How to speak like the Queen of England

Good morning everyone,

How are you?

We’re going to start this lesson by remembering the difference between enunciating and pronouncing. Who knows what each one means?

Pronunciation is the act of properly clustering each group of letters to make the correct sounds.

Enunciation is the act of clearly speaking in order to allow someone to understand.

So, what is the difference? Well, you can mumble a word and pronounce it correctly, but you are not enunciating it. Mumbling is saying a word quietly, without opening your mouth properly, so it is hard to understand.

If you properly enunciate a word, but cluster the letters wrong you are not pronouncing it properly.

So, for example: if you say the word “February” slowly and properly “Feb-rue-air-ee” your pronunciation and enunciation would be very good. But if you said “Feb-you-air-ee” you would only be enunciating well, the pronunciation would be incorrect. Finally, if you said “Feb-rue-air-ee” very quickly and quietly, you would have pronounced the word well but the enunciation would not be good.

To speak like the Queen, you must pronounce AND enunciate words perfectly.

How can we do this? By practicing. Try mimicking words you hear pronounced by native speakers and make sure that when you talk, you separate each word so that it is easily understood.

Often, when we are nervous about speaking a foreign language, we speak quickly or quietly, but this is no good! The faster and quieter you speak, the harder it is to understand because you are not enunciating correctly.

So try practicing this famous sentence. Repeat it slowly and with confidence. This sentence is popular because it uses all the letters in the alphabet.

“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog”

First, start by exaggerating each sound. Make sure your mouth is open and that the words are clear. Repeat, repeat, repeat!

For more inspiration, watch this clip from “My Fair Lady” where she is practicing to say the sentence “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”. See how she starts by saying the words very carefully? This is what you must do as well.

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