These frequently asked questions about pronunciation are answered below
Q: What is the difference between pronunciation, intonation, and fluency?
A: The term "pronunciation" refers to how a word is pronounced. In English, spelling does not always tell us how a word should be pronounced. Sometimes the term "pronunciation" is used in a general way to cover all aspects of how you sound when speaking English. "Intonation" refers to the rise and fall of a speaker's voice when they are talking. Mastering "intonation" is critical if you are going to use English in public, or with people who are unaccustomed to your accent. In English, intonation carries a great deal of extra information for the listener, including the speaker's attitude toward the topic, their emotional state, their view of what is importance, and cues to what information is new or unusual. "Fluency" is a general term referring to one's ability to express oneself easily or perform something easily. In regard to language learning, it also includes accuracy, comprehensiveness, and fluidity. If you are fluent in a language, it's easy for you to understand and interact, using correct grammar, intonation, and expression.
A: You might be having interference problems from your first language. When we are born, our ears hear all sounds without discrimination, and our brains process everything. As we interact with our caretakers, we begin to associate only some of these sounds with social interaction and our own well-being. Gradually our brains learn to ignore the sounds that are unrelated to our survival, and begin to organize it's understanding of these most important sounds that we hear all around us. We learn to discriminate between environmental sounds and language sounds that result in contact with our caretakers. So, at a very early age, we "stop hearing" some sounds that we actually were able to hear at birth.
Each of our brains is different; some of us have "an ear" for languages, even after we've become adults. That means it's easier for us to recover those sounds which our brain ignored, and use them again in learning a new language. However some of us have to work much harder to recognize lost sounds, and learn how to make them. And some of us just didn't know this was the nature of the problem, and after studying the new sounds specifically, can integrate them into our speech habits in the newer language.
A: American English speakers rely heavily on word stress and intonation patterns to share meaning, and, in turn, to "catch" your meaning. The rhythm of your spoken English gives listeners many of the cues they need to follow your communication. English is such a rhythm-based language that if you put the stress on the wrong syllable in several words of a sentence, it's possible that your American listener will lose your meaning. That's because English speakers use stress and intonation to not only get your embedded information about the topic, but also to predict your line of thinking. It's just not enough to know vocabulary in English; you've got to master word stress and intonation to be understood. This problem increases dramatically when the American listener hears your voice on a recording or over the phone, and cannot get help from visual cues, such as your facial expression, your lip movement, and your gestures.
Q. I have studied English and reached an advanced level, when compared to other English learners in my country. But as I advance, I perceive that I still have not mastered the "American" sound, and still have to repeat myself to native speakers of American English, and still have to ask for them to repeat what they've said. What's missing?
A. If you've been studying English for quite a while, and are still having problems, perhaps you are missing these fundamental, but seldom taught, parts of the American sound: rhythm or melody, and resonance. Rhythm or melody are related to pitch and intonation. Pitch and intonation are discrete, quantifiable skills, while rhythm or melody are what happens when you put the pitch and intonation changes together into an intentional and fluid design. Correct resonance, however, is created by the muscles of your mouth, tongue, lips, and larynx working together to form a language's sound. Your first language has an identifiable resonance, just as English does. But they're not the same. Sometimes people who are identified as having a very strong accent are speaking with their first language's melody or forming sounds with their first language's resonance.
Q: What is your method for addressing my accent problems?
A: Here is my method. We start with a diagnostic evaluation and find out what your major interference problems are. Together, we create a plan to address each issue, starting with the most critical. Your plan will include these features:
Developing Awareness: realizing what the problems are.
Instruction: Deciding what to change and how to change it, and then working to master those elements. Is it the placement of your tongue? Is it misplaced word stress? Are you lacking the rhythm of English?
Practice: Consistently work with your teacher to develop these new habits.
Persistence: this is very important--once you know what to change, and how to change it, you must continue to practice your new habits. You might choose to keep your new skills active through a "gradual release" process with your teacher, in which your contact is gradually decreased, and is maintained only to the degree that you require. Or you may choose to use a "revisit" strategy, in which you schedule regular, intermittent sessions with your teacher, to ensure you are still using your new techniques, or to help you recover your new techniques.
A: Send an email to
peggytharpe@AmericanPronunciationCoach.com to begin a discussion on possible arrangements, and learn more specifics, such as problems and solutions, scheduling possibilities, technology tools, and prices.