Korean Job Discussion Forums

chaz47 · Joined: 11 Sep 2003

i have a student that sounds a bit like a robotic Minnie Mouse and she has chosen me as her tutor to help her sound more natural... aside from just drills and treating conversation as if it were an acting class, are there any tried and true methods to improve intonation?

i have been considering assigning her episodes of Friends/various sitcoms as homework... i have been warned that she may feel this is unworthy of her hard-earned cash though...

suggestions?

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

I always try to let them exagerate in slow motion. First letter by letter, then connect the letters slowly and then just speed it up to normal conversation.

when they speed up bit by bit the pronounciation improves because they train their mouths to make the correct sounds.

Try it.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

Get a hand mirror....get her to watch how your mouth shapes the sounds and then have her practice watching herself in the mirror.

Its a good technique for teaching proper tongue placement and mouth shape.

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

Intonation, not pronunciation.

To the OP, there are two choices, as I see it.

1. Do some research on linguistics. You can find numerous books on the topic at Kyobo. Painfully boring, but probably the best way.

2. Say a bunch of sentences to yourself, and take note of where you place emphasis in sentences.

Now, I can only speak for an American accent, but some things I've noticed:

- yes or no questions rise at the end

- either/or questions rise after the first option, then go lower and flatten out at the end

- open-ended questions go up, then down

- a question with constant high tones indicates you know the answer, but can't remember, or it can indicate incredulity

- extra stress placed on specific words will indicate importance

You can think of other things, I'm sure. A good way to practise would be to draw graphs. Make it like sheet music. The wave is the music, then the lyrics at the bottom or top.

But remember Koreans like to have formulas. Something they can trust. So, try to keep it concrete and simple.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Is the problem mainly with syllable stress, word stress or both?

If it is syllable stress: Do the old 1, 2, 3: choose multisyllabic words and 1) have her count the syllables, then 2) tell which has primary stress.

If it's word stress, make up a series of simple sentences: I love you. My mother is angry. etc. Then have her say each sentence with different stresses to deliberately indicate meaning: I' love you. I love' you. I love you'.

A: My mom's angry.
B: YOUR mom's angry? MY mom's angrier than YOUR mom.
A: No. MY mom's a LOT more angry than YOUR mom.

Take a short reading and have her mark the stressed words before she reads it aloud.

You can also ask her to slow down her speaking a little.

Hotpants · Joined: 27 Jan 2006

Some books suggest deliberate intonation drilling is not effective. They point to the student studying from a good role model of English pronunciation with their teacher as the most important factor in picking up naturalized English. I suspect that your student has previously been taught by a Korean with poor pronunciation with an emphasis on memorizing everything by rote. I think it's a hard habit to change overnight.

Perhaps you can mimick how she speaks in front of her, to suggest how strange she sounds.

Practicing word stress as an above poster suggested is good. Try the phrase: 'I like to drink hot chocolate.'

You could also do some mini 'drama' roleplays in which the student has to physically and verbally take on a particular genre of role - an angry mother; a toddler tantrum; a immigration official (!)... Go through each roleplay again and again until she shows signs of being able to adopt intonation skills.

OCOKA Dude · Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Location: Seoul

I just remind my students -- all of whom speak with the same monotone Seoul dialect that is completely devoid of inflection, intonation and stress -- that their counterparts in the provinces whom they look down upon because they speak with a Gyeongsangdo(especially a Daegu or Busan sattori) dialect, or a Cheollado (especially a Gwangju sattori) dialect, speak more comprehensible English than theirs, simply because such dialects actually have a natural intonation and variable rhythm, whereas the pure Seoul dialect does not. I then tell 'em that if they want to be understood at all on any intelligible level, they really ought to drop the Seoul dialect and start speaking with a Daegu, Busan or Gwangju Sattori. Some scoff at this, but I think it's unrealistic to ask students who have never been abroad to even consider speaking in a North American dialect.

tomato · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:12 am Post subject:

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

On a side note

Can anyone refer me to some sources that provide you with scripts or plays.

I have one student whom i see as being a diamond in the making, but i would like to step up his education.

I can not find any good sources online at the moment, anyone care to refer?

preferably something contemporary

Delirium's Brother · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:39 pm Post subject:

This suggestion is just based on my intuition, not on good ESL research (that I know of), but it might work: try to teach your student to sing a few contemporary songs (that you can let her hear first, of course). Sung lyrics have a dynamic but repeating intonational pattern that will help monotone speakers break out of their flat droning tone; moreover sung lyrics usually maintain the intonational patterns of the original spoken language. Just a thought. It might be challenged by more knowledgeable ESL practioners.

edit: spelling

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

good idea

thx

Hotpants · Joined: 27 Jan 2006

I forgot that I also had one activity which works well with this situation:

I have a nice picture set of hand drawings showing people in different expressions. The student has to imagine how those people would all say the phrase 'What do you want?' Students find it quite simple and fun to follow.

Maybe you can find a picture set from adult ESL textbooks which often have some pictures with people in different poses alongside the question about what body language they are expressing.

tomato · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:10 am Post subject:

Delirium's Brother is right.

All styles of music--folk music, popular music, classical music, even including instrumental music--imitate spoken intonation.

Here are some of the ways:

■ The minor third (so-mi or G-E) could denote childhood.

In English-speaking countries, and presumably in German-speaking countries also, the easiest interval for little kids is the G-E interval:

It is probably no coincidence that Brahms' Lullaby begins with this interval.
Remember the pop song entitled "Playgrounds of the Mind"? It is probably no coincidence that the "My name is Michael" theme starts with this interval.

Screen composers seem to recognize the symbolism of the so-mi interval. If you've seen Nightmare on Elm Street, you probably remember the song beginning "One, two, Freddie's coming for you." The only notes of the song are so and mi. If you've seen Rocky, you probably remember seeing our title hero jogging through the Philadelphia streets while puerile admirers follow him. On the audio track, we hear a children's chorus singing so-mi.

■ Folk music and composed music imitates standardized courtesies.

English-speaking people usually greet each other with a descending minor third (so-mi or G-E):

Korean-speaking people, however, usually greet each other with an ascending perfect fourth (mi-la or E-A):

For the first three years I was in Korea, I never noticed this, so I continued using the G-E interval:

When children started imitating me, I came to recognize this error.
Cruel, weren't they!

I have made a collection of easy folk songs in both English and Korean.
I have found oodlums of English songs using only G, E, and no other notes.
I have also found oodlums of Korean songs using only E, A, and no other notes.
On the contrary, I never found any English songs using only E and A, and I found only one Korean song using only E and G.

■ Questions in songs are usually ascending.

Here are some examples from folk songs in English:

"Will you wear red . . . Jenny Jenkins?"
"Hambone, Hambone, where you been?"
"When you coming to see me . . . my dear old Buffalo Boy?"
"Have you ever . . . seen a long-legged sailor with a long-legged wife?"

The opera Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti abounds with questions in ascending pitch ("What is all this fuss about?" "What did I tell you!" "What did she say?" �re you a real king?" "Am I not?")

■ A descending minor second (do-ti or C-B) could suggest a groan.

Ever heard the song Melancholy Baby? It abounds with the do-ti interval.

Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi opens in the home of a wealthy landowner who had just died. His relatives are all sitting around moaning and groaning in do-ti intervals, while really thinking of nothing but who inherits what. The orchestra expresses their real mood by playing a bouncy melody.

There are a few instances of the groaning interval in the aforementioned Amahl ("Oh! What shall I do with this boy!").

■ When the second word or syllable of an utterance is accented, the interval is usually a perfect fourth (so-do, or G-C). Likewise in melodies written with a quarter-note upbeat.

When a composer writes a melody beginning on an unaccented G and an accented C, that composer may be unconsciously imagining a person saying something like "He can't go."

This point has been illustrated in folk songs ("I'm leaving Cheyenne, I'm off to Montan'," "We've come to see Miss Jenny Jones," "The Farmer in the Dell") and in hymns ("I Love Thy Kingdom, O Lord," "Amazing Grace," "O Worship the King") in English.

I haven't studied German, but I betcha the same generalization holds true for German. Even instrumental music by German composers (Overture to Tannhauser by Wagner, theme from the last movement of Brahms' First Symphony) tends to follow this pattern.

Hotpants · Joined: 27 Jan 2006

Wow, Tomato, that's all mindblowing stuff!