Korean Job Discussion Forums

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

I was having a minor discussion with my students about the following

"What's the matter?" Would be pronounced as Ma-Te, with an unpronounced r

Matter like in Antimatter, would be more like Mat-ter, where the r is pronounced.

Anyone with expert opinion on this trivial matter?

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Location: Seoul

Both end in a schwa to me.

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

For me, both end in an r-colored schwa.

BS.Dos. · Joined: 29 Mar 2007

Schwa indeedee. I've just given my 2nd graders a crash course in them.

Boodleheimer · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject:

i use something closer to a [d] than a [t] and i definitely end in a bit of an r.

---- American!

Ryst Helmut

mj roach · Joined: 16 Mar 2003

Blame it on their mothers and K/Eng. teachers who grew up listening to
Oh Sung-shik, Kwak Yung-il,

and now the new guy on tv with Issac for his clown monkey...
insisting on UN (Under) apple, waDDer, gonna-gimme

and all the other Rambo-ish style over substance crap that goes over so
well here.

'Tellem ifday onne-wanna bunnastood nL.A. sokay.'

If their dream is 'Global Corea', English for international communication will make them more money in the long run.

Most people from non-Eng. speaking countries will have more of a problem understanding 'Ma-te' than 'Ma-ter'.

BS.Dos. · Joined: 29 Mar 2007

Dome Vans · Guest

Very good points from BS Dos.

When it comes to vocabulary I get the students to do a sorting exercise. They have all the vocab (about 8-10 words) on small pieces of paper in front of them. And I will call out questions and the students sort thru and pick out the words: Example,

Sort all the words with the letter P in?
then
Sort all the action words?
then
All the words with 3 syllables in?
then
All the words with schwa? etc

It's good to see them pronouncing everything to get the right answers and it makes them very aware of the sounds in the words. This is called type II processing and gets the vocab nailed into the brain in a different way, because you are looking for different things in the words. Thus aiding memory and pronunciation.

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Location: Seoul

Do a lot of Koreans,if anything,over-emphasise the NAmerican 'r'?

They can sound like a bunch of Valley girls at times.

mj roach · Joined: 16 Mar 2003

Yes, and when they venture out of Korea they may well go to non-Eng. speaking coutries or meet people from non-Eng. speaking countries

and the 'native speaker' drill will make it more difficult for them to communicate.

Sure....help them to practice 'hearing/understanding' the examples you gave for the times they will communicate with 'native speakers'

but engourage them to speak as clearly as possible for all the other times they will be communicating with 'non-native' speakers

(it will work with 'native' speakers, as well).

BS.Dos. · Joined: 29 Mar 2007

I'd rather aim for fluency than accuracy. Time spent trying to pronounce everything perfectly will slow them down and limit their communicational effectiveness. Being as English is stress-timed and that the schwa is the most common vowel sound in the English language, it's criminal to not send them out with emphasising just how important it is. Teaching vocabulary in isolation in the classroom is one thing, preparing them for what they are going to eventually hear is another.

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

This was very instructive.

Thanks for all the feedback

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

As far as I know, most people say it like "madder" ...