Fun and enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation? [closed]

English is not my native language and I'm really proud of being able to write it quite well. I have lots of problems with pronunciation though. In Finnish most words are pronounced the same as they are written and I've made a huge mistake by learning only how the words are written. I've now decided to become at least average speaker.

I'd like hear to better/more enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation than violently forcing my friends to speak English with me.

Solution 1:

Listening to something that has been narrated can be pretty effective. Like listening to a book on tape while actually following along with the print version. English tends to have an awful lot of nonsensical rules and pronunciations, so the best thing to do is to just plain immerse yourself in the language (listen to it).

Solution 2:

The hardest but most effective way to learn pronunciation is to first of all learn how to read phonetic notation and master the pronunciation of every symbol (I stick to the International Phonetic Alphabet - IPA). You should keep a dictionary handy, practicing how to pronounce each word as many times as possible, whenever you happen to look up a word in it. The next thing is to get a good book on phonetics/pronunciation. Usually, you will find words grouped according to vowel sounds, etc. Practice, practice, practice! Speak each word with impeccable pronunciation until you sound stupid and begin to make fun of yourself.

Sure, watching movies and TV, and listening to tapes and CDs help. However, the sure-fire way to achieve a solid knowledge of pronunciation is to speak as much as you can, to yourself and to others, using the tried and tested method of mastering phonetic transcriptions of as many words as possible. Enunciate the words slowly and deliberately. If you do this well enough, people should begin to make fun of you. That's when you know you are doing things right. Then go anywhere in the English-speaking world and you will be sure to sound like a native speaker, regardless of the accent.

Solution 3:

I am Spanish. Almost all my knowledge of the English language comes from:

1. Listening to BBC radio. Truly good quality programs as well on Radio4 and the World Service.
2. Watching British TV channels (via sky). During the first year, or maybe two, I had the English subtitles switched on (almost all programs have subtitles, even the news). I think that's a very good way to start.
3. Reading absolutely everything in English, from IT books for my job, to bestsellers, tin labels or the newspaper. You don't learn pronunciation but you do learn vocabulary of course.

It takes its time, though, I have been learning for 10 years now and I can't say that my spoken English is 100% fluent, although good enough to maintain a decent conversation. I am now so used to my BBC radio and TV that if someday they stop the service I think I will move to the UK !

Also, although I seldom do it myself, I know other fellow Spaniards use the chats (with audio of course, or even webcam) to practice their English. There are some special rooms (at Yahoo at least) for English practicing, but once you have decently fluent English you are better joining a room of anything you like, even if just for listening to "normal" English.

And a final little trick: I have used my smart phone to record my own voice while reading English and then play it. This way you can hear your mistakes much better.