Pronunciation and fluency.
Your goal isn't a British or American accent. Your goal is to be clearly understood. Today you'll fix the sounds that most often cause confusion, and learn tricks to speak more smoothly.
A Hyderabadi accent is fine. Many successful global professionals speak with Indian accents. Clarity matters, not copying someone else's accent.
Sounds that commonly cause confusion
| Sound | Common issue | Practise with |
|---|---|---|
| V and W | Saying "wery" for "very" or "vork" for "work" | V: top teeth touch lower lip: very, van, video. W: round lips, no teeth: work, west, website |
| Z | Saying "j" or "s": "jero" for "zero" | zero, zone, Amazon, busy, organise |
| TH | "tank" for "thank", "dat" for "that" | Tongue lightly between teeth: think, thank, three; this, that, those |
| Short and long vowels | ship / sheep, full / fool | Make long vowels clearly longer: "sheeep" |
| Silent letters | Pronouncing every letter | listen (t silent), Wednesday (d silent), half (l silent) |
Word stress
English words have one strong syllable. Wrong stress can make words hard to understand.
| Word | Stress on |
|---|---|
| deVELop | VEL |
| comPAny | COM: COMpany |
| hoTEL | TEL |
| PHOtograph / phoTOgraphy | Changes! |
| deTERmine | TER |
Check stress with an online dictionary: the stressed syllable is marked, and you can play the audio.
Fluency: speaking smoothly
- Shadowing: play a short clip, pause, and repeat it exactly with the same rhythm. 10 minutes a day makes a big difference.
- Use fillers wisely: "Well…", "Let me think…" sound better than "umm… aaa…".
- Chunk your speech: speak in short phrases with small pauses: "Last month / I worked on / a sales dashboard."
- Don't stop to fix every small mistake. Keep going; meaning matters most.
- Speak daily, even to yourself while cooking or walking.
Which practice builds fluency fastest?
Fluency is a physical skill of the mouth and the brain together. It needs daily speaking practice.
Fix: "video" (teeth on lip) and "Wenz-day" (silent d).
Good. Chunking sounds confident and clear.
What's the main goal of pronunciation practice?
Clarity is the goal. Speed comes naturally later.
Day 24–28 task
Shadow one 1-minute clip from BBC Learning English or a simple English news video for 10 minutes every day this week. Also practise these 5 words aloud daily: very, work, zero, think, Wednesday. Record on Day 28 and compare with Day 1.
Lesson 7 complete!
You know the most important sounds to fix, word stress, and practical ways to build fluency. Next: speaking in meetings.
Next: Speaking in meetings →