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Learning any language outside of the mother tongue is a strange and even mysterious endeavor. In my time abroad—now it’s been just under 10 years in non-English speaking countries—those wishing to acquire English are mostly lacking one element. That is, aside from the obvious lack of daily speaking opportunities, they all still can help themselves in one way.
This one element really comes down to realizing and accepting that most languages share many of the same basic sounds. While they are used in different situations and often times with varying rules for pronouncing some sounds only in certain positions, it is still useful to know that your mouth can already make the right shape.
Therefore, the ability to pronounce with improved accuracy actually just boils down to knowing when those sounds are made. It is a lot to take in at first. That’s why I recommend—after much teaching—learning the sounds of the target language. Learn that Alphabet and all the varying sounds each letter (or whatever writing system is used) makes. In English, we all know that most letters make at least two different sounds depending on the word in question.
For example, “A” in “cat” is different to the sound in “cake”. Or the “G” in “go” is different to that in “giraffe”. It goes without saying, after such realization, that this knowledge has already improved the speaker’s pronunciation and accuracy.
If we use German in another example we can already make great progress toward learning the Alphabet. Look at “G” (always used like the “G” in the English “go”) in “grün”—after making this discovery you can confidently pronounce “G” correctly in every situation. And now the vowel “A” —always as in the English “on” (our Short Vowel /O/ is like the German /A/)—in “Katze”.
Let’s also use some Mandarin in an example. For this one we get into another writing system. Even more special is the use of a “learner’s alphabet” (my own terminology) which is used mostly by children in countries such as Taiwan to learn pronunciation and reading. Most people refer to it by its first three “letters” (just as English speakers refer to the Alphabet as the “ABC’s”) thus, ㄅㄆㄇ. Take 不 or ㄅㄨˋ —> bu2 the ㄅ is always pronounced like the English “B”. “ㄨ” always makes the equivalent to the /oo/ as in “boot”.
Knowing the Phonics greatly eases our brains allowing us to focus on the the truly hard stuff; Grammar. And if a language utilizes conjugation then you need even more brain power focusing on that. Remembering all the situations that are possible with changes to word endings is a real challenge.
Come back for more posts specifically for pronunciation help and tips.
