Learn the secret exercises actors use to speak with a clear and crisp voice. Improving your pronunciation and spoken English isn't just about learning theory. You can make yourself more understood by simply training your mouth muscles so that you can produce the sounds of English properly. After all, if you've been speaking another language your whole life, your mouth and tongue are probably trained in a different way, to make the sounds of that language, not English. In this video, I'll go through many exercises you can do to get your mouth used to making the sounds of English clearly. This will improve your accent, clarity, and make you a better English speaker.

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And for extra English help, visit my website: https://honeyourenglish.com

TRANSCRIPT

Hi there and welcome back to engVid. Today's lesson is to make sure that you are understood, because you could learn all the vocabulary in the world, but if you're not being understood by speaking clearly, then there's very little point. So today's lesson is to teach you a few exercises to ensure that your speech is as crisp and clear as possible.

Now, I've got a number of exercises which I've written up on the board which are to help strengthen the muscles in your face and your mouth to help your speech become clear. Now, the words, and sentences, and phrases written up here are not meant to make sense. Okay? So this is not a language lesson. If you're not sure of what a word means, then I suggest look it up in a dictionary, but it may be a word that is not currently used in English, contemporary English. And the other thing I wanted to point out is that it's not just going to be by watching this video that you become clear. I will show you a number of exercises, but if you really want to take it to a next level, you will have to go off and see a voice teacher who will then be able to say to you: "You need to focus on your s sounds", or: "You need to focus on your d sounds", but then you have these exercises to help you. I hope that's clear.

Okay, so I will go through this once slowly, and then I'll do it at full speed. The aim with these articulation exercises is to go nice and slowly so that you're getting each sound correctly, and then to start doing it as fast as you can, because that really works the muscles. Okay?

So, in the top left of your screen you'll see this is an exercises for... An exercise for s sounds, p sounds, c sounds, and to some extent, b and d as well. Ready? Let's go. "To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark, dock. In a pestilential prison with a lifelong lock. Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock. From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block." Okay. I'll now do this at full speed. "To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark, dock. In a pestilential prison with a lifelong lock. Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock. From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block." Okay?

And on to our t and d sounds. So, t and d is used with the tongue going up towards what is called the alveolar ridge in your mouth. So you should feel your tongue going up to get this sound correctly. Again, slowly and then at full speed. "In tooting two tutors astute tried to toot a duke on a flute. But duets so gruelling and only in duelling when tutors astute toot the flute." That should say "toot", let's put another t there. Again. "In tooting two tutors astute tried to toot a duke on a flute. But duets so gruelling and only in duelling when tutors astute toot the flute." Weird.

Okay, and on to m, h, and i. "She stood on the balcony..." Okay? So try to get that "l" there, the "l" rising up to the roof of your mouth. "Inexplicably mimicking", so the m sound: "mmm", lips together. Mmm. "Mimicking him hiccupping", so a nice open mouth of "h", "h", for the h sound. "Hiccupping and amicably welcome... Welcoming him home." It's quite hard to get the "ing" there. "Welcoming him home. She stood on the balcony inexplimy..." Got it wrong. Start again. "She stood on the balcony inexplicably mimicking him hiccupping and amicably welcoming him home." Okay? So you really got to move your mouth to get that... Those sounds correctly.

I've put f, v, and "th" together because you must make sure that there is a difference between your "th" sounds and your f and your v. This is something I learnt after a long... Lots of long, hard practice at drama school, but it... You know, your "th", your tongue has to go up to the top of your mouth, and sort of tick, tick the teeth. "Ff", okay? The f and v sound is more made by... You got your lip there, and air coming out. "Five flippant Frenchmen fly from France for fashions. Five flippant Frenchmen fly from France for fashions".