How To Learn Pronunciation In Any Language: A Step-By-Step Guide

Recently, I received a fantastic question about pronunciation from Tony in Mexico that I know many of you can relate to.

Tony's learning Danish and struggling with what he describes as “understanding their pronunciation” – that feeling when a language's sounds seem completely alien to what you're used to.

If you're struggling with how to learn pronunciation like Tony, you're definitely not alone. I've been through this exact challenge with languages like Cantonese and Arabic, which really messed with my head when I first started learning them.

The good news? There are universal principles that apply here, and I'm going to share them with you.

If you prefer watching videos to reading, hit play on the video version of this post at the top of this page. Otherwise, here's what you'll discover in this post:

How To Learn Pronunciation: The Foundation Phase

Let's start with something crucial that many learners overlook: the difference between accent and pronunciation. Pronunciation is what we're talking about here – these are the building blocks, the basic sounds of the language. Accent comes later.

What you need to do first is make sure you've got a strong grasp of the sounds of your target language, because these are the fundamental building blocks.

In Scandinavian languages like Danish, the vowel sounds are particularly tricky, so you've got to study those systematically.

Now, here's something my friend Richard Simcott said in one of our polyglot workshops that's always stuck with me.

• You know those few pages at the beginning of your textbook that you skip?
• The ones where they tell you all about the pronunciation?

Well, that's the bit you've got to study!

Here's your first action step: Go back to the beginning of your textbook, get your audio out, and go through systematically. Make sure you can pronounce every single letter and sound of the language clearly.

Getting Professional Help Early

Once you've done that initial work – or even at the same time – I would hire a teacher to help you straight away. With a difficult language, it's essential to work on pronunciation at the beginning because:

• It makes your life so much easier later
• It's much easier to get it right now than to have to fix your mistakes and relearn sounds later

Tell your teacher: “Look, I want to know how to learn pronunciation.” Get them to go through the letters of the alphabet and test you on those, so you can be sure that you've got the basic sounds correct.

Understanding The Time Factor In Pronunciation Learning

Here's something important to understand about how to learn pronunciation: it takes time. With languages, there's always a period when you first start that no matter what you do, you just need to wait for it to expire.

I've noticed there are particular threshold moments that seem universal across languages:

• One month: You can learn a lot in this initial period
• Six months: This seems to be a major breakthrough point
• Two years: Another significant landmark moment

With pronunciation in particular, this is really just something you've got to get used to. But the systematic approach I'm sharing will definitely accelerate the process.

Why Recognition Comes Before Production

Here's one of the major rules of how to learn pronunciation that you absolutely must understand: recognition comes before production. What this means is we cannot say things accurately that we're unable to hear ourselves.

If you can't hear the sounds of Danish (or whatever language you're learning), you're not going to be able to say them. So you must work on recognition first, and that's why it's so important to spend lots of time listening.

Let me give you a personal example. I've been learning Cantonese for many years now, and just last night I was watching one of those extremely melodramatic Hong Kong family dramas.

Although there's still tons I don't understand, what was remarkable for me was that I could actually pick out almost every individual word.

When I first started learning Cantonese, it was all one big mesh of random sounds. Now I'm able to pick out virtually every single word very clearly. I don't necessarily know what it means, but I'm able to differentiate the tones and the sounds.

That's just a question of time – I've been working really hard for the last few years on Cantonese, and it just takes time.

Building Your Pronunciation Skills Step-by-Step

1. Systematic Listening Practice

What I'd encourage you to do is systematic listening, and start with your textbook. Make sure you've got a good textbook with lots of dialogues, then go through every day listening and reading at the same time.

The reason you read at the same time is because it helps you distinguish the words. If you're just listening, you might hear what sounds like a ten-syllable word, but when you actually see it written down, you realise “Oh, that's actually three separate words!” The reading helps you make sense of what you're listening to.

2. The Gradual Process Approach

The important thing to recognise is that pronunciation improvement is a gradual process. You've just got to stick with it and not let yourself get discouraged.

A little bit every day, plus plenty of exposure and listening in your free time – that's what will do the trick.

It doesn't matter what language you're learning. Some languages have particular problems with pronunciation, while others like English have pronunciation that's not too bad but lots of problems with connected speech. When we actually speak fast, sounds change and disappear all over the place.

3. Working with Problem Sounds

By working with a teacher, you're going to be able to identify those problem sounds – those things that you can't quite understand. This is where the systematic approach really pays off, because you can focus your efforts on the specific areas where you're struggling most.

How To Learn Pronunciation FAQ

Your Action Plan For Mastering Pronunciation

Here's your step-by-step approach to tackle pronunciation challenges:

• Master the basics: Study those pronunciation pages in your textbook thoroughly
• Get professional guidance: Work with a teacher specifically on phonetics
• Practice recognition first: Focus on hearing sounds before trying to produce them
• Use systematic listening: Combine audio with text to distinguish individual words
• Be patient with the process: Remember those time thresholds – give yourself time to improve
• Stay consistent: A little practice every day beats sporadic intensive sessions

The key thing to remember is that this is a universal challenge. Whether you're learning Danish like Tony, tackling Cantonese like me, or working on any other language with tricky pronunciation, these principles will serve you well.

Don't get discouraged if it feels overwhelming at first – that's completely normal. Stick with the systematic approach, be patient with yourself and you'll gradually notice those individual sounds becoming clearer and more distinct.

Before you know it, you'll be picking out words where once there was just a confusing jumble of sounds.

Pronunciation mastery is a marathon, not a sprint, but with the right approach, you'll definitely get there.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.