humans approach to language acquisition.

[@marcelosilveira7079]

Hadar's programs are fantastic and they will really take you to the next level in English. Very transformational !

[@dylanx9327]

10:28 ..techniques for pronunciation

[@konstantinberezovsky9653]

Thanks for amazing guest and beauty of language that is expressed by correct pronunciation

[@isabellac.8155]

Hadaaaar! :) Thank you very much for this, Steve!

[@rogeroliveira7542]

Learning a foreign language is always used to be a challenge for anyone,though in these days with the technology and expert's tips it has been becoming more clear.

[@luuswalter3296]

Thanks Steve, for all your work!

[@tiagotriga]

great interview Steve! Thank you for this

[@brownrowntown]

Fantastic interview. I’m definitely one who wants to perfect my accent for each of the languages that I’m learning. Love this use of mentally “becoming” a new culture.

[@alexfield1967]

So nice to meet you Steve. I watched the interview in Hadar Channel. I took the New Sound course with Hadar. That changed my perception totally. You both guys know what you are talking about. Thanks for making my day better

[@asusenalopez270]

Thank you for doing this interview Mr. Kaufman. Your insight in language acquisition makes this interview very interesting.

[@corinna007]

I've been told by both of my Finnish tutors that my accent when I speak Finnish isn't nearly as strong as I think it is, and they both think that it's because I listen to/sing along with a lot of Finnish music. So I would say music is a huge tool for working on pronunciation.

[@jere.nurkka]

Mielenkiintoista

[@corinna007]

@@jere.nurkka musiikki on todella auttavaa.

[@aahpuuh]

@@corinna007 tsemppiä oppimiseen!❤

[@corinna007]

@@aahpuuh Kiitti! 💙 Rakastan kieltä, vaikka on kyllä vaikeaa. 😅 Mutta yritän parhaani. 😊

[@frubulubu]

Excellent episode! I'm an American with a Mexican heritage and always had a recognizable accent. I think what helped me was a combination of both of your recommendations first I read so much in English then I practised vocalizing the words until I improved.

[@vickypenalozaarce6610]

I love your content Steve but now with my master WOW!! awesome interview with Hadar!!!

[@fantatrollo7371]

Very interesting video, thank you so much!

[@victoriayan8065]

This is deep !! Thanks for the video ⭐

[@paolaamaya4298]

Excellent Interview. I follow them both.

[@douglasmonteiro9127]

I could watch a 3 hour video like this... great interview...

[@user-tz1ld9tv2i]

Great!

[@deutschmitpurple2918]

Excellent conversation

[@ariohandoyo5973]

I'm her follower oh i didn't know that she has a youtube channel as well, i also put the important of pronunciation, i'm using American accent when i speak English everyday. I'm trying to reduce my native accent, i love american English pronunciations. Ya, also approch western culture i love it.😁

[@vanessacunha6233]

Obrigada !

[@hakimanh4283]

Interesting video!❤

[@annel2875]

For the Nova Scottia thing, I’d assumed it could be more because in the old days we weren’t used to hearing feedback, because the main way we’d learn a new word was by reading. I know that personally for English I still make those types of pronunciation errors sometimes because once it fossilised with the wrong pronunciation, even when hearing it said differently didn’t ring a bell in my mind to tell me I don’t say it the same way. The sound feedback doesn’t reach consciousness unless it’s pointed out by someone else, and forgotten a second later anyway. I can see the difference with Korean that I recently learned mainly orally: I take the feedback from conversation automatically, any word I don’t pronounce the same way just stands out.

[@martinschmelzle4864]

I really like the comparison between learning a foreign language and playing a character. As a language learner, I sometimes feel uncomfortable 'playing that role' because I disagree with a certain aspect of a culture, or because I feel drawn to my own (quite like Steve's father). I always wondered where that came from. Thank you for that!

[@rogerfarias4506]

Great to see the captions in portuguese! It will be very useful

[@jehanjehan4272]

Nice video

[@ireneruoxi3418]

I have watched many videos about language learning. But this video is the most inspiring one for me. I have some interest in both acting and language learning and l’m having some difficulties in them recently. This video teaches me we should be able to switch our characters when we’re starting to learn acting or foreign languages and that after getting more and more familiar with them you have to actually BE the character that was only simply being imitated before. Personally, l love this video and i’m very glad that an excellent and experienced language learner can share his thoughts and tips and have communications with other experts. Thank you!

[@user-gc5ek1xi2t]

Really great

[@rayanrayan9167]

Your are great both of you ! Really ! I am your Follower and Fan from Casablanca , Morocco

[@jordansaipaia7874]

She literally sounds like Native English speaker from California. That is very impressive.

[@Mateo-et3wl]

she has notable NYisms

[@Mateo-et3wl]

anywhere he accent diverges slightly from standard american, it's because she lived in NY. i.e. nearly all NYers have non-standard pronunciation patterns, ranging from very mild to outlandish. hers is so mild it's stunning

[@alejandroesquivel1174]

Thank you Steve I found very interesting your videos, Saludos from Argentina.

[@wessean6288]

love ❤️ u Hadar 🥰🌸!

[@user-xq1lr1uh3l]

First of all I would like to say thanks for making my day better and this part I took from someone (the comments) but I didn't know him but his writing really liked me. Back to this video it was so excellent and so beautiful and clear and short theseThese tips will make us master the English language, God willing

[@lullybaiownerblake9096]

I'm here because of Hadar, she inspires me. Wonderful interview. You Steve are My Challenge. I'm challenging myself to catch what You Say. I'm retaking My English studies. 😊 Deliciosa entrevista

[@DanielPradoBurgos]

Very VERY interesting topic! Don't you think there's also a psychology aspect to this? I became bilingual almost US native sounding... Then I relaxed the "character" a bit and unconsciencely I started letting some of my latino voicing come out. I was tought (when learning English) that showing accent was a bad thing and frown upon by natives, so for years I often tried to sound native (at a mental cost me being a bit neurodivergent). Now, about 14 years later of speaking the language daily (and raising my daughter bilingual), I am comfortable letting a bit of my natural voice and a bit of Costarrican accent to show, rather, I just don't pay attention any more to every sound I make and by extension some accent comes out. Nonetheless, Hadar is making an awesome contribution to the English learning community!

[@Dirtydreamer2023]

I think she has a nice accent American accent, she speaks very clearly. I have acquired an American accent and the pronunciation of the R is what I believe gives me away easily.

[@travis3077]

Wow! She's more American than myself! Very impressive 💪

[@BobHiltner]

Hadar's American accent is stunningly excellent--far better than most American native speakers, if that makes sense, for clarity of enunciation. I've been sharing her videos with English learners as the most clear speech one can find, buttressed by profound understanding of the mechanics involved On top of that is the ability to EXPLAIN these differences and mechanics, which is yet another tier 1 skill. Impressive all around.

[@METALMONKEYcarlo]

Wow her accent is amazing I don't know if anyone would ever guess she wasn't a native English speaker.

[@lisak1355]

Yes, it's sometimes noticeable

[@cardiologodaniel6876]

Hadar sounds more fluent than Steve

[@jonamachado]

Hey Steve would you mind if I ask what bluetooth earphones you're using? I loved its microfone sound. Are you using its microfone or desktop one?

[@TA9Si]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@ericsoderlund3236]

The feeling of acting like a native speaker is very much like acting a part. I think it was one of your other videos where you told of a student in a French class who was asked to speak, decided to mock the French accent, and the teacher praised him as finally getting it right (unintentionally). I probably butchered the story, and it might not have even been one of your videos (I have watched so many on language acquisition in recent months). But the image of a student going "over the top" with his accent and being praised by the expert speaker has stuck with me.

[@InsulinAdikt]

Krashen has brought up that story with Kaufmann in a previous podcast. Basically the guy mocks the French accent, is holding a baguette and wearing a beret, etc.

[@saeeddargahi4750]

I think the main thing is the willingness cuz at some poin you're gon get the right pronunciation but if you're not willing to it never happens you never'll speak like a native.

[@sabogalfusion]

In my personal opinion...having an accent is very unique and nice unless you have to change your accent, because your profession requires that.

[@jazzyeric21]

I enjoyed the video and was very anxious to go to her KZbin channel. But unfortunately she seems to be teaching methods for improving only English pronunciation rather than techniques that apply to any language.

[@azamimehdi4854]

Most learners find a lot of difficulty during the output stage cause the don't enough knowledge about a certain subject from here I can say people must study the subject matter of thier mother tongue before tackling speaking or writing about it in the foreign language.

[@visulino]

For some languages, you don't need the same tools you need for English. But for English, you need these physical tools which are good teeth. I had a student who had some problems with a couple of teeth and had problems pronouncing English, however, his Spanish was OK even with that tool problem.

[@visulino]

So basically, great teeth are more important for learning English than Spanish and probably some other languages.

[@visulino]

Also, she chose to sound white. She could have chosen to sound like Jeniffer Lopez, with a little Bronx accent, or African American which is very different and that's still American English varieties. (Because I'm in NY I recognize many different accents, but people here understand all accents)

[@shehabnabil6102]

I have a perspective that "steve" is the king of the Language

[@user-or2hi5jm8u]

Дякую

[@bakaresurajudeen7871]

how can I join Hadar's classes on understanding pronunciation?

[@sajza1728]

Thanks for the video. I have a question. Hadar is not American but her accent is very similar to Americans in fact she I don’t know maybe naturally has a vocal cord that can generate the exact North American accent. I don’t know. But naturally she sounds very American to me. My question is does she sound very American to YOU? I mean was there a second when she was talking in this video that you’d say : oh here she didn’t sound American? Just to expand on my question I recall once you said that Luca Lampariello’s English is phenomenal but he doesn’t sound American to you which I believe it’s true because sometimes I can sense Italian accent in his speach. But what about Hedar? Do you feel the same about how she sounds as you thought about Luca?

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

As a British English person, she sounds American. She must have worked very hard on her English. It’s not just words, it’s saying sez in place of says when appropriate, little things that aren’t obvious .

[@sajza1728]

@@StillAliveAndKicking_ yeah true. To me she sounds like very American with a very distinctive and nasal voice. I believe she can’t be sounded like American in allll moments because she is not native. I’m living in England and I never sound like British even whenever I try to sound I basically sounds less British😅😅. I just wanted to see if David says that she sounds absolutely like Americans then I would conclude that achieving British accent is doable.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

@@sajza1728 Steve is Canadian and might not be familiar with all US accents. She has a touch of New York jewish IMO. There are techniques to improve an accent. There are the sounds, which often don’t match the writing, so we need to listen a lot. Then there is the stress pattern, the timing and the music. Most of us aren’t aware of these differences, we aren’t aware of how we speak. Children pick these things up naturally. Shadowing is one useful tool. Basically listen intently, and repeat. You might need a speech coach.

[@sajza1728]

@@StillAliveAndKicking_ to be honest I mostly focus on pronouncing than on accent although I’ve got my accent a bit similar as I’m living here but it’s just a tiny bit. My other focus is on being able to respect a language by perfecting my vocabulary and grammar and by dipping into the inner layer of the language. It’s a very long way and I’m sure I’ll get there it’s just a matter of time. May I ask why you’re following these videos are you a coach , or IELTS trainer or something?

[@888taky]

也請您與台灣大學史嘉琳進行訪談

[@JoelShick]

hey guys Im scared of language learning, im scared that i will get lost and confused. i just to at my language learning apps and books in fear and never take action. I LOVE learning language but im scared, when i study my hands shake and my hearts beats faster. I try to calm myself down by relaxing music, calming candles, turning the lights off and more. I get so stressed that I relapse on my additions must of the time.

[@Thelinguist]

Just focus on letting the language come in. Start focusing on sounds, then words and meaning. Don't worry about what you can't understand and can't say. Just keep going The fog will lift.

[@everythingjinglebells9154]

Forget about your identity but pretend to be the person you want to be.

[@EDP2500]

She sounds perfectly American.

[@messizhao3813]

Can I find a spoken english partner here?

[@highchamp1]

Pronunciation Use words than letters? (another language learning mistake) Flow (and a bit of acting) Getting into the culture. DLI Army Language School circa 1951 US Army; The Big Picture; Defense Language Institute Sounds pretty bad. (Modern) Dressing up (Costumes) seem unconvincing too (You wouldn't want to go undercover!)

[@ayah758]

🇵🇸

[@user-oo2bs3md2k]

clarity, intelligibility, inhibited,

[@yinumzhou]

Do native speakers: Can Hadar’s accent pass as an American?

[@lisak1355]

Almost. But sometimes grammar and certain sounds indicate she's not.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

What drives me crazy is this trend, where people excuse themselves from working on accent, saying that even within the other countries you have dialects, so proper pronunciation isn't that important, just get the message across. I cannot even remember the times when a good or perfect pronunciation got me much further than a mediocre or a bad pronunciation would. Also, isn't that rude to neglect that one part of learning languages, because you assume you won't be able to sound like a native? Try first, and then judge. Apart from severe hearing and speech impairments there is really no obstacle to learn the pronunciation. It might take a while, you will sound ridiculous at first, you will slip a lot and make mistakes every damn word but it will occur less, and less. And some languages depend on pronunciation, like tonal languages or click languages, where pronunciation is a matter of mixing up a bunch of words, not just two. This happens in almost every language to a minor degree, so why ignore it? :/

[@TonyLang1984]

Mosaad 🇮🇱

[@mariashevyrova3730]

Oh yes, I remember her, a big fan of incompetent teachers like Marina Mogilko, or just easy to be bribed 😅

[@simegustaloveo]

😂👍🏼

[@Disgusted19]

It's not Israel but PALESTINE

[@e-nglish635]

I’m here to know about the tips to improve pronunciation. I’m in the middle of the video - no tips! I feel disappointed. And I’m not going to watch the liars further.

[@multifacetedVl]

liars... are u OK? nobody owes you anything:)

[@life_is_the_proof_of_god]

You get her name which you can Google to find a channel and learn tips there. No need to throw words like liars around.

[@nieladrew]

It’s time-stamped in the description box - 10:15….

[@imadmouffak18]

She was born in Palestine* 🇵🇸