Pronunciation and enunciation have to do with how you use words. Both are very important to successful communication, especially in public speaking, because people will pay closer attention to what you say and how you say it when you are speaking publicly.

Pronunciation has to do with saying a word the way a dictionary would tell you it should be said.

Some errors in pronunciation stem from using words with which you are less familiar. Sometimes public speaking will put you in a position of speaking about a subject which is new to you. It is natural that you might encounter new vocabulary in your research. However, you must be aware of those new words and be careful to discover the correct pronunciation before your presentation in order to preserve your credibility. The most reliable way of doing this is to look the word up in the dictionary. Practice the correct pronunciation over and over until you are comfortable with the word.

Another reason for errors in pronunciation might be that other people you spend a great deal of time with also pronounce the word incorrectly and you may have learned this pronunciation from them. In fact, some words are commonly mispronounced by a large number of people. One effective method for correcting this problem is to ask teachers or experienced public speakers or friends to let you know if they hear you make such errors. Usually you will make the mistake frequently and these people may already be aware that you do this but have not said anything out of politeness. Another method of correcting the problem is to read a list of commonly mispronounced words. You will, undoubtedly, recognize your own mistakes. Many such word lists exist but here are some of the words found on many of them.  To listen to the correct pronunciations of these words, click here.

• accept (not except)
• Arctic (not Artic)
• ect cetera (not eck cetera)
• escape (not exscape)
• especially (not expecially)
• espresso (not expresso)
• February (not Febuary)
• formerly (not formally)
• government (not goverment)
• library (not libary)
• moot point (not mute point)
• nuclear (not nu-kyu-lar)
• often (the "t" is silent)
• picture (not piture)
• preferable (prefabul)
• probably (not probly)
• statistic (not stastistick)
• suppose (not susppose)
• vegetable (not vegtable)
• zoology (not zoo-ology)

Enunciation has to do with saying all the sounds in a word clearly. To do this well, you must move your tongue and your lips fully. Often, especially in casual or conversational speaking, we become careless or sloppy and move our lips and tongues less than we should. The result can be slurred speech which can be, at best, annoying and, at worst, very difficult to understand in a public speaking situation.

One type of enunciation error stems from dropping off the ends of words, especially "ing," "ed," "d," "p," or "t." "Stopped" becomes "stop," for example. Other times, we might muddle the middle of words by replacing sharper sounds (like "t'") with softer sounds (like "d") because the softer sounds require less muscle energy. "Butter," for example, might become "budder." Another source of enunciation errors is running words together. "Whadjagit?" or "Wuzzat?" looks like a foreign language when seen written here but are common incorrect oral enunciations for "What did you get?" and "What's that?"

Eliminating these problems from your speech requires practice and diligence. Often the habits you are trying to change have been a part of your speaking pattern for a very long time. Don't expect to change overnight but stay as conscious of these issues as often and for as long a stretch of time as you can. With practice and desire, you will soon be pronouncing and articulating like an old pro!