Many English learners can improve their pronunciation by listening carefully to native English speakers and trying to match the up-and-down movement of their sentences.
许多英语学习者可以通过仔细聆听以英语为母语的人说话并尝试匹配句子的上下移动来提高发音。
That is the opinion of Marla Yoshida, an English as a Foreign Language teacher at the University of California, Irvine.
这是加州大学欧文分校英语作为外语教师 Marla Yoshida 的观点。
Yoshida wants English learners to look for details that are important to native speakers. These details are not only sounds, she notes. Native speakers also communicate by using pauses, and by saying some words more forcefully than others.
吉田希望英语学习者寻找对母语人士来说重要的细节。她指出，这些细节不仅仅是声音。母语人士还通过使用停顿以及通过比其他词更有力地说某些词来进行交流。
As a result, native speakers might not understand an English learner even if the learner pronounces sounds correctly.
因此，即使学习者发音正确，母语人士也可能无法理解英语学习者的意思。
The problem with 'listening and repeating'
“听和重复”的问题
Yoshida says that English learners often study pronunciation by listening and repeating something from a recording.
吉田说，英语学习者经常通过听和重复录音中的内容来学习发音。
Yoshida says that English learners need to do more than listen and repeat in order to improve their pronunciation:
吉田说，为了提高英语学习者的发音，英语学习者需要做的不仅仅是听和重复：
“I've gradually gotten really interested in pronunciation because it's something that students have trouble with, but they don't always get a lot of really good instruction in it. They just have someone say 'Listen to this recording and repeat … and now, aren't you better?' No! You're not necessarily better. It takes more than that.”
“我逐渐对发音产生了真正的兴趣，因为这是学生们遇到困难的事情，但他们并不总是能得到很多真正好的指导。他们只是有人说‘听这段录音并重复……现在，你不是更好了吗？’不！你不一定更好。需要的还不止这些。”
The problem with listen and repeat, says Yoshida, is that when people repeat, they are often not trying to sound like the other person.
吉田说，倾听和重复的问题在于，当人们重复时，他们通常不会试图听起来像对方。
“You think that when students are repeating after the teacher, or whatever, they're trying to sound exactly like that person, but they're not.
“你认为当学生跟在老师后面重复时，或者其他什么，他们试图听起来和那个人一模一样，但事实并非如此。
The sounds that you hear go into your brain … and your brain interprets them or filters them through the sound system of your own language, and what your brain ends up understanding is not everything – it's not what the speaker intended…
你听到的声音进入你的大脑……你的大脑通过你自己语言的声音系统解释它们或过滤它们，而你的大脑最终理解的并不是一切——这不是说话者的意图……
You have to try to get past that filter and hear all of the details that are important to someone else.
你必须尝试超越这个过滤器并听到对其他人来说重要的所有细节。
So you have to try to duplicate what the person is saying."
所以你必须尝试重复这个人所说的话。”
What details should you try to copy when you listen to an English speaker? Among others, the important details include pauses or breaths, which words to emphasize -- or give special attention to, and intonation – the up and down movement of your voice as you speak.
当你听英语演讲者讲话时，你应该尝试模仿哪些细节？其中，重要的细节包括停顿或呼吸、要强调或特别注意哪些词以及语调——说话时声音的上下运动。
English speakers, in particular, use a broad range of up and down movements in their voices. These movements can be difficult for English learners to recognize and understand.
尤其是说英语的人，他们的声音会使用广泛的上下运动。这些动作对于英语学习者来说可能很难识别和理解。
Native English speakers might have difficulty understanding English learners when learners use a narrow range of their voice. In other words, native speakers have fewer vocal restrictions when they are speaking. English learners also may use intonation patterns that are different from those in Standard English.
当英语学习者使用狭窄的声音范围时，以英语为母语的人可能很难理解英语学习者的意思。换句话说，母语人士在说话时的声音限制较少。英语学习者还可能使用与标准英语不同的语调模式。
Studying how native speakers use intonation will help English learners better understand what native speakers do with their voices.
研究母语人士如何使用语调将有助于英语学习者更好地理解母语人士如何处理他们的声音。
Practical tips:
实用技巧：
If English learners want to start improving their pronunciation, Yoshida suggests that they do an activity called shadowing.
如果英语学习者想要开始提高发音，吉田建议他们进行一项名为“影子”的活动。
“Shadowing means finding a short audio or video clip that you like… that's maybe 30 seconds long, one minute long, at most two minutes long, and listen to it. Listen to it a couple of times to get the meaning, and to hear where the speaker pauses, and what they emphasize … and what the intonation sounds like – because those are really important things too – not just the sounds. Pronunciation is much more than saying each sound correctly because you can say each sound correctly and still sound really hard to understand…
“影子意味着找到一个你喜欢的短音频或视频片段......可能30秒长，一分钟长，最多两分钟长，然后听它。听几次以了解含义，并听听说话者在哪里停顿，强调什么......以及语调听起来是什么样的 - 因为这些也非常重要 - 不仅仅是声音。发音不仅仅是正确地说出每个声音，因为你可以正确地说出每个声音，但听起来仍然很难理解......
So, find a short clip, listen to it, mark things that you notice, then listen a few more times just to sort of let those sounds become a part of your brain, and then start imitating. And imitate trying to sound exactly like that person.”
所以，找一个短片，听它，标记你注意到的东西，然后多听几次，让这些声音成为你大脑的一部分，然后开始模仿。并尝试模仿那个人的声音。”
What does shadowing look like?
阴影是什么样子的？
Here is a short example of what a shadowing activity could look like.
以下是影子活动的一个简短示例。
The example comes from Martha Kolln's book Rhetorical Grammar*:
该示例来自 Martha Kolln 的书 Rhetorical Grammar*：
"One of the most important aspects of your expertise with sentences is your sense of rhythm."
“你的句子专业知识中最重要的方面之一就是你的节奏感。”
Listen to the sentence several times.
多听几遍这个句子。
Then try to mark the intonation of the voice. Listen for emphasized words.
然后尝试标记声音的语调。聆听强调的单词。
In the sentence, you can hear that some syllables are emphasized , while others are not. Overall, the voice falls after important syllables, notably at the end of the sentence.
在句子中，您可以听到有些音节被重读，而另一些音节则没有。总体而言，声音在重要音节之后下降，尤其是在句末。
English sentences often emphasize words at the end of a sentence – the place where you usually find new information. The next time you are reading and listening to a story, try to mark the patterns of intonation that you hear.
英语句子通常强调句末的单词——你通常可以在此处找到新信息。下次你阅读和听故事时，尝试标记你听到的语调模式。
Remember, all our stories have audio, so you can print the story and do a shadowing exercise while listening to the story. Give shadowing a try, and let us know how it works for you!
请记住，我们所有的故事都有音频，因此您可以打印故事并在听故事的同时进行影子练习。尝试一下影子练习，让我们知道它对您有何帮助！
Tim Murphey, a teacher in Japan, has a video of students doing shadowing and summarizing. You can watch it on YouTube here:
日本老师蒂姆·墨菲（Tim Murphey）有一段学生影子和总结的视频。您可以在 YouTube 上观看：
Kolln, Martha . Rhetorical Grammar, 3rd Edition. Allyn and Bacon,1999. pg. 24
*科伦，玛莎。修辞语法，第三版。艾林和培根，1999。第 页24