English Pronunciation for Foreign Speakers: Areas of Difficulty and Some Remedial Measures

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            English Pronunciation for Foreign Speakers
Areas of Difficulty and Some Remedial Measures

Overview:
When foreign speakers speak English, their speech shows certain patterns that are characteristic of their first language sounds.  It is not difficult for native speakers of English to identify Spanish, Arabic, French, or Japanese speakers by their accents. They do so by simply listening to the recognizable deviations in the foreign speakers’ speech.

Why is it common that non-native speakers of English have an accent when they speak English? Opinion is sharply divided between those who believe that only children can successfully acquire the sounds of their second language, and those who espouse the position that adults have the ability to pronounce the sounds of English without an accent.  However, research on the acquisition of second language pronunciation is beginning to show that adults do retain the ability to pronounce the sounds of their second language with clarity and accuracy, and that they can master second language sounds if they have information about the place and manner of articulation of English sounds and if they consciously manipulate their organs of speech to produce them.  This means that you can also learn to pronounce English sounds with relative ease and success by using information about how English sounds are pronounced and by working diligently.

What follows are the areas of difficulty for Arabic speakers of English in pronouncing English consonants and vowels.  If you are a native speaker of Arabic, follow the instructions, and pronounce both consonants and vowels with precision and accuracy.  Keep in mind that you must master the problematic sounds in different phonological environments. Sometimes you may be able to pronounce a difficult sound in word-initial position, but you may still mispronounce it in word-medial and word-final position. It goes without saying that it takes time to pronounce second language sounds without an accent. Good luck, and keep practicing until pronouncing difficult English sounds becomes second nature to you. I will post the areas of difficulty for speakers of other linguistic groups such as Mandarin, Spanish, and Korean later. 

1. Areas of Difficulty for Arabic Speakers
    Consonants:

I.   /t/

Pronounce the /t/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Be sure to aspirate it in word-initial position and in consonant clusters. Do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of your tongue. Make sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge.

Tackle        tangle               tango               tickle                trace
Between    automatic         fleeting             instigate           litigate
Want          lint                   flint                  stunt                mart
Stand         strand              start                  stride               stake

II.            /d/

Pronounce the /d/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Do not aspirate this sound in word-initial position and in consonant clusters, and do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of your tongue. Make sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge.

Dollar        dealer              denigrate          dissuade          diligent
Murder      harder              glider               adult                bladder
Stride         crowd              broad               scrod               greed
                              Strand        blind                bland               blonde             scald

III.         /p/ vs. /b/
Make the distinction between /p/ and /b/ in word initial, medial, final positions, and in consonant clusters:
Pin             bin       pale      bail      plight   blight   pest      best
Crumple    crumble           lopping            lobbing            staple   stable
Lop            lob       lope     lobe     nip       nib       lip        lib
Praise        braze    plink    blink    prick    brick    plume  bloom

 IV. /v/ vs. /f/
Practice discriminating between /v/ and /f/ in the following minimal pairs:
Veal                       veil                  rive                  vane                vile      
Feel                       fail                   rife                   feign                file
                              Leave                     have                 grieve              believe             relieve
                              Leaf                      half                  grief                 belief               relief

V.            / th/ and /TH/
Pronounce these words carefully, distinguishing between the two sounds:
Breath/breathe       bath/bathe        cloth/clothe      
Now try this tongue twister:
Those three thieves threw thirteen things in the thicket of thorn trees.

VI. /n/ and / /
Pronounce the following minimal pairs, contrasting /n/ and /   /:
                  Flynn         ran       kin        pin      fan       tan       thin      ban
                  Fling          rang     king     ping    fang     tang     thing    bang

VII. /t/ and /dz/
Discriminate between the following words:
China         chain    chill     cheese  chalk    batcher search 
Japan         Jane     Jill       Geese   jock     badger  surge
VIII. /r/
Practice English /r/ in different word positions, and avoid pronouncing it as a trill.
Rumble      wrangle           restitution        result       rack         rash
Scaring      leering             luring               purring     peering    sneering
Scar           star                  fire                   banter      gander     smuggler

IX. Consonant Clusters
Consonant clusters do not exist in Arabic.  Because of this, Arabic speakers of English insert a vowel before or after English consonant clusters.  Practice pronouncing the consonant clusters in the following words without inserting a vowel before or after them:
Sky            Mexico            scoundrel         frisk     mixture            skit
School       skeleton           station              string   skim        scanning
Vowels: 
I. /I/ vs. /i:/  
Make the distinction between short and long vowels:
Hit             fit         sit        fill        hill       mitt      live
      Heat           feet      seat      feel      heal      meat     leave

II. /e/ vs /ei/ 
Discriminate between short and long vowels:
met            red       led       fed       wed     let        get       set
      mate           raid      laid      fade     wade    late       gate      sate

III. /U/ vs /u:/
Make the distinction between short and long vowels:
full             pull                  foot      should             book    
                              fool            pool                 food     shoot               boot
IV. /e/ vs /  / 
Pronounce the short vowel and the diphthong in the following pairs clearly:
Met            set                    fed                   led                   wed
                        mat            sat                    fad                   lad                   wad

V. / / vs /a:/
Distinguish between the short and long vowels:
curd           heard               curt      burn     hurt                  stir       
                              card           hard                 cart      barn     heart                star

VI. /e/ vs /I/        
Pronounce the following minimal pairs carefully:
Said           hell                  bet                   met                  fest 

Sid             hill                   bit                    mitt                  fist

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