Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Wubao Zhen Renmin Zhengfu? Are you interested in teaching English in Chongqing? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Pronunciation problems in a country of your choiceThe English and Brazilian Portuguese (reffered here as Portuguese) phonological systems differ in many ways, and on the biggest problem for Brazilian learners of English is orally interpreting a written piece of English, due to spelling. Another challenge is the differer number of vowel, diphthongs and consonants each language uses The influence of spelling on pronunciation Brazilian learners of English may have difficulty in correctly pronouncing words from a written text. This is because, in Portuguese, it is relatively easy to know how to pronounce a word by looking at it, being phonological and also having a number of diacritical marks. English pronunciation and spelling, however, have evolved at differing rates over the centuries, with a general lack of desire to modify old-fashioned spellings and with the language constantly sound evolution. For example, Portuguese students tend to pronounce the word early as /:Îùrliù/, including the consonant `r`. They are also influenced by the letter `e`, when saying the word eleven, pronouncing it /iù:lev«n/. students may find it difficult to pronounce the word wait, saying /waIt/instead of /weIt/. The same may happen in the case of go as /g?ù/, because the letter `o` often corresponds with the Portuguese /ó/, as in `pó`, which sounds similar to /?ù/ . Phonemic Distinctions ? Vowels & Diphthongs English has more vowel sounds and diphthongs than Portuguese. It is difficult to give an exact number though, as differing authorities offer conflicting explanations. Shepherd (1987) offers 12 simple vowels and 10 diphthongs in English, and 8 and 6 for Portuguese. Both Parkinson (1990) and Schutz (2000) suggest that there are just 7 vowel sounds in Portuguese. Whatever the exact number, what is certain is that there are more vowel sounds in English than in Portuguese. Word Stress and Rhythm Brazilian Portuguese is a syllable-timed language, whereas English is stress-timed. This difference is related to syllable structure. In Portuguese there is a tendency towards a consonant-vowel pattern, with very few consonants as the final syllable. Stress is quite predictable as 70% of word stress falls on the penultimate syllable. Accent marks are also used to show stress. This predictability can make it difficult for Portuguese speakers learning English, because in this language there is not one predominant pattern. Intonation Portuguese speakers seem to use a narrow pitch range compared with English, with English speakers able to use extreme high and extreme low pitches. There may be problems with question tags, in that learners pronounce them with a rising tone. Commonly, wh- questions, for example, end in a falling tone in English, but in Portuguese, a rising tone is used. This can give rise to a significant foreign accent. Sounds joining Certain syllables in a sentence may be inappropriately over-emphasised or not stressed at all. There is a tendency for Brazilian speakers to emphasise even the unstressed words in an English sentence, as they find it difficult to differentiate between strong and weak forms. Conclusion When teaching the teacher must introduce the students to all components of pronunciation, not just specific sounds. Bibliography 1. Carvalho, M. (1998) The Portuguese Language in brazil (on-line) Available: http://members.nbci.com/MOPC/The%20Portuguese%20Language%20in%20Brazil.html 2. Gimson, A.C. & Cruttenden, A. (1994), Gimson?s Pronunciation of English pp77, London: Edward Arnold 3. Shepherd, D. (1987), `Portuguese Speakers` in Swan & Smith, pp90-93
