Problem Pronunciation

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences It is not a secret that pronouncing English sounds easily and correctly is a big challenge for non-native speakers. Of course, the complexity of English pronunciation consists not only of particular sounds but also of several other aspects such as intonation, stress, rhythm, and timing. I would like to analyze one of the biggest and most obvious pronunciation problems for Ukrainian speakers of English which, in my opinion, is sound differences and the way of pronouncing sounds. Sound System Articulation Aspiration Are you ready to teach English abroad? Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hanna H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are a number...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences As a native Russian speaker I was worried about pronunciation from the very beginning of my English studies in primary school. It so happened that in my family my grandmother was an English teacher in high school who had worked in this position for more than 50 years. Naturally, I began my acquaintance with English much earlier than most of my peers. And the first step in the work of my grandmother in teaching me a foreign language was the formulation of pronunciation, something that most Russians have problems with. The Main Issues That Cause Problems for Russian Students The Problem With Vowels Looking on the Bright Side If I Can Do It, So Can Any Russian Speaker Are you ready to teach English pronunciation? Related Articles: Listen to this blog post: ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching English pronunciation to students of other languages is always a big deal. English teachers from other countries may think that it is a topic to be skipped or only briefly introduced to students, but it is one of the most important subjects and it should be an integral part of an English course. As a matter of fact, the full understanding of a language and good communication actually depend, to a certain extent, on how correctly words are pronounced. Also, it is not only a matter of pronunciation but intonation. Every language has its own intonation and stress on words, so an English learner could find it difficult to get used to a new way of pronouncing words in another language. This is true for those learners who speak Romance languages...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are several pronunciation problems that students of English will face in Japan; however, I will focus on two. 1. Differences in the phonetic systems of two languages 2. Lack of exposure to authentic English resources Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brandie K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first of these problems they face is the fact that Japanese doesn't have some of the same sounds in its' alphabet as English does. For example, Japanese does not have a hard R sound; instead, it has a sound that is a mix of R and L. So, when students from Japan go to say rice, for many...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sheneil J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Problems with Consonants Problems with Vowels Problems with Rhythm and Stress Problems with intonation Minimal Pairs Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Chinese does not have either of the "th" sounds (like "that" and "this"). Most other languages do not have these sounds and they are problematic for most learners of English. The difficulty is the point of articulation- the tongue has to be between the teeth, not behind them. Many people say that English speakers look like they're sticking their tongues out all the time because of the "th" sounds. It...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What's the most difficult part of learning a new language? Is it writing? Perhaps it's the reading or memorizing new vocabulary? Well for some it's speaking the new language, specifically when it comes to pronunciation. Every language has its unique ways or pronouncing their vowels and constants as well as how they form their sentence structure. Especially this write up will focus on Japanese English as a Second Language (ESL) students and the difficulties they face while learning English and its pronunciation. Japanese Writing Teaching Approach Pronunciation Differences Further Steps Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Zachary B. Please note that this...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences It is not a secret for anyone that native speakers of any language always easily identify "non-native" when they hear at least a few words spoken by them. Often native speakers are able to fairly accurately determine the country from which the person came, based on his pronunciation. This happens due to the fact that it is common for all of us to use the sounds of our native language in the pronunciation of words of a foreign language, as well as to use articulation models we know from childhood the position of the organs of speech (lips, tongue, etc.). The "Russian mistakes" Muting voiced consonants in the endings. Replacing long vowels with short vowels. Replacment of different English sounds Using Russian intonation models instead of English ones. Learn...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Every learner of a foreign language may face pronunciation problems now and then. Languages that belong to one language group have more in common in phonics and are usually easier to learn to pronounce correctly. But such languages as English and Chinese are so different, that Chinese learners (and I bet English speaking learners of Chinese too) often have many difficulties in pronunciation. State of the problem Common pronunciation errors How to correct pronunciation problems Learn how to teach pronunciation effectively! Related Articles: Listen to this blog post: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Evgeniya S. I have been working in China as a teacher for more than six months now. When I arrived in this country, I hardly knew...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The purpose of my essay is to outline some of the most frequently occurred pronunciation mistakes made by Russian learners and share some of the teaching ideas based on a few sources and my own experience of teaching and learning English as a foreign and second language. State of the Problem Russian Phonetics vs. English Phonetics Choice of Activities Vowel Sounds Are you ready to teach English to ESL students? Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Olga R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching English phonology and pronunciation for Russian learners is always challenging as there are a great number of differences rather than similarities in the...  [Read more]

  Whereas stress is typically concerned with one individual word, intonation is generally concerned with the variation in volume and pitch throughout an entire sentence. Intonation carries the message of a sentence. It's particularly important when questioning or agreeing, disagreeing and confirming statements. It's also very important when expressing emotions and feelings. The normal pattern for intonation is the rise-fall. Few examples would be ?I haven't seen him for a week,? or a simple word as ?okay?. With the falling intonation, we?re indicating that we're finished speaking. Again, ?I haven't seen him for a week? and ?okay?. A few more examples would be ?I'll see you at six then,? or a question of information ?How do you spell rough?? These are straightforward statements that...  [Read more]

  In this video we'll be looking at the international phonemic alphabet and how it's used in the classroom. There are other phonemic alphabets but this is the most popular and the system, which is most widely used. You may have seen some of these symbols before as any good dictionary will supplement standard English spellings with the phonemic spellings to aid in pronunciation practice. Here we have a situation where we have what are called phonemes and each phoneme represents a sound within the English language. How is this helpful? Well, what it does is help students understand how to say words rather than simply relying on the often archaic English spellings. To illustrate this point let's for a moment put ourselves in the shoes of our students when trying to understand how to say...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Each student faces their difficulties when it comes to English pronunciation depending on their country of origin. This essay will focus on the pronunciation difficulties facing ESL students in France and will also propose some solutions to help students overcome these difficulties. French Sound System IPA Difficult Sounds The Dark /L/ Sound Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kerri M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The number of English vowel sounds greatly outnumbers those found in the French language. As such, French students will have to produce sounds that they have never produced before....  [Read more]

In these videos our grammar expert Linda demonstrates how to correctly pronounce a wide variety of common and not so common words that you might encounter in an English language classroom. Come back regularly as our Ask Linda series is frequently updated.  [Read more]

  A better way to go about imparting how to make sounds or what sounds are utilized in a word, is this international phonemic alphabet. Now we have as mentioned one symbol being used in all the words which share that same sound. Now once we get a little bit more familiar with our phonemic alphabet we can also show how different our different sounds can be as in this symbol for ?ooh?, this symbol for ?ow? and this symbol for ?uh?. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the...  [Read more]

  Connected speech is also an important element of phonology and it's involved in joining words together in an effect to make our speech more efficient. Some might say it's a product of being lazy but nonetheless it's what we all do and we want all of our non-native speakers to speak as naturally as possible, so we have to be aware of these things. Here are a few of the more common examples. We have linking, dropping, changing and extra lettering. An example of each would be with linking, we link our words together so that they almost in effect become one word. Instead of saying ?What do you want to do,? we typically will say ?Whatdoyou want to do?? Then, we can also have dropping. Rather than pronouncing each and every consonant, we can sometimes, especially in certain accents, drop...  [Read more]

  Here we have a set of five words, which all share one sound: the ?oh? sound, as in ?go?, ?show?, ?dough?, ?note? and ?boat?. They?re five different spelling patterns to tell our students so they can identify when to make the ?oh? sound. We can have a simple letter ?o?, ?ow?, ?ough?, ?o? with the magic ?e? which turns our vowel into what we knew as long sounds and the ?oa? as in ?boat?. Now, for a non-native learner, perhaps they can handle something like this. They remember that these spelling combinations help to produce the ?oh? sound and they can go about their business looking at the words and memorizing this knowing that these spelling patterns will produce the sound ?oh?. Now that?s okay until we get to a situation where we can also have words like ?to?, ?cow? and also...  [Read more]

1. Importance of Teaching Pronunciation in a TEFL Course 2. Strategies for Teaching Pronunciation Effectively 3. Incorporating Pronunciation Practice in TEFL Lessons 4. Resources for Teaching Pronunciation in a TEFL Course Teaching pronunciation in a TEFL course is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, clear pronunciation enhances communication skills, allowing students to be understood by others and to understand native speakers better. It also boosts students' confidence in speaking English, as they feel more comfortable and proficient in their language skills. Additionally, teaching pronunciation early on in a language learning journey helps prevent fossilization of errors, where incorrect pronunciation habits become ingrained and difficult to change later on. There are various...  [Read more]

Unlock Your Potential with Virtual English Pronunciation Classes 1. Why English Pronunciation is Vital 2. Benefits of Virtual English Pronunciation Classes 3. What to Expect from ITTT's Virtual Classes 4. How to Get Started with Virtual English Pronunciation Classes Mastering English pronunciation is crucial for effective communication in today's globalized world. Whether you are a non-native speaker looking to enhance your language skills or a professional aiming to improve your communication in the workplace, having a strong command of English pronunciation can significantly boost your confidence and credibility. At ITTT, we understand the importance of clear and accurate pronunciation in English, which is why we offer virtual English pronunciation classes to help you unlock your full...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences People from different countries inevitably face problems when they are trying to learn English. Russia is no exception. Let's have a quick look at some typical problems that my fellow countrymen face. Pronunciation Grammar Meaning Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sergei S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As you may know, Russian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, and some may think that it can cause problems. In reality, the Russians are fine with understanding the Latin alphabet and can easily pronounce each letter. However, the Devil is in the details. When it comes to speaking it...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have started teaching English in Turkey, since 2018. If you are planning to start your teaching career here, I would like to mention several pros and cons and problems of learning English for the speakers of the Turkish language. Expectations Syntax Usage of the First Language Students' Efforts Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hanie s. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First of all, learners expect teaching to be prescriptive rather than descriptive, which indicates, they tend to memorize the sample instead of learning through the examples and explanations. Secondly, students are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As we all know that the process of learning how to speak our first and second or third languages are different, we acquire the first language and learn second and third languages. When we speak our mother language, we can just say it automatically, we acquire our mother language from our environment, before we learn words and sentences, but when we learn a second language, we inevitably need to learn the vocabularies, clauses, sentences, grammar, etc first, then try to translate the second language to our mother language, which is complex. As far as common linguistic problems are concerned, I think there are a lot of problems to consider. Here are some of the most commoner linguistic problems. Lack of environment Grammar Pronunciation Low confidence...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The English language has become so essential in china because the country wants to successfully promote internationalism and keep the lines of communication open for trade and business matters. As one of the global powers, it's in the country's best interest to keep afloat of shifting trends in international matters. Governmental decision Spelling Pronunciation Singular / Plural Aspect Gender Articles Lack of opportunities to practice Word order Individual differences Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ramy M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The government has recognized that English is now...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have moved to the Czech Republic with my girlfriend who is Czech after we met in New Zealand, where I am from. Teaching English here was a business idea that she came up with because she taught English here before for 8 years. In Czech people are more interested in taking English lessons from a native speaker and they also like New Zealand over here. So from this perspective, it makes a lot of sense for me to do this course. Since I am going to be teaching in Czech to begin with, I have already started to see some issues with the language learning that I will be faced with. Grammar Receptive Skills Productive Skills Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Malaysia is located in South East Asia which occupies parts of the Malay Peninsula and some part of the Borneo Island. These two lands are separated by the South China Sea It was once colonized by the British from the 18th century until it gained its independence in 1957 as the Federation of Malaya and later on formed Malaysia with joining of the North Borneo, Sarawak in 1963. Bahasa Melayu commonly known as the Malay Language is the national language of the country while English becomes the second language. English in the Malay History Problem For Learners in Malaysia 1. Scenario 2. Problem 3. How to solve the problem? Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

  The next thing we should look at is how our consonants are arranged for the top two rows we have P and F at the left side of our chart and G and J at the right side of our chart. They're arranged this way because if we analyze the way we speak we're using the front of our mouth to use these sounds as in ?p? and ?f? and I'm using my lips and my teeth to produce those sounds and as we move to the right on the chart slowly but surely we're making those sounds it towards the back of our mouth. We can use the examples of ?g?. The sound ?g? is produced further back in our mouth than ?p?. The next thing we'll notice about our chart is that some of our symbols are shaded. Notice that none of the symbols in the vowel sections are shaded but only a few are in the consonant section. The...  [Read more]

  There are two issues that need to be stressed when working with the international phonemic alphabet. First is the fact that we are no longer concerned with how a word is traditionally spelled. Additionally we need to stress that we are only concerned with the sounds needed to correctly produce a word. So rather than numerous spellings, which can often be pronounced in different ways, we have one symbol representing one sound. Once we can isolate a sound, rather than juggling various spellings, we can work with our students on how to say that sound. Doing that successfully is related to manner and place of articulation, which will be covered shortly. To get a better understanding of the phonemic alphabet, let's take a look at our chart. In the bottom half of our chart we have our...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Chinese language is a tonal language can make learning English a real challenge for my students. The one thing I have on my side though is the fact that they are brought up to be dedicated at anything they do and hardworking. Although it's been mentioned that pronunciation is not the most important aspect of TEFL, it is to The Chinese Government. It's something we've been told we need to cover deeply along with reading and comprehension. 1. Repetition 2. Engaging activities 3. Small sentence drilling 4. Bright materials 5. New correction techniques 6. Reading to correct pronunciation Do you want to teach English abroad? You're only one step from it! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Paula S. Please note that...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences In this article an ITTT TEFL course graduate describes her thoughts on the most common pronunciation problems for Egyptian EFL students. Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences This article was written by an ITTT TEFL course graduate sharing her reasons for taking a TEFL course. Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences This article was written by an ITTT TEFL course graduate sharing his thoughts on the different roles of a teacher. Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences This article was written by an ITTT TEFL course graduate sharing her thoughts on the importance of songs in the classroom. Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences This article was written by an ITTT TEFL course graduate sharing his thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of teaching business English. Jon ITTT ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning the English language during adult years is a specific process when a student has reached a certain age, got some kind of profession (occupation), and decided for some specific reasons to learn (improve) English language. Specific purposes Misconception Lack of Confidence Belief in Cultural Difference Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dinara Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For example, the first category of students I came across decided to learn the English language and attend lessons because they needed to pass a governmental exam (YDS English), which could provide public...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Morocco's official languages are classical Arabic, and Berber ( indigenous language in North Africa) Classical Arabic, and second unofficial language in Morocco is the French language taught in General educational curriculum from primary school, and Spanish taught in the north as a second unofficial language, Thus learning a third or even fourth language for a Moroccan learner is not a big challenge, however, there are some difficulties to learn a language efficiently and accurately. Demand Teaching Quality Socio-economical situation Huge classes School types Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate MOHAMMED t. Please note that this blog post might not...  [Read more]