One of the most difficult things about learning English is using the correct English pronunciation.

But good English pronunciation is much more than just having the right accent. In fact, although accent reduction is important for some jobs, many people just need to be understood in different situations.

In this section on English Pronunciation you can find articles to help you speak more clearly and with greater confidence. We'll show you how to use word stress and sentence stress correctly, how to use intonation in statements and questions, how to use a dictionary to improve your pronunciation, how to spell English correctly, as well as many other tips and strategies.

3 simple tips to improve your English pronunciation

1. Don't speak too fast（不要说的太快）

If you're nervous you often speak faster. Try to slow down and emphasise the most important words. These are words like nouns, verbs or adjectives. Remember that the other words in your sentence (for example the grammatical words) will then be unstressed.

2. Pay attention to word stress（注意单词重音）

If a word has more than two syllables (for example, "sim-ple" has two syllables while "im-por-tant" has 3 syllables) one syllable is stressed. We say sim-ple and not sim-ple; im-por-tant and not im-por-tant or im-por-tant, for example. Getting this stress right is one of the best things you can do to quickly improve your English pronunciation.

3. Focus on the difficult sounds（困难发音重点记）

If you're a French speaker, this might be the /th/ sound, while if you're an Arabic speaker, this might be the /p/ and /b/ sounds. Learn how the sound should be produced in your mouth - and make an effort to produce it correctly. It can sound strange at first, but keep going! With practice you can make a real difference to your English pronunciation.