You may have learned English for years or ages, but you are still unable to speak it fluently or you still find it difficult to understand what other people are talking about on TV or radio. If you are just one of them, you should try to ask youself if you have failed to pay enough attention to the pronunciation, or if you have tried to pronounce every new word.
I know a lot of learners of English can read and understand quite well what are written on paper, but they are weak on speaking and listening. They seem to have been learning a so-called "mute or silent English". They know the meaning of a word but may not be so sure how to pronounce it correctly. If you can't pronounce a word correctly or if you don't know or are not so sure what a word sounds like, you'll hesitate when you're trying to speak or you'll fail to catch the word when someone is speaking it.
Also, pronunciation can help you spell words rightly. Some words are so hard to spell, but if you know how to pronounce them, you may find it easy to spell them. Be careful that some words can be so hard to correctly spell, for example, words with double letters or words such as "argument" (not "arguement")
So, try to look a new word up in a dictionary for the pronunciation - not just for the meaning.
By the way, I'm trying to record myself for a member's group, and I hope I'll pronounce every word correctly. It's also true there may be different pronunciations for a certain word - British or American pronunciation.
Comments
@Anah
Thanks for the comment. I'm pleased you agree that we should pay more attention to pronunciation.
Great blog, its pretty true that people try to learn different words but are weak when it comes to pronunciation. One should try to pronounce every word perfectly.
@Mr.Bob
Thanks for the nice comment. I really enjoyed how you helped the woman to pronounce the word "efficient" - you even drew a picture of a fish, which cracked me up. So it can be so hard to correctly pronounce a word - it can be so frustrating for both the speaker and the listener.
I hope to read your new blog or comment soon. Relax and take care, my friend.
This is very true Doc. I spend many hours reviewing technical presentations for people who have learned English as a second language. Sometimes I may misunderstand a word completely if they mispronounce it badly. This can be for many reasons and I have to help them improve.
I just helped someone with the word efficient because it was used several times in her presentation and I had trouble recognizing the word. Part of the problem was that the word needs to be three syllables and these need to be separated at the right places in the word. I came up with an idea and put three things on the board. 1st I put an E. Next I drew a picture of a fish. finally I wrote ENT.
Now she says E - Fish - Ent. Efficient. E-fish-ent. This is not perfect but she is now easy to understand. I think people can use an online dictionary to listen to the pronunciation of most words. Pronunciation is key to being understood.
Thank you for the nice topic Doc :).
I hope to blog again and answer messages but I am still getting people ready to go to the US and to Taiwan and I spend too much time working to visit EC except on my phone.
@Jesson
Thanks for sharing your experience with pronunciation. I'm glad you've realized you may have pronounced a lot of words incorrectly and are trying to pay more attention to pronunciation. And, you might find Tara's Weekly News (listening practice) interesting.
@noasl
Yes, you can say that again. It seems sometimes it's inevitable for learners to imitate others, though. In fact, we learn by imitation. Some learners may sound just like Americans or Brits - different accents.
And, yes, online pronouncing or sound dictionaries can be so helpful.
Well, maybe sometimes they try to imitate conversations based on movies which are not always correctly pronounced.
Nowadays it's easier to know how certain words sound by using all those on-line dictionary which has pronunciation button on it.
It is common here in Philippines, I remember that we knew English but more often pronounce it wrong,,,, I never knew that , what I knew was my pronunciation was correct. Until I'm in college and study English subject where we are focusing on pronunciation , that's the time I realized that I pronounce lots of words incorrect.
Informative blog....really pronunciation matters a lot! Though I am not afraid of how I would sound like...I also want to record myself!
@Andriana
Thank you for the comment. You really have a point there. Yes, some online dictionaries do offer different phonetic symbols, and you can listen to them by clicking on the "loudspeaker button". They are called pronouncing or sound dictionary.
@Luci
Yes, I'm trying to record myself for your group "KILL YOUR FEAR OF TALKING". I hope I will sound great. Also true, their teachers may be to blame. Thanks again for the invitation.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next