Is it useful to read in a foreign language aloud?

[leosmith]

I think it can be, if you have someone to correct your pronunciation. I think that is the key point, otherwise you'll risk making mistakes and thinking they are acceptable when they're not.

Personally I wouldn't want someone looming over me correcting my pronunciation while I read. I do what I suggest most learners do - use written material that also has audio in the beginning. Read first then play the audio (or vice versa if you're not feeling confident), repeat the pronunciation if you're off. When you get to a point where you feel comfortable with your pronunciation, reading out loud is still a good idea because you are able to practice your speaking.

That being said, I've heard some people have great difficulty comparing their own voices to recordings of native speakers. If that's the case, it's going to be difficult to acquire good pronunciation regardless of how they go about it. I would just like to add, though, that anyone interested in good pronunciation should study it at the very beginning (and tune it up occasionally after that). Study and practice it at the phoneme, word and finally the sentence level.

[galaxyrocker]

I think it can be, if you have someone to correct your pronunciation. I think that is the key point, otherwise you'll risk making mistakes and thinking they are acceptable when they're not.

Personally I wouldn't want someone looming over me correcting my pronunciation while I read. I do what I suggest most learners do - use written material that also has audio in the beginning. Read first then play the audio (or vice versa if you're not feeling confident), repeat the pronunciation if you're off. When you get to a point where you feel comfortable with your pronunciation, reading out loud is still a good idea because you are able to practice your speaking.

That being said, I've heard some people have great difficulty comparing their own voices to recordings of native speakers. If that's the case, it's going to be difficult to acquire good pronunciation regardless of how they go about it. I would just like to add, though, that anyone interested in good pronunciation should study it at the very beginning (and tune it up occasionally after that). Study and practice it at the phoneme, word and finally the sentence level.

I didn't necessarily mean while you read. I've often recorded myself reading a short passage aloud and then sent that to a native speaker who gladly then worked through it bit by bit. First with me in person, then sending a recording of himself saying it. It was actually really helpful, and I need to do it more often.

[Voytek]

I've started to read in English aloud.
Now I am reading "The structure of Modern English" by B.Ilyish.
Is it useful?

In my opinion, only when you're listening to the audio and doing shadowing unless you don't care much about pronunciation. Remember it's very hard to eliminate bad pronunciation habits and you're fostering them while reading with bad pronunciation, even when you're doing that on the subvocal level. Personally, I don't understand why so many language learners tend to slight a solid pronunciation training in the very begining of their journey and bungling the process of language acquisition. I know a lot of people which speak English at very high level but you just can't stand listening to them due horrible pronunciation. Sorry to say this but if you have pronunciation problems you jumped the gun starting reading aloud without the audio support.

[William Camden]

Heinrich Schliemann read aloud a great deal as one of his methods for learning L2s. His methods generally tended towards the near-obsessive, like learning English in part by going to an English-speaking church twice a day (perhaps only on Sundays?) to hear the sermon. He wasn't there for the religion - he wanted to hear how English is spoken. He would mutter to himself what the minister was saying - shadowing, I think it's called.

[PeterMollenburg]

I think it can be, if you have someone to correct your pronunciation. I think that is the key point, otherwise you'll risk making mistakes and thinking they are acceptable when they're not. And reading is nice because it gives you a predetermined script, which is good for those who can't come up with stuff off the top of their heads, or who want some more structure in their practice, etc.

I completely disagree, although I respect your opinion and if you feel this is the right approach for you then it absolutely is, but for me, definitely not.

However we might actually agree really when it comes down to it, for what I believe is that you should read aloud and it does help ones pronunciation, provided you know how to say what you are saying with correct pronunciation. Thus, if you are the diligent type then indeed read aloud (if you don't care about accent it doesn't matter).

I've not felt a need whatsoever to have a tutor/native speaker when reading aloud, simply because I refuse to say anything aloud I do not know how to pronounce properly. This is where phonetics come in and teaching oneself excellent pronunciation. Audio is highly useful (for me from courses- for others, from various sources). If you are thorough there is (imo of course) absolutely no reason why you cannot train yourself to sound like a native even when you have never pronounced certain words before. That statement could land me in hot water, because I do know many people struggle with reproducing decent native sounding pronunciation no matter how much hard work they put in, in which case don't follow my advice here, you probably are better off finding someone with similar difficulties and methods for overcoming them.

I'm no miracle person, nor am I self appointing myself pronunciation King (my dog appointed me King after he abdicated) waiting to accept an award presented by myself. It just takes diligence, hard work, a sound knowledge of IPA and strict and patient application of that knowledge to each and every syllable that ever comes out of your mouth. In time you will speed up and you will still be sounding decent provide you watch yourself like a hawk!

When I read and I come across a word I am unsure of, of how to pronounce it, I will check it in a dictionary with IPA, which requires no tutor. Many good courses have pronunciation tips- analyse these in depth and apply what you learn, listen carefully and when you read imitate the sounds you've learned as best you can and always aim to improve. A tutor can correct you, but until you self analyse how to produce those sounds, it's one thing to be corrected, it's another to apply such corrections.

Of course, my experience comes from Western European languages, I've no idea if this kind of approach would fail with Arabic, African languages or Asian languages for example.

Going off what galaxyrocker says, I've heard of people reading a text (say, Assimil), record their reading of the text, and comparing it to the recording, if a native speaker isn't available.

Yes, this is what I've done loads of- effecitvely shadowing. I refused to move on to the next lesson until I sounded very near perfect on the current lesson, ironing out all errors. This is where (as much as some people detest courses) the slow build up of the speed of the speech is highly useful in courses. It gives you time to adapt your perfected pronunciation and gradually speed up as the course progresses.

One other thought...
If I read silently, and in fact right now as I type in English, I sound out the words (in my head). I think you might find you do this too! I find it hard to imagine someone not sounding out words in their head when they read. Thus, perhaps for even silent reading, pronunciation is important.

I think it can be, if you have someone to correct your pronunciation. I think that is the key point, otherwise you'll risk making mistakes and thinking they are acceptable when they're not.

Personally I wouldn't want someone looming over me correcting my pronunciation while I read. I do what I suggest most learners do - use written material that also has audio in the beginning. Read first then play the audio (or vice versa if you're not feeling confident), repeat the pronunciation if you're off. When you get to a point where you feel comfortable with your pronunciation, reading out loud is still a good idea because you are able to practice your speaking.

That being said, I've heard some people have great difficulty comparing their own voices to recordings of native speakers. If that's the case, it's going to be difficult to acquire good pronunciation regardless of how they go about it. I would just like to add, though, that anyone interested in good pronunciation should study it at the very beginning (and tune it up occasionally after that). Study and practice it at the phoneme, word and finally the sentence level.

Yep, I completely agree.

Definitely, as long as your pronunciation is somewhat ok and you've studied the basics of the sounds of the language. To me speaking is as much a physical thing as it is a mental thing. Your mouth needs to know how to string these sounds together and we can only get there by speaking.

Yep, which is why I've always spoken out loud while 'studying' (i.e. using courses, repeating audio, shadowing, reading), because to speak well, and as close to a native as you can, you need to exercise those movements while imitating native pronunciation. To me, you can have almost all your phonemes sounding excellent, and in many combinations of various syllables within a multitude of settings, then one day, you say a sentence you've never said before, and despite knowing all the sounds, producing those sounds in succession is suddenly unusual as you've never done it in that particular order before (not to mention the tone of a a sentence can sound quite different individual words). All this take practise.

But don't be scared! Just do your best and you will get there, one step at a time, one study session at a time.

[tastyonions]

Peter knows what he's talking about. His French pronunciation is excellent, better than mine and just about any other anglophone I have heard.

[Finny]

Definitely, as long as your pronunciation is somewhat ok and you've studied the basics of the sounds of the language. To me speaking is as much a physical thing as it is a mental thing. Your mouth needs to know how to string these sounds together and we can only get there by speaking.

Absolutely. With Spanish, a big driver for activating my passive skills was reading aloud. I didn't do it terribly much, but it was extremely effective in training my mouth to produce the language. It also trained my brain to become used to hearing me produce the language, which was a positive feedback loop, as it made me more likely to speak in the future since I'd done so successfully before. With French, ironically, I have trouble remembering how I made the transition even though it was only about six months ago. However, looking back, even though I didn't read aloud to myself nearly as much as I did with Spanish, I read aloud to my kids far, far more, which was effectively the same thing. I honestly think that on a minute-to-minute basis, reading aloud is the single most effective way I've yet found (aside from speaking with a friendly native speaker) to develop active skills.

[Cainntear]

I think it can be, if you have someone to correct your pronunciation.

I'm not sure that's necessary.

Personally I find that when I'm reading in a language which I'm not all that comfortable with, if I'm not consciously sounding it out (although that doesn't necessarily mean reading aloud strictly) I end up missing a lot of the meaning. If I slow myself down and try to think through the rise and fall of the voice, the structure of the sentence comes out and the meaning is clear.

[reineke]

Great minds think alike.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... ding+aloud

[DaveBee]

I've started to read in English aloud.
Now I am reading "The structure of Modern English" by B.Ilyish.
Is it useful?

See this part of the wikia article. Yes, this link has been posted before

This particular book doesn't sound like a good choice. Looks like it was written by a Russian native speaker who passed away in 1971. I don't question his academic credentials, but bear in mind that English wasn't his native language, and he learned it in the USSR where the authorities scrutinized his contact with native speakers and materials, or at least this was something he could reasonably expect. (aww he spoke Finnish)

And although Russians tend to learn really obscure stuff about the theory of English grammar (things native speakers never heard about), reading a better grammar reference aloud is not the solution You need something colloquial, engaging, probably with a lot of dialogue. It's easier to find good examples of fiction, but there's also a category of non-fictional books that fits - those with a personal touch, aimed at the general public and often humorous. I don't believe it's possible to find something "too easy" for reading aloud. For example, children's books may actually be a good idea because many are intended to be read aloud by adults to children.

Eats, shoots and leaves was a big hit in the UK a few years ago. That might be a good one. (I've not read it myself.)