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Have you ever studied English pronunciation and received explanations such as "roll your tongue" and "put your tongue on the back of your teeth"?
I feel like I can do it if I am aware of it, but it is unexpectedly difficult to move my tongue as I want.
However, in order for Japanese to speak English with native pronunciation, it is necessary to be aware of how to move the tongue, which is an unavoidable path.
So, this time, I will explain the training of "tongue" which is essential for strengthening English pronunciation!
Why you can't improve your pronunciation even if you learn from a native teacher
As I mentioned at the beginning, tongue training is important, but let me explain in a little more detail.
I often hear the opinion that if you want to learn English pronunciation, you should choose a native teacher.
But this is not true.
Even if the native instructor trains English pronunciation properly, there are many cases where it ends up being "imitating" and eventually cannot get out of the "Japanese English" level peculiar to Japanese people.
The reason why this happens is that I have not been able to teach "how to speak real English after understanding the difference between English and Japanese".
If you are a teacher who can thoroughly explain the details such as how to use the tongue and how to move the muscles and teach you how to pronounce English sounds, you need to be a native teacher. It means that there is no such thing.
The important thing is not to be taught by a native teacher, but by a teacher who is familiar with the structure and method of English pronunciation.
[Related article] Isn't it better to learn English pronunciation natively? Misunderstanding
What is tongue training
I said that tongue training is essential for proper pronunciation of English, but let me explain in detail what tongue training is like.
Native muscle exercise
Discovering Sounds does a muscle training called "Native Muscle Exercise".
Native muscle exercise is an exercise to move the tongue and lips in the same way as the native.
The way that native English speakers unconsciously move their muscles when speaking English is something that we Japanese do not usually do at all.
By doing native muscle exercises, you can get used to movements that are different from when you speak Japanese.
Example 1: Tongue round and round exercises
Let me give you a concrete example.
One of the native muscle exercises is "Tongue round and round exercises".
If your tongue is too stiff to move as you wish, use a round tongue exercise to train your front tongue, middle tongue, and back tongue at the same time to increase the flexibility of your tongue.
[Exercise procedure]
① Open your mouth lightly
② Insert your tongue between your upper lip and gums and slowly turn it clockwise.
③ Move the tongue from the inside of the upper lip to the inside of the lower lip.
④ Without stopping the movement of the tongue, move it from the inside of the lower lip to the inside of the upper lip and return it to the initial position.
Repeat 3 sets a day, with 3 laps clockwise and 3 weeks counterclockwise as one set.
When making this movement, press the tongue as hard as possible from the inside to the outside of the lips. If you try it repeatedly, your mouth will become dull and tired more than you can imagine. Daily training is also very effective in helping your tongue move properly when you speak English.
Example 2: Back tongue yellowtail gymnastics
Next, I would like to introduce "Back Tongue Buriji Gymnastics".
This leads to the correction of pronunciation of sounds such as [ɪ] [iː] [e] [k] [g] [ŋ] that are produced by pressing the rear tongue against the upper back teeth.
These only need to lift the back tongue up. It is a muscle training that specializes in the movement of moving only the back tongue up and down in order to train the strength and flexibility of the back tongue.
[Exercise procedure]
① Open your mouth lightly
② With the tip of the tongue attached to the back of the lower front teeth, slowly lift the back tongue straight up and press both sides of the tongue against the upper back teeth.
③ With the tip of the tongue attached to the back of the lower front teeth, slowly lower the back tongue directly below.
④ Repeat steps 1 to 3
Be careful not to move your chin with you when raising and lowering your tongue.
When lowering it, lower it as much as you can see the uvula.
When you say "i" or "e" in Japanese, the back tongue will rise naturally, so please try to get a feel for it.
How English changes with tongue training
The purpose of pronunciation correction is different for each person, but the main ones are "I want to be able to speak English that I can understand" and "I want to get out of Japanese English and speak cool like a native speaker".
Here are three main effects of how training your tongue can make a difference in your English.
Effect (1) The number of people who hear back is greatly reduced.
Here is the first effect you can feel. Even if you have spoken in English so far, you will often be able to feel the change at an early stage if you are not familiar with the native language and are often asked back.
By continuing tongue training, your pronunciation will be corrected and you will be able to speak "native English". I've been asked many times before, but when I get to understand it smoothly, my motivation will increase!
Effect (2) Increases the pass rate and score of Eiken and TOEIC
"Listening" is often not good at Eiken and TOEIC.
Many people can read and write, but are not good at listening and speaking.
If you do the muscle training necessary for English pronunciation and improve your own English pronunciation, you will naturally be able to hear English more than ever.
As a result, your listening skills will improve, which will lead to Eiken and TOEIC measures.
Effect (3) Communication became smoother in practice
For those who have the opportunity to use English on a daily basis at work or in private, you will find that you can communicate more smoothly with them than ever before.
You will be able to actively use words and sentences that you have avoided using, such as "Don't use this word because you don't understand the pronunciation well", and you will be able to have deeper conversations.
Aim for pronunciation correction with Discovering Sounds!
If you have a bitter experience of not improving your English pronunciation no matter how much you imitate a native speaker, you may not understand why you couldn't learn English pronunciation. Is it?
I rarely speak Japanese with an awareness of how to move my tongue. Specialized training is essential to train the muscles around the tongue and mouth.
Discovering Sounds allows you to incorporate a variety of gymnastics and effectively train your "muscles needed to be able to speak English well".
If you are interested in the lesson content, please take a trial lesson first!
In this article, "The key to strengthening English pronunciation was" tongue "training! I introduced about!
