ELSA Speak Review: Is a Pronunciation App Worth the Price?
Kelsey Wetherbee
Published on April 12, 2022
Excellent tool for pronunciation practice, but not much else
English pronunciation is notoriously difficult. Have you ever struggled with the difference between through, trough, though? ELSA Speak tries to tackle this problem with tons of videos and practice exercises. The app is effective for practicing pronunciation and listening, but it won’t help you learn English basics like grammar and vocabulary.
PROS
- Huge variety of lessons and practice exercises
- Videos show mouth and tongue positions
- Constructive feedback on your pronunciation
CONS
- No additional study material to learn English
- Practice exercises can be repetitive
ELSA Speak Overview
ELSA stands for English Language Speech Assistant. It’s an app that helps with English pronunciation. The CEO of ELSA Speak, Vu Van, decided to create this app after she studied in the United States and found that people had difficulty understanding her because of her accent. With the help of artificial intelligence and videos from native English speakers, this app helps you learn a neutral American accent.
Correct pronunciation is important to reach fluency, but it often gets overlooked. When I was teaching English as a second language, pronunciation practice was often pushed to the background in order to focus on other skills like grammar and listening. And since every student has individual pronunciation issues, it’s difficult to address them in a classroom setting. So I was interested to see if ELSA would be helpful for students to practice independently.
ELSA Speak doesn’t focus on English language basics, such as vocabulary and grammar. It’s exclusively a tool to help improve pronunciation and listening. It’s a useful app for intermediate