Sultan
Pronunciation Sour

- Is it true, sometimes people don't realize that they pronounce the words incorrectly when they speak a foreign language?<o:p></o:p>

- What kind of attention works best to improve a foreign language pronunciation?<o:p></o:p>

- What if the pronunciation is starting to damage your grammars? What are you going to do?<o:p></o:p>

- If you have been practicing a foreign language more than 10 years, but you didn’t find any improving in the speaking skills, are you going to give up?<o:p></o:p>

- Kindly, do not say or tell me to use pronunciation podcasts, videos, record yourself, practice with a buddy or a native because all these stuffs, I used them a lot, but I didn't find any improving. 


Should I give up learning a foreign language?

Apr 26, 2019 9:37 PM
Comments · 12
2
Hello, Sultan, I love how you ended your post:
“- Kindly, do not say or tell to use pronunciation podcasts, videos, record yourself, practice with a buddy or a native because all these stuffs, I used them a lot, but I didn't find any improving.”

That stuff normally works, but you’re not getting results — I understand. One thing that people often ignore is that language learning takes place inside your mind. That means that two people can do the exact same exercise and get completely different results. One thing you should do is read up on the phonology of your target language (and maybe of your native language as well). This basis in theory can help you know what to listen for, and know how to use your articulatory organs (lips, tongue, etc.) to actually pronounce correctly. If you don’t understand the theory, you could use the “listen and repeat” method all day and simply be practicing bad pronunciation — seriously.

Personally, I’ve been finding Mandarin Chinese pronunciation quite challenging, despite doing all of the above. Eventually, I’d get it, but now I’m going to take a shortcut and find an italki teacher who knows how to coach a student into near-native pronunciation. Most teachers simply cannot, but I’m confident I’ll be able to recognize my Chinese counterparts with similar expertise in teaching pronunciation.

Good luck, keep us updated on your progress!
April 26, 2019
1
Thank you, Ms. <a ui-sref="user({id:comment.commenter_obj.id})" href="https://www.italki.com/user/6144387" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">evuljeanne</a>
April 27, 2019
1
Thank you, Ms. Sofia
April 26, 2019
1

The way you finish the text is intersting. You can't improve, maybe because of your ear. You have to listen first to understand the differences. Videos help you become accostumed to the pronunciation, exposure is a good thing. An importan thing is not just to correct you but to know the position of the mouth, stress, etc. Using the phonetic alphabet can be useful along with a teacher to help you. It may also can be a problem for the linguistic family. You can be better in some languages than in others.

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April 26, 2019
1
Thank you very much, Mr. Phil. I used also the IPA
April 26, 2019
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