Can a bottle of wine really help improve your pronunciation? Absolutely.
No, I’m not suggesting to get drunk to become more articulate. Not at all. Besides, that carries the risk of making your pronunciation slurred and not clearer.
What I am suggesting is an exercise stage actors have been using for ages because it really works: Practice your speech with a wine cork in your mouth.
Put the cork between your front teeth and say a passage a few times before removing the cork. Try your best to say the words as clearly as possible while having the cork in your mouth. Then say the same passage again without the cork.
Notice the difference?
Practicing with a cork in your mouth works so well because you condition your mouth and tongue to work extra hard to pronounce each syllable. It also encourages you to open up the back of your mouth which adds more volume to your voice.
You can also use this trick to warm up before delivering an important talk. Exercise your mouth and tongue with a wine cork for a few minutes before taking the stage with words that have long, open vowels. Or simply cycle through each vowel like this: Wah, Weh, Wee, Woh, Woo.
Give it a try and see if you notice how much you improve your pronunciation.
