NativeSpeakerOnline

Learn natural English online

5 commonly mispronounced words — List 1

By 1 Comment

If you want a high band in the IELTS Speaking test, you need good pronunciation. But you don't need to change your accent. Just pronounce words correctly and make sure the examiner can understand you. The problem for many learners is that English spelling is 'non-phonetic', which means that many words aren't spelled the way they sound. In this post I'm going to present 5 words which are often pronounced incorrectly by IELTS candidates.

Correcting yourself in the IELTS Speaking test

By Leave a Comment

In the IELTS Speaking test, it is okay to make mistakes and correct yourself. This shows the examiner that you realised you made a mistake. However, if you correct yourself too much, it will have a negative effect on your fluency score. Mistakes can be language mistakes (grammatical, lexical, etc.) or perhaps you said something in an unclear clear. In this post we will look at some simple ways of correcting yourself.

How to finish speaking in Part 2

By 6 Comments

In Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test, you are asked to talk about a topic for 1-2 minutes. If you manage to speak for 2 minutes, the examiner will ask you to stop. However, if you speak for less than 2 minutes, you have to stop yourself. Many candidates talk for about one minute and then try to think of something more to say and then become nervous, sit silently or make mistakes. Don't make this mistake! In this post, I will give you a tip on how to finish your answer.

Typical pronunciation problems

By 5 Comments

In this post, I'm going to present some English pronunciation problems that are typical for speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese. These mistakes can make it difficult for a native speaker to understand you, so you should try to work on them. You don't need a native speaker's accent, but it's very important to be understood. 25% of your IELTS Speaking test score is based on pronunciation.