Articulation When Learning A New Language

What you have to practice so that you can speak in a new language

Articulation

When learning a new language we have to learn new mouth movements. Some movements are completely new because there isn't any similar sound in the mother tongue. So that you can use the new movements when speaking you must automate them first, e.g. in smaller units like syllables or words, then in expressions and whole sentences

Sound awareness and intonation

We must also be aware of which sounds or which differences are important in the respective language in volume and pitch. The mother tongue works as a filter. This can mean we hear only the features that are important in the mother tongue. Therefore we must learn consciously to pay attention to the word and sentence accent to hear how the melody proceeds, where breaks are put and where a vowel is long or short, a consonant is spoken with much or little energy and try and produce these features.

In the dictionary only the accent syllable is highlighted. Mostly a sign is under the accent vowel. A line (_) stands for a long vowel, a point (.) for a short vowel.