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stalinsdad
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
Location: Jeonju
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 Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 11:49 am Post subject: |
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Shouldn't we really talk about the real reasons why accents are used as an excuse to fire. Yes the boss wants to save some Dosh(money), yes the parents want to complain because they hope for a reduction in fees but primarily it's because most Koreans are too damn lazy and inflexible to learn anything other than what they're used to and surprisingly what they're used to is Mickey Mouse on helium on those silly EBS shows and tapes. I work with adults and I had a terrible 4 weeks at the beginning of my contract, until I proved to my class that my accent wasn't the problem, it was their ears! I asked a middle-aged man to ask a few questions of another person in the front of class, when the women was unable to answer, I asked her why. She said she couldn't understand, I turned to the class and said " I expect it's his English accent." I never got one complaint about my accent after that.  |
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Miles
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Location: In limbo
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| Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Leeroy wrote: |
| Well I still maintain that it's pretty sad when native speaker EFL teachers say that they can't understand native speakers from other main English speaking countries. |
Sad? - Maybe. Embarrassing? - Certainly, - and from several comments so far, and from my own experience, it's also quite true and surprisingly common.
I am from the UK and I speak with what I consider to be a fairly neutral British English accent, if there is such a thing. I moved to Nova Scctia, Canada in the eighties and within the first couple of weeks I had an interesting experience at a supermarket check-out desk.
I asked for some matches (ma'chiz) and got a vacant stare from the girl at the cash register. I repeated the question thinking nothing of it and only realised there was a problem when she again looked puzzled and uncomfortable. After trying again with my very best 'neutral' articulation, the poor girl was starting to look seriously distressed, so I then mimed stricking a match, cuppimg my hands and lighting a cigarette. - "Aaahh, MAAAH'TCHUS!" she blurted, blushing, but overcome with relief.
In the past I have had trouble understanding Scottish people, Tynesiders and Americans, among others. Although regional slang/dialectic usage etc. can obviously make matters worse, I think in general the overriding cause of these comprehension difficulties is the pronunciation/accent itself.
No regional dialectic or linguistic usage was a factor in the case of the 'matches' for example, the whole fiasco hinged on vowels alone. There are many subtle variations in vowel sounds in English and they can frequently confound native speakers from different countries and even people from within the same country. Leeroy, I don't agree that differences in accent and pronunciation from one English speaking country to another are only minimal, I think there is a very wide range indeed.
Another thing you mentioned was "standard English." Is there really such a beast? I have my doubts. The point being, it seems it would be very difficult even for native speakers to agree on a suitable definition of 'standard English' and completely impossible to establish any such standard in the EFL world.
As a linguist myself I have much sympathy for Korean students trying to grapple with English pronunciation. When you consider that some students spend years going to private institutions and may well have been exposed to a different teacher with a different accent, at least to some degree, every year (or less) for the whole time, it is little wonder that they are confused. As in Sid's example with Harry Potter, one teacher says it like this and another teacher 'corrects' that, it must be hard for them to figure out which to choose. Of course many students understand that there are many different accents in English and come to terms with it. They stop trying to figure out which is right and just choose the one they like. What else can they do?
It would be great if Korean institutions were more realistic in their view of which accents are representative of spoken English on a global scale and realised that in the real world Korean students will inevitably have to deal with the whole gamut of accents just as we poor native speakers have to. At the same time it's important to remember that there are extremes in the range of accents and some degree of discriminating selection is to be expected and is understandable, not only to provide students with a teacher whom they can understand without undue difficulty, but also because after all this is a business.
Mr. Pink's example of the African English speakers made me chuckle (and no offence is intended to anybody from anywhere in Africa, or anywhere else) but I can understand the reasoning. If a native speaker can barely understand someone, how is that person going to affect the confidence and morale of Korean students?
These are just some thoughts and should not be construed in any way as a defence of the dismissal of any teacher on the grounds of his or her accent once that teacher has been hired. That is simply the kind of nonsense up with which we should not put. |
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