Teach English in Qingpu Qu - Shanghai Shi

Pronunciation problems for english learners of South KoreaLanguages of different countries have their own alphabets and pronunciations inevitably resulting in difficulties when speakers of one language try to learn another. At closer look it is apparent that different languages may not pronounce the same letters or words the same way and certain sounds may not even exist in either alphabet. Such is the case when comparing the differences between english and Korean, not only do these languages have opposite grammar patterns but their pronunciations differ greatly. This article aims to discuss the pronunciation difficulties speakers of Korean have with the english language. The most obvious pronunciation issue Korean speakers have with english is their inability to pronounce ?v?. Since the ?v? sound does not exist in the Korean alphabet, Hangul, it has been substituted with the ?b? sound where ?vibe? would be pronounced as ?bibe?. Another example of sound substitution by Korean speakers is in the pronunciation of ?f? which is also lacking in Hangul. ?F? is substituted with the ?p? sound so words such as ?feel? would be pronounced as ?peel? which inherently causes interpretation problems. The ?s? sound in english when followed by an immediate ?i? sound is also common issue for Korean speakers. This is due to the equivalent sound of ?si? in Hangul being pronounced as ?shi?, thus words such as ?sip? may be pronounced as ?ship? which again, alters the meaning of the words. ?Sit? can also be mispronounced due to this error but exactly how it is mispronounced shall be left to the imagination. Another major pronunciation issue, common not only in Korean speakers but also other Asian languages such as chinese and japanese, is the ?r? and ?l? sound. In Hangul both these sounds are equal and they can be used interchangeably although the pronunciation tends to lean more towards the ?r? sound. Speakers of Korean find it difficult to see the difference between them therefore words such as ?rice? and ?run? are usually pronounced as ?lice? and ?lun?. Additionally, those who have heard or have spoken to Korean speakers are likely to note the extra syllables added onto words. Such alteration is a due to the nature of the construction of Korean words with Hangul. As a rule in Korean, there cannot be more than one consonant in one syllable thus all consonants are followed by vowels. Words such as ?sandwich? (2 syllables) are pronounced as ?sandwich-ee? (3 syllables) by Korean speakers. Korean speakers also fail to distinguish between the long and short vowel sounds, this is more distinct when comparing the Korean pronunciation of words such as ?novel? which is usually pronounced how a native english speaker would pronounce ?noble?. It is clear here that the short ?o? sound of ?novel? gets extended to a long ?o? sound and when combined with the tendency to substitute the ?v? for the ?b? sound, the meaning of the word has changed yet again with Korean pronunciation. Further issues with english pronunciation of Koreans is that of the ?w? sound in ?would?, although the Korean language does have a sound similar to ?w? speakers of Korean tend to struggle when pronouncing ?would? and pronounce it as ?ud?. This is likely due to the fact that speakers of Korean tend to have flat tongue muscles due to the nature of the Korean language and lack of demand for tongue movement. This poses as a problem when learning english as certain sounds require more use of the tongue in pronunciation than what is required in Korean. Therefore such problems for Korean speakers are not limited to alphabet and sound differences but differences in the word constructions themselves. From analysing the differences in the pronunciation of english by Korean speakers it can be concluded that mispronunciation and language differences in letter sounds can have huge impact on the meaning and interpretation of words. Such analysis emphasises the importance and need for focus on speaking and pronunciation in the classroom when teaching Korean natives.