Speed up!!!!

In our last post we talked about the tendency some ESL students have of trying to "speed read", to sound more "English." Well the opposite is also true, of course. There are those who consider pronunciation the most important factor in sounding "Native". In these cases, speed is sacrificed for emphasis. Syllables become over-stressed and words become staccato.
Students need to learn how to feel the language, as well as, dissect it. It is this qualitative component that is lacking in many schools.
How do you teach rhythm you ask? After all, language is not a dance, right?

Send us your comments...

Slow down!!!!

Last weeks blog asked the question: "why aren't some pronunciation problems being dealt with more effectively?". The answer lies, in part, to the misconception that talking fast -what I like to refer to as 'speed talking'- is talking well. Speed talking is a coping mechanism that tries to 'trick' the listener into believing that the speed talker is actually saying something intelligible when in fact, it may be pure nonsense.
Recently, a sad example of this phenomenon has been making the rounds over the Internet. I am referring to the now infamous: "Anderson's first English Interview."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG55Ze_Dj20&feature=related


In theory, if you say a word or make a sound fast enough, it may actually appear to imitate another sound or word 'good enough'. So, if you're taught from early on that the "r" and "h" sounds are 'close enough', when uttered quickly, than a fossilized error can develop, unnecessarily. In practice, these errors are very difficult to correct especially when the Non-Native English Speaker believes that the difference is unimportant (after all that's what they've been taught!). So, my next question is: 'why not stop this practice'?
The answer may lie in the simple fact that, in general, students do not have enough access to certified English Language instructors and therefore are often 'taught' English by un/under-qualified teachers, despite there being thousands of great teachers in many Non-English speaking countries all over the world already.
In the case of Brazil with its immense size and large population, an adequate supply of teaching professionals is often lacking, especially outside the large urban centres like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Homework: In what ways can Anderson improve his English? What does he say well?
Next Blog: Describing "things and stuff"

Similar Sounding Words

Having been in beautiful Brazil for a few weeks now, I have had the luxury of listening to many Brazilians speaking English. I have been busy noting down some very interesting similar sounding word cognates that are quite common to many Portuguese speakers. Most of these mistakes are due to pronunciation differences that exist with some of the same letters of the alphabet, in each respective language. One of the least known of these situations, to Native English speakers, is the`roll´ of "R" in Brazilian Portuguese.
In Brazil the "R" acts as an "H" when it is at the beginning of a word or when it is doubled.
So a word like: Arrive.....becomes ahive......or worse a hive.
Repeat becomes.....he peat (his name is Pete?),
React....He act...
You get the idea.

It is virtually endless, the number of words that can be incorrectly said and interpreted because of this and other pronunciation differences between Brazilian Portuguese and English.
Why are these issues not dealt with more effectively? That will be the subject of the next blog.

Homework: Send us a video clip in which today´s subject matter is highlighted
Next Blog: Slow down!!!!

Focus on your Pronunciation

English is an unforgiving language, at times the smallest mistake can completely change the general meaning of a phrase. Many ESL learners know first hand just how precise we must be when speaking. The slightest slip of the tongue can change the pronunciation of beach to bitch; sheet to shit; slot to slut; and piece to piss. Common mistakes such as these are very well known but for me, the ultimate pronunciation faux pas is related to the word focus. Focus, properly said, would be 'FO-KES' (phonetically written). Unfortunately, some students do not stress these sounds properly and focus becomes 'FEK-ES', which is exactly the same as saying "Fuck us".
Obviously this is highly problematic especially if you are trying to motivate a group of people and you say repeatedly: "YOU MUST FOCUS; FOCUS MORE; FOCUS HARDER." Although comical, such a grandiose mistake could really hurt your message.
So the obvious problem is pronunciation "O" becomes "E". What is the other problem? And can you give an example of the second problem?