Listen up!
Many people wrongly believe that their accent cannot be improved. It is true that some strategies are ineffective, but, by using the right strategy, you can quickly sound much more like a native speaker.
Two things are essential for good pronunciation: ear training and mouth training.
While many people think that mouth training is key, it's actually not. The first and most important step is to hear the sound. Experts say that if you don't hear the correct pronunciation, you will not be able to produce the correct pronunciation.
It makes sense; how can we produce a sound if we can't even hear it properly?
Listening research
In one study, Japanese students took a listening test. They were asked to listen to a recording of the words "rock" and "lock". One of the words was played, and the student had to choose which one they heard. This task was difficult since R and L are two different sounds in English, but they sound similar to only one sound in Japanese.
Just listening again and again to a sound does not help you improve listening skills.
The test showed only about 50% accuracy. It was no better than guessing! The students tried to hear the difference between "lock" and "rock" for some time, the test showed no improvement.
Simple repetition doesn't work. Students could repeat this test until the cows come home, but if they don't learn how to really hear the difference between the two, they won't improve.
The researchers decided to conduct another study with one difference.
They introduced feedback. The students were told if they were correctly distinguishing between "rock" and "lock" during the listening test and not after. This changed everything.
Feedback during the exercise raised accuracy from 50% to 80%.
Students told whether they were correct or not during the exam began developing "an ear" for the subtle differences between "rock" and "lock".
The students' results went up to around 80% accuracy. Then, since the students now knew how the word was supposed to sound, it was finally possible for them to say the word correctly themselves.
Accent coaching
Listening and feedback are exactly what accent coaches use when training actors for foreign language roles. You need feedback to improve your pronunciation.
Here is an example from my class about the correct pronunciation of the word "passionate":
You are saying "passion-eight" and I need "passion-it." Hear the difference? Listen to me: passion-eight... passion-it... eight... it... eight... it. Now you try.
Reduce the problem to the smallest component, then take the simplest step towards your goal. In this case, hear the difference, then simply say what you hear!
So start listening to get speaking!
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until the cows come home [idiom]: for a very, very long time