Pronunciation

<b>Forum for ideas on how to teach pronunciation </b>

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king of romance
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Pronunciation

Post by king of romance » Sat Nov 01, 2003 7:25 pm

I have always a question in my mind. It is all about pronunciation . Is it a must that the student pronounce the words exactly like native speakers of the target lanuage ? and is it acceptable to have pronunciation using the mother tongue ?

I need your help .

Thanks

dduck
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Post by dduck » Sat Nov 01, 2003 8:04 pm

From what I've read recently about adult learners, it's virtually impossible for them to lose their native accent completely. What teachers generally recommend is that you encourage your students to avoid having an accent that is very difficult for other English speakers to understand.

Generally, my students' accents have been not too bad, but I was stopped in my tracks when one female student started talking about her teat. Some spanish speakers, Mexicans in particular, don't seem to think that 'th' is worth pronouncing properly. What my student wanted to discuss was teeth. I made a point of practising that one :)

I'm now in Madrid, where everyone pronounces 'c' as 'th' - it sure sounds weird after Latin America.

Iain

costas
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Post by costas » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:08 am

dduck wrote:
Generally, my students' accents have been not too bad, but I was stopped in my tracks when one female student started talking about her teat. Some spanish speakers, Mexicans in particular, don't seem to think that 'th' is worth pronouncing properly. What my student wanted to discuss was teeth. I made a point of practising that one :)

Iain
(in Republic of Ireland) The "th" sound is replaced with a dental stop (Irish "three" and Spanish "tres" start with same consonant cluster)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguis ... sh#Ireland

If the Irish pronounce the "th" like t, why the Mexicans cannot pronounce it like this? :?

Cheers

Costa

dduck
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Post by dduck » Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:37 pm

Some Irish people pronounce "three" like "tree", but not all of them. Plus, if you're not used to this pronounciation it can be quite confusing. Besides, I don't imagine an Irish english teacher would teach this in class. (How Americans get away with "can't" with a glottal stop amazes me) Some English people have terrible[ly difficult] accents that students are never goint to understand - not every native speaker in Britain speaks standard English. Unfortunately, for English learners.

As regards Mexicans, they can say 'th' but it's not natural and many of them find it simply labourious.

Incidentally, I used to speak Spanish using 'ceceo', now after my short time in Latin American, I now seem to have shifted to 'seseo'.
Iain

costas
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Post by costas » Sat Nov 08, 2003 10:18 am

dduck wrote:Some English people have terrible[ly difficult] accents that students are never goint to understand - not every native speaker in Britain speaks standard English. Unfortunately, for English learners.

Iain
English was not created so as to be easy for us learner. Dialects are a natural part of every language and I don't think that every native speaker has to be compelled to speak the standard form of their language.
Plus, if you're not used to this pronounciation it can be quite confusing.
I've had more problems with the grottal stop in the RP accent.

Cheers.

dduck
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Post by dduck » Sun Nov 09, 2003 6:07 pm

costas wrote:English was not created so as to be easy for us learner. Dialects are a natural part of every language and I don't think that every native speaker has to be compelled to speak the standard form of their language.
Interesting that you should say that. Have you ever been forced not to use your dialect?

My teachers at school had a hard job with us, as Scots had been forced out of the classroom centuries ago, and they were compelled to teach us standard English. Mest fowk rund war eh bide som'imes kin be ebt rd tae unnerstan. But they can switch to standard English when they want to.

http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/dundee.htm

Iain

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