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Why you should study Englishpronunciation

First impressions

Pronunciation is definitely the biggest thing that people notice when you

are speaking English . Let us tell you a personal anecdote about this:

We once went to a conversation class taught by native speakers (Americans).

efore the class started! the teacher said to us: "#o! do you speak good

$nglish%". &om replied "We think so"! and the guy said "'t sure sounds like you

do".

otice that we ust said three words! and the teacher could already tell if our

$nglish was good or bad. Why did the teacher think our $nglish was good%

ecause of the difficult words we used% o. ecause we used advanced grammar

structures% o. 't was our pronunciation .

When you meet a person! and you ust say a sentence or two! do you think they

will notice your poor vocabulary or bad grammar% Probably not. ut they will

notice if your pronunciation is good or bad. 'f your pronunciation is poor! they

will immediately think about you as "the guy*girl who speaks bad $nglish". +our

pronunciation creates the first impression you make.

Communication

,ood pronunciation should be one of the first things that you learn in $nglish.

+ou can live without advanced vocabulary - you can use simple words to say

what you want to say. +ou can live without advanced grammar - you can use

simple grammar structures instead. ut there is no such thing as "simple

pronunciation ". 'f you don t have good pronunciation ! you have... bad

pronunciation .

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And the results of bad pronunciation are tragic. $ven if you use great vocabulary

and grammar! people may simply not understand what you want to say .

/or e0ample! if you pronounce sleep like this ! and not like that ! or if you

pronounce ghost like this instead of this ! native speakers will have seriousproblems understanding you1 'n our opinion! you should know how to say

$nglish sounds like the ee in sleep or the o in ghost ! before you even learn words

like sleep and ghost .

2ere is another anecdote about this. After coming back from a vacation in the

3#A! a friend of &om s said:

"Whenever ' spoke to a person in America! they kept asking me "What% What%".

' would repeat my sentence again and again. /inally they would say "Ah4ha1"

and then say my sentence! using e0actly my words1 't was very humiliating. '

knew my words and grammar were good! but nobody would understand me! ust

because of my pronunciation . ' am very motivated to learn $nglish now."

Can you communicate in English?

Almost all $nglish learners say "' don t need to study pronunciation . ' ust want

to communicate in $nglish." 5any of them think that they can communicate in

$nglish because they can communicate with their teacher and other students.

6o not make this mistake1 +ou have to remember that:

• +our teacher has been listening to bad $nglish for years. 2e or she can

understand it much more easily than the average person.

• 7ther students are usually from the same country as you. &herefore! theyspeak $nglish like you and they make the same mistakes. #o it is easy for

them to understand you.

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&he only true test is: ,o to America or ritain and try to talk to "normal people"

- a clerk at a supermarket! a bus driver! etc. 'f they can understand you! then

you can say that you can communicate in English .

3nfortunately! many learners ignore pronunciation . &hey can communicate inclass! so they think that they are good enough. After a few years they go to

$ngland or the 3#A and... nobody understands what they are saying. 8emember

&om s friend who went on vacation to America and couldn t communicate% 2e

was the best student in his $nglish class.

5icheal wrote a short story about people living on two islands where $nglish is

spoken. &he story is for those who say: "' don t need to learn pronunciation

because ' only want to communicate."

Communication is not enough

'f you can communicate in $nglish with people from other countries!

congratulations1 't s a big achievement. ut it may not be enough.

'f you are at Level 9 of pronunciation skill ! your $nglish is understandable! but

you have a strong foreign accent which is unpleasant for other people.

We have already said that your pronunciation is important because it makes your

first impression. &his is certainly true - nobody will say that you speak good

$nglish if you have a strong foreign accent. ut there is more. If you have a

pleasant accent, people will simply enjoy talking to you. &hey will want to

spend time with you. 7n the other hand! if your accent is bad! people may be

even avoiding you (consciously or unconsciously).

&he good news is that you can work on your pronunciation until you speak

"understandable and pleasant $nglish " (we simply call it good pronunciation ). /or

e0ample! you can learn the sounds of $nglish! listen to recordings! watch

$nglish4language television! etc. ut first you have to reali e there is a problem1

5ost $nglish learners don t.

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5ichael wrote a short story to help learners understand this problem.