Pronunciation
I’ve met many people who want to learn English and they tell me that they are afraid to speak. I ask them, “what exactly are you afraid of?”. They tell me that they are afraid to make a mistake or afraid that their pronunciation isn’t standard. I’ve been learning Chinese for a few years and I remember that I had some of the same fears when I started. These fears are clearly natural but also clearly need to be resolved.
I want to share some ideas with you that I think will help you to overcome these fears. One thing you need to remember is that English is the world’s language. People from all over the world learn English and speak it with us. Because of this, native English speakers are very used to the accents, grammar mistakes, and unusual pronunciation from people from all over the world. We often don’t even notice if you are making any mistakes because we hear the same mistakes all the time. The mistakes almost sound natural. It’s the same story with pronunciation. This is just called an accent. We hear them all the time and it’s very easy for us to understand. If we don’t pay attention to these things you shouldn’t either. Sometimes we even find that the accents sound exotic or sexy. Don’t think of it as a bad thing.
If you want to improve your pronunciation its important to spend a lot of time listening. Think of how babies learn. They listen all the time and develop a native accent in any language. Reading isn’t necessary for pronunciation. Listen and try your best to sound the same. Over time you will improve. It’s harder for adults than children, but still possible to keep improving with practice.
Andrew
July 12th, 2007 at 3:06 am
It’s a great help to me. Thank you so much!
July 12th, 2007 at 4:51 am
“Sometimes we even find that the accents sound exotic or sexy.”
Haha, when I speak to my American friend, he told me that my accent is exactly the same with European. I am Asian and I have no idea wt European accent are.
July 14th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Anyone who is struggling with being afraid of speaking English!!what you need is CONFIDENCE!SAY,I’m good!SAY ONE MORE TIME!REMEMBER!
July 17th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Very useful article for me. Being asian, i’m kindy shy all the time of making mistakes while speaking foreign languages. You really did a good job in encouraging me, thank you! yes, just that simply, English is the world language and different accents are really natural. And i like your saying about exotic and sexy feeling of accents.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:17 am
I just found a phenomena that nearly 90% chinese people will say : ” My English is very poor” (including me) When they talk to Westerners in advance. So what? Can they beg sb’s sympathy? Nope. Maybe they just mean pls don’t care their mistake as their English is so poor.
I never find Foreigners will say that way: “My Chinese is so poor” even if they are the beginner to study Chinese. I think we should say: Though my English is not fluent, at least I am improving…”
February 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Hi Andrew,
It is true when we are learning a foreign language, the first thing that you are worried about so much is what we are speaking if correct. The reason is, when we are facing to foreigner, we have to speak English as clear as possible we can in order to not make them misunderstood. I find myself get most scared of speaking English is when I am with Chinese who knows English very well. Somehow, I will speak more carefully and slowly and then think back if each one I spoke if correct because I do not want anyone who would laugh at me.
I know this only a psychological problem that seems hard to be conquered. In fact, the more English you speak, the less fear you can have. I figure anyone who has ever learnt English should have such an experience before. This is simply an odd feeling that you do not want anyone laughing at you behind your back.
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