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Adrian
Obsessed with pronunciation ?

Adult education classes in my country are full of people who may speak the language they are learning more-or-less correctly in terms of grammar, but do not even try, it seems to me, to develop authentic pronunciation, preferring to speak French, Italian, etc. with a pronounced English accent. The teachers, despite protestations to the contrary, are quite happy to ignore the frustrating and time-consuming task of correcting pronunciation.

This approach is summed up in a post by a contributor to this site : "For me, I don't care if I sound Japanese, I care that I'm understood. If I say something with an American accent I'm good with that."

For my part, I'm obsessed with acquiring correct pronunciation, right from the start, as it is so much more difficult to do this once poor speaking habits have become ingrained.

How many of you share my attitude to learning a new language, or do you go along with the  'as long as I can make myself understood'  approach ?

Comments · 25

2

I believe understand and pronunciation correctly are different stages in learning language.

Just like baby,first they must listen and understand, try to distinguish different sound.Then they can speak with wired pronunciation.

2

Correct pronunciation is developed over time. If "obsessing" over it has worked for you, then keep it up. Sometimes it's necessary to really focus to keep our pronunciation from stagnating. However, I don't think we can pronounce everything right the first time because our ears need time to get used to the new sounds. As our sensitivity increases we become aware of the subtleties that even teachers and language learning programs fail to identify.

2

It depends on the person and teachers should be mindful when overcorrecting students because if the student struggles too much with pronunciation, forcing them or stressing them with this subject will only demotivate them.

 

For instance, I am learning French and French is a pain not only in the @#% but also in the whole body when it comes to ponunciation and I understand that I might try my best and I do, but if the teacher insists on making me pronounce each thing perfectly as a native, then I'll be spending the whole session trying to do so and I won't ever book a session with her or him again.

 

Again, I am not saying that trying to pronounce things correctly is wrong, as I said, I try my best but if students struggle, it's not healthy to force them and little by little work on that as time goes by.

 

Most of portuguese students cannot pronounce the nasal sound in words such as ' mão, pão, dão ' and etc, why will I be stressing them trying to make them sound perfect on something that it's likely not to work out in the end. As long as the pronunciation is clearly understood and well stressed, I see no problems!  

1

That's a good point! I totally agree with you, Andrian. For me, personally, it has always been a very important issue, something I have always been very keen on - as a language teacher and language learner.

It makes me wonder why so many language tutors underestimate the importance of teaching pronunciation, especially nowadays when we are really spoilt for choice in terms of online resources and amazing coursebooks.

The only thing that probably gets in the way is that teachers are often driven by their students' expectations, trying to live up to them. So, if it is something learners do not really care about, what can teachers do? You just teach what you are paid for. As a result, to make the learning process more enjoyable, some tutors simply turn a blind eye to it while struggling to make out what their students are trying to say...

Mind you, it is not always like that. There are some learners who take pronunciation quite seriously, right from the start, but this realization of paying more attention to the way we say things usually comes when we reach a particular level and are able to appreciate authentic pronunciation and a good accent.   

1

I am trying to learn the correct pronounciation, but I don' t get stressed over the accent.

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