Bad pronunciation comes basically from 3 reasons that your pronunciation may not be good enough or clear enough. We’ll refer to these 3 reasons as the 3 don’ts. We’ll use the following sentence to demonstrate the 3 dont’s.
I will get back to you as soon as possible
(you often say or hear that sentence over the phone)
Let’s take a look, shall we?
DON’T 1 – DON’T SAY IT AS YOU SPELL IT
The connection between spelling and sound in English is very complex. We have 26 letters to represent about 41 phonemes. For example, letter [a] is not only /æ/ as in “bat”, but also /eɪ/ as in “base”, schwa /ə/ as in “about”, and /ɑː/ as in “car”. Yes there are some rules but also many exceptions enough to make you, the learner (and sometimes the teacher), hate the language. So, looking at that sentence, how could learners go wrong?
They would most likely pronounce these words as follows: (red is wrong IPA and blue is correct)
will: /wil/ but it should be /wɪl/ or /wəl/
back: /bʌk/ or /bak/ but it should be /bæk/
as: /ʌz/ or /az/ but it should be /æz/ or /əz/
possible: /pɔːsibəl/ or even /pɔːsibol/ but it should be /pɑːsɪbəl/ or /pɑːsəbəl/
DON’T 2 – DON’T SAY IT WRONG
Don’t pronounce it incorrectly because of the influence of your mother tongue. Be aware of the key differences in the sound (phonetic) system between your native language and English. Start thinking about the changes you have to make with your mouth organs. Think about how you should position your tongue (is it further to the front or back, is it somewhere in the center, is it high, low?), think about the tongue tip and what it is coming in contact with etc. So, how could you go wrong? It certainly depends on your native language, but generally, using the sentence above, learners would probably mispronounce the following sounds in the following words:
Don’t say the /l/ wrong in “will” and “possible”.
Oftentimes, the /l/ is either pronounced in a way that sounds like [o] [r] or like a French [l] which is very different from the English /l/ in that the tongue body is high. Although the tip does contact the area behind the upper teeth, the position of the tongue body is not the same as in English.
Don’t say [pack] or [bag] instead of [back], and don’t say [ass] instead of [as].
The problem here would be distinguishing between voiced and voiceless consonants. Many learners, especially Arabic and some Spanish and Portuguese speakers, pronounce /b/ as /p/ and /z/ and /s/ and the other way around. Mispronouncing some phonemes can change the entire meaning of the word and make you sound ridiculous. Yes of course we can figure out what you’re saying from the context or situation, but you still sound silly. (I’m sorry, but I’m kind of cruel when it comes to these issues ;).
Don’t add or delete sounds.
For example, many Asian learners add vowels after or between 2 or more consonants. Consonants cluster is their worst nightmare for them. Examples of consonants clusters are [spr] as in “spring”, [tr] as in “travel”, [spl] as in “splendid”, [scr] as in “scream” etc. Again, let’s use the same sentence and see how you could go wrong assuming you’re adding /ə/ between consonants:
I will(ə)get(ə) back(ə) to you as(ə) soon as(ə) possible
DON’T 3 – DON’T SAY IT LIKE A ROBOT.
Even if you’re pronouncing every sound perfectly, if you don’t stress, connect the sounds together and use your pitch voice properly, you’ll sound like a robot. No one wants (or enjoy) to talk or listen to a robot. This of course can also be related to Don’t 1, but also to your native language and your confidence. Compare ROBOT pronunciation with HUMAN pronunciation. The syllables in green are stressed. Note how the [t] in “get” turned into a glottal stop ʔ behind [b] in “back”. Also, notice how the [z] actually joined [s] in “soon” (you actually pronounce 1 strong [s] as a result).
WRITTEN I will get back to you as soon as possible
ROBOT aɪ wɪl get bæːk tu ju æz suːn æz pɑːsɪbəl
HUMAN ʌl geʔ bæk tə ju ə suːn əz pɑːsəbəl
In terms of pitch, the highest pitch point in this sentence could be placed on “soon” and then a falling pitch would take place at the end of the sentence on “possible”.
That’s it! Remember these 3 DON’TS and keep practicing until you fix them. You’ve got to get to this point when speaking English is effortless.
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