Do you struggle to be understood when you speak English?
Improve your English pronunciation with the MOUTH GYM!
Learn what real pronunciation training is like in this FREE 7-day video series.
Speak English with clarity, confidence and ease, and watch your world expand!
Would your life be more interesting, fun and rewarding if you could speak English better? What new opportunities might come your way if you could express yourself easily with English speakers anywhere in the world?
tired of being misunderstood?
Isn't it frustrating when you talk to someone in English and they can't understand you? Do you feel embarrassed or ashamed? Are you worried they might think you're not smart?
You may be well-educated, able to read and write English at a high level, but when you speak with someone, you both know right away whether communication will be easy or complicated.
We want people to pay attention to what we’re saying, not how we’re saying it.
What is your dream?
What would your life look like if your English was fluent and easy to understand? Do you dream about speaking well enough to work or study abroad, travel freely and make friends around the world?
You may have studied pronunciation in class or by yourself for a long time, with no real progress. Do you think it's hopeless? Have you decided you don’t have the talent for it?
It's not true!
Don't let poor English pronunciation hold you back in your personal life or career.
A strong foreign accent doesn't have to hold you back.
I'm Joshua Popenoe, and no matter what your first language is, I can teach you how to pronounce English that's clear and easy to understand. Keep reading to learn more!
it's not your fault
Given the physical and linguistic differences between certain languages, English pronunciation CAN be challenging for some foreign language speakers. But if you've struggled with it, and haven't improved as much as you want, it's not because you lack talent or ability. It's because the way you were taught was not effective.
Don't give up!
Do you know how to move your mouth to pronounce English well? Trying to imitate the sounds by ear alone often isn't very effective. You learned your first language as a child unconsciously, so you're not aware of how your mouth moves when you speak. For a second language, you have to learn new mouth movements, shapes, and patterns, and practice until your muscles remember them.
With the right instruction, you CAN improve significantly.
here's what you need
Introducing the MOUTH GYM!
The Popenoe Method English Pronunciation Master Course is a complete and comprehensive online subscription training program, perfect for every student, from beginner to advanced. All 104 videos in the course have English subtitles and lay out a clear path you can follow with confidence that your effort will be rewarded, not wasted.
These videos will teach you in detail exactly how to move your mouth to make the vowels, consonants, rhythm and connections of natural English. That's the complete physical training you need, and anything less will not be enough.
There is no magic shortcut, but if you follow the step by step instructions carefully and practice regularly, your pronunciation WILL improve. How far you go is up to you. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.
you can do it!
When you trust you’re on the right path, you can let go of anxiety or doubt, and just focus on learning. As you hear and feel your improvement day by day, it will become a pleasure, not a chore.
Finally, we're not trying to give you an “American” accent. You can be yourself. The goal is to communicate freely and be easily understood.
When I first arrived in New York as Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, I had a certain amount of confidence in my English. However, participating in discussions at the United Nations, especially at the Security Council, is the most difficult job a diplomat can have, and I had to argue and compete with many native English speakers, including British and American diplomats. I was beginning to lose some confidence.
That's when I met Joshua Popenoe, who gave me regular English pronunciation lessons and helped me develop a much more natural pronunciation and accent in some respects. Mr. Popenoe has lived in Japan for a long time, knows the difficulties Japanese have in pronouncing English, and has developed an ingenious way to improve it. If you are interested in learning English that is not only understandable, but also natural and conducive to achieving your professional and personal goals, I highly recommend taking lessons with him.
-Shinichi Kitaoka
(President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations)）
Everyone, please try Josh's method. There is no doubt that your sense of English will change dramatically.
I studied his method for about three and a half years. I think that was the first motivation for me because I wanted to learn a little more decent pronunciation and I felt the limits of so-called English for entrance exams. When I tried it, I was surprised, Josh's passionate guidance, and his very logical curriculum made me realize that my pronunciation improved step by step.
The lips, jaw, tongue, and associated muscles are used to create a certain sound, which may be a muscle exercise in a sense. Even if you first think, "This way of moving is impossible!", You will be able to do it sooner or later. As you learn how to move it, the sounds produced from it will change. It's a little closer to native English.
Unlike the memory of the head, the memory of the muscle is deep-rooted. With regular maintenance, even if you don't normally use English, your memory will come back easily. The goodness of this method cannot be fully explained in words without experiencing it. Please try it first.
-Taro O- Businessman
take a look?
Want more information and to see what the course looks like before subscribing? Watch the free introduction video series and learn how the Popenoe Method can help you.
how does it work?
Pronunciation is a physical skill, using your jaw, tongue, teeth and lips to shape your voice into language as it flows through your mouth. You speak your first language unconsciously, so pronouncing a new language requires becoming conscious of how you use your mouth to speak, then learning the movements, shapes and patterns of the target language. The Popenoe Method videos provide clear, practical instructions and exercises that you can understand, follow and practice.
Your Speech Organs
This is your equipment, the part of your body that shapes your voice into words and sentences. You will learn to move your mouth in ways you never have before.
The 4 Elements
The many rules, techniques and details of pronunciation can be organized into four elements: vowels, consonants, rhythm and connection. This gives you a helpful and consistent framework through which to understand and practice every pronunciation challenge.
Pronunciation Symbols
The English language has 26 letters, but many more sounds, so it's essential to use the IPA system (International Phonetic Alphabet) to determine the correct pronunciation of any word.
Ear Training
There are sounds in English you don't have in some other languages. If you can't recognize them, you won't be able to emulate them in your pronunciation. Ear training will help your ears and brain perceive and memorize these sounds.
The Cycle of Improvement
As you listen to yourself speak, you'll learn to recognize where your pronunciation needs improvement, and how to move your jaw, tongue, teeth and lips to achieve it.
I have taken the Popenoe Method online course. I tried other teaching materials in the past, but since they were audio-only advice and training, I could not understand them well and did not improve. This online course is perfect for people who want to improve their pronunciation because you can see the teacher's actual mouth movements along with graphics in the video, and he explains what is different from the habits and movements in Japanese. Until now, I had thought of pronunciation as the shape of the mouth and how to produce sounds, but it is more comprehensive than that, including lessons on strong and weak rhythms and connecting sounds. Many insights are gained and trained, and I highly recommend it to people who really want to improve their pronunciation.
Takasato Yoshimura
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is now offering the Popenoe Method Pronunciation Master Course to its officials.
Don't I need a live teacher?
A live teacher can be helpful, but it's not essential. Scheduling may be inconvenient, or it may be costly.
The advantage of an online course is that you can study whenever and wherever you want, which may be the easiest way to make it part of your life.
SUBSCRIBER BONUS!
LIVE WEEKLY ONLINE PRONUNCIATION CLINIC
Joshua Popenoe offers a regular free live online "PRONUNCIATION CLINIC" for all subscribers, answering questions and showing you how to apply the 4 Elements framework to your pronunciation.
I was deeply amazed at how precisely you describe and demonstrate the correct movements of the mouth and tongue for students to imitate. It surely helped improve my pronunciation and listening too.
H. K. / Global Management Firm Consultant
HERE'S WHAT'S INSIDE
104 Training Videos
The 104 videos in this course will teach you every concept and technique you need to speak clear, easy to understand English. Every aspect of the 4 elements is explained and demonstrated in ways that you can understand and follow, based on deep knowledge of the structural and linguistic differences between Japanese and English.
English Subtitles
Every video has complete English subtitles, so no matter what your level of listening comprehension is, you can read and understand the instructions perfectly. Pronunciation comes from physical mechanics, the way you move your mouth when you speak, so you can start learning these new movements, shapes and patterns at any level of English study. The earlier the better!
Vocabulary Docs
This course is not designed to teach English grammar, or reading and writing. However, each video has a downloadable PDF document with every practice word in that lesson, including its Japanese translation and IPA version. So you can definitely improve your vocabulary as you practice pronunciation.
Live sessions on Zoom
Joshua Popenoe holds a regular live online Zoom “Pronunciation Clinic” for all subscribers. He answers your questions, and leads you in practice applying the 4 elements to an English sentence. This is a fun, helpful session to support your work with the video course, and a chance to connect with other members of the community.
Weekly Video Tip
Every week you will receive a short “Pronunciation Challenge” video, featuring a pronunciation concept or technique for you to practice. All these tips are already part of the full course, but highlighting them in this way can give you fresh perspective on the topic for that week.
MOBILE FRIENDLY
The Popenoe Method Online Master Course is designed to display perfectly on all devices with an internet connection: computers, iPads, notebooks and mobile phones, so you can study whenever and wherever you want.
Click here for a complete list of video titles and running times
The POPENOE METHOD has helped these people
Diplomats ✧ Doctors ✧ Surgeons ✧ Actors ✧ Singers ✧ Lawyers ✧ Government officials ✧ Journalists ✧ Teachers ✧ Academics ✧ Businessmen and Women ✧ International Students ✧ Housewives ✧ Artists
Why not you?
I am a jazz vocalist based in Tokyo and New York. For many years, I struggled with the difficulty of smoothly matching my English pronunciation to my jazz vocals. Five years ago, one of my singer friends recommended me to take lessons with Mr. Popenoe. At the first lesson, I looked at my mouth in the mirror and was amazed when I compared it to Josh's mouth! It was the first time I was able to wake up to how unnatural my mouth was moving. Josh's love for each and every word, his love for English and Japanese, and his love for music has been an eye-opening experience for me. I highly recommend Josh's lessons to anyone, regardless of whether they are a vocalist or not, who wants to communicate in English with love!
Yuko Kimura - Jazz Vocalist
Joshua's lessons were "a series of discoveries". Some of the pronunciations that I thought were correct were actually wrong. I was shocked at first, but as I learned the pronunciation symbols one by one, my confidence grew. Thanks to Joshua, I am now able to speak loudly and confidently, and my world has expanded. I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to learn how to pronounce English correctly.
Miho Iguchi
Josh Sensei has been instrumental in helping me build my career, and has been my private coach ever since I took speech lessons at HB studio, an acting school in New York over 10 years ago. As soon as I received a script for a stage show, movie or TV show, I made an appointment with Josh and took lessons. Even after I moved to Los Angeles, I still ask him online before auditions. The great thing about Josh is that he lived in Japan for 16 years and understands the peculiarities of the Japanese. I have taken speech lessons from many teachers, but he has helped me improve my pronunciation and master ambiguous sounds. His unique method has been an eye-opening experience for me every time. I am convinced that his method will help many Japanese people to correct their pronunciation. I encourage everyone to take a lesson with him.
Toshiji Takeshima - Actor
After I came to the U.S., and was troubled by the fact that my English was not understood by Americans, I took a lesson with Mr. Popenoe. He carefully taught me pronunciation habits that Japanese people don't notice, and it was an eye-opener for me. I had attended other English classes, but what was amazing about Mr. Popenoe was that he knew the unique habits of Japanese people and was able to help me practice the pronunciations that needed to be corrected. I didn't even know what was wrong with my pronunciation to begin with, so he was very helpful. Some things, such as the pronunciation of the letter "N," can be fixed quickly if you pay attention to them, and thanks to this, I became less and less resistant to speaking English. Even now, I take online lessons with Mr. Popenoe before I give a presentation in English. I am very grateful to him for teaching me the rhythm of English so efficiently in such a short time.
N.K. (Lawyer)
Not ready to subscribe and want to learn more?
Who created the Popenoe Method?
Hi, I'm Joshua Popenoe, the creator of this course. I grew up in the US, Malaysia, and England, then lived in Japan for 16 years, working as a voice-over talent, singer and musician. Seeing the difficulty and stress Japanese speakers experience with English pronunciation, I knew there had to be a better, more effective way to learn this. As a vocalist, I'm extremely sensitive to how the jaw, tongue, teeth and lips move to articulate the sounds of any language. Working with Japanese and other foreign speakers, over time I developed a methodology to lead you from the physical movements, shapes and patterns of your first language, to the movements, shapes and patterns of English. Wanting to help as many people as possible, I produced this video Master Course. Give it a try, and you’ll see that it is possible to significantly improve your English pronunciation.
Private Lessons
Joshua Popenoe is available to work privately with a limited number of highly motivated clients. If this is you, please leave a message in the contact form.
Private LessonsHERE'S WHAT BETTER ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION CAN HELP YOU DO...
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Give you the confidence to talk with anyone.
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Make it easier to work or study abroad.
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Make shopping, eating out, and all your daily activities less stressful.
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Make phone communication clear and accurate.
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Make sure people focus on your ideas, not your accent.
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Help you feel safe, knowing you can easily communicate your needs.
If good English pronunciation is something you want or need...
this is your chance!
Still Have Questions?
Does this course teach grammar and vocabulary?
How long will it take?
Is it easy to unsubscribe?
Can I get a refund?
Are you ready to speak English with clarity, confidence and ease, and become a citizen of the world?
Subscribe to the Popenoe Method English Pronunciation Master Course now!
You are welcome to begin your study with one of these smaller courses, available for a one time purchase. All the material in both these courses are included in the Master Course, along with so much more!
THE LAST WORD
Watching the videos will teach you a lot, but that's not enough. Only consistent and enthusiastic practice will get you where you want to go. Like most things worth doing, you'll get as much out of it as you put into it. No matter what your past experience has been or what you've been told, you can speak English with much better pronunciation than you do now. And that will feel good!
Contact
If you have a question, please feel free to contact us, and we'll respond as soon as possible.
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