English Pronunciation with NOVA

Built from the Triple A method and from what we have actually measured. Each lesson takes one phonetic fingerprint Spanish speakers carry into English, explains why it happens in your mouth rather than in your head, and drills it with words you already use at work.

The goal is not to sound American. It is that people stop asking you to repeat yourself. That is what the Council of Europe measures too, and it is a goal you can actually reach.

Record yourself at the end of every lesson. NOVA measures the sound you just practised and tells you whether it moved.

1. Before you start

• 1 What we are actually fixing
  Why an accent is not the problem and being understood is. What the scores mean, and what they do not.
• 2 Record yourself once, before anything
  Read the first affirmations text and send it. This is the number every other lesson is measured against, so do it before you learn anything.

2. The power moves

• 1 The Snake Start · initial S clusters
  In Spanish nothing begins with s plus a consonant, so your mouth adds an e: e-small, e-step. Hiss like a snake before the word, with no voice until …
• 2 The Hidden K · the consonant that disappears
  In successful the middle k gets swallowed and the word turns to mush. Three clean beats: suck, sess, full, with a click at the back of the throat.
• 3 The Lip Buzz · v is not b
  In Spanish they are the same sound. In English your top teeth touch your bottom lip and buzz. Value, voice, forgive, give.
• 4 The Tongue Tip · the th nobody taught you
  Growth, strength, breath. The tongue comes out between the teeth and only air passes. No voice, just air.

3. Endings and rhythm

• 1 Finishing your words
  Proud, world, worked, and. Spanish lets the ends of words fade; English needs them released, and a listener uses them to know what tense you meant.
• 2 Where the stress falls
  Curiosity, confidence, potential. Put the beat in the wrong place and a word people know becomes a word they do not.
• 3 Linking, so you sound faster without speaking faster
  Natural English joins words together. This is why fluent speech sounds quick even when it is not.

4. Prove it moved

• 1 Record the same text again
  The same passage you read on day one. Same words, four weeks later. This is the only comparison that means anything, because everything else stayed the same.
• 2 Read your report with NOVA
  What changed, what did not, and which power move to keep working. Ask NOVA anything about it in her own drawer.