Teach English in Qingcao Zhen - Anqing Shi

Pronunciation Problems in KoreaEnglish is a delightfully complex and varied language with not only a rich history, but also a highly adaptable nature. english borrows freely from other languages making it an ideal medium for international communication. It also provides many opportunities for artistic expression because of its use of tone and abundant vocabulary. The english alphabet, consisting of only 26 letters, is also simple to learn making the english language easy to access. Despite these features, there is one major pitfall looming for learners of this robust language: pronunciation. Although english is widely believed to be a phonetic language because we, as native speakers, usually learn the alphabet with a 1:1 ratio of shape to sound and have the auditory and verbal experience from infancy to ?sound out? and recognize words, it really is not phonetic at all since it is impossible to study the english alphabet and then read and pronounce every new word by sight alone. Korean learners, on the other hand, need to work harder since they likely do not have as much experience with english and are likely unable to recognize every word by spelling alone or know which combination of possible sounds is correct. The main problems facing learners of Korean are these: variation in available sounds between languages, use of ?blocks? versus use of syllables, and the use of borrowed words in Korean interfering with accurate english pronunciation. First, the most basic and easily remedied of these problems are the disparities in available letter sounds between their native Korean and learned english. english sounds /f/, /v/, and /z/ especially have no equivalent in Korean and thus many students have difficulty pronouncing words containing these sounds. Instead, they are often translated into another letter, such as /f/ changing to a /p/ or /v/ to a /b/, /z/ to a /?/. More subtly, many Korean students are unable to hear the difference between short and long I sounds as the short I sound also does not exist in Korean. In this case long I is usually used for both sounds, for example pig being pronounced like /pi:g/ or scissors sounding like /s??-z?rz/. As a teacher this can be especially trying when you come across a student ? or students ? who just cannot hear the difference. The best way to address this problem is to take time as a class and practice, carefully showing the students how to make the sound, using your own mouth or by including good diagrams of the inside of the mouth as necessary and just repeating until the students get it. The next major pronunciation issue facing Korean students is the difference in syllable formation between Korean and english. In Korean, syllables are formed as blocks, generally with one consonant sound and one vowel. If more than one consonant sound is used it is usually at the beginning and end of the syllable with a vowel in between. In english we do this as well, but there is much more flexibility as far as consonant combinations or blends. For example, black may be pronounced b-la-ck by an inexperienced student. Even the word english is problematic and often comes out more like En-gu-li-shee. Again, in this situation the best plan of attack is to first make the students aware of the difference through clear visuals and appropriate auditory examples and then practice. Finally, and perhaps the hardest to weed out, is the mispronunciation of borrowed english words used in Korean. Korean uses a large variety of borrowed words from japanese, German, french as well as english. Words such as ?? (/pi:??/ ? pizza), ??? (/?p?t?/ - apartment) and ??? (/bi:t?mi:n/ - vitamin) are essentially the same word in each language though in Korean the sounds have be adapted to the Korean phonetic and syllabic system. In these cases, it can be difficult to get students to understand that there is even a problem, much less to reach outside of their linguistic comfort zone and try for a more accurate english pronunciation. I have found the best way is not to single any one student out for the mistake but to make light of the whole situation. Usually I first pronounce the incorrect sounds for myself in context and mime that there is something wrong. Once the students understand and identify the problem for themselves, I diagram the sounds on the board for clarity, indicating which one is the Korean sound and which one is the english and then practicing the appropriate english sounds together until they have it. While none of these mistakes may be sufficient to completely shut down communication, they at the very least will make the speaker stand out as a non-native speaker and would likely lead to confusion or the feeling that the speaker is unintelligent or uneducated. Luckily, with a little time, attention and practice, all of these issues are easily corrected and should not pose too much difficulty for student or teacher.