Challenge Yourself to Pronounce These Foreign Phonemes [Audio]

One of the biggest challenges of learning a new language is hearing and reproducing unfamiliar sounds. Often teachers focus on vocabulary and practicing simple sentences. But new research suggests people could master languages more rapidly by practicing pronunciation first.

This strategy can help in identifying the subtle distinctions between similar phonemes, or speech sounds, across languages. For example, below are 10 sibilant (sounds such as s, sh, ch, zh) syllables from English, French, Russian and Hungarian. Click each one to hear how it is pronounced, then try to reproduce the sound yourself.

Emphasizing phonetics first may also help learners achieve fluency faster. This approach makes a big difference when students face daunting terms like the complex vocabulary below. Tap on a word to hear its pronunciation and see if you can repeat it yourself.