English Pronunciation for Thai Speakers

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 Areas of Difficulty for Thai Speakers
Consonants:

I.   /t/ vs. /th/:

Thai speakers often have difficulty distinguishing between the /t/ & /th/. Touch the alveolar ridge with the tip of your tongue when you pronounce the /t/, and touch the back of your upper teeth with the blade of your tongue when you pronounce the /th/.

tank           tick      tree      bat       pat       clot      Burt     fort     fraught 
thank         thick    three    bath     path     cloth    birth     forth   froth

II.  /d/ vs. //:

Do the same as above when you pronounce the /d/ and /  /.  That is, touch the alveolar ridge with the tip of your tongue for /d/ and touch the back of your upper teeth with the blade of your tongue for /TH/:

dare           Dem                den      day                  breed               load      
there          them                then     they                 breathe             loathe

III.  /f/ vs. /v/:

Practice distinguishing between the /f/ and /v/ in the following minimal pairs:

feel            fine      fend     fest      leaf      reef      safe      grief
veal            vine     vend    vest      leave    reeve    save     grieve

IV.    /l/ vs. /r/:

Practice discriminating between /l/ and /r/ in different word positions and in consonant clusters:

Light/right                         late/rate                        locket/rocket
Believe/bereave                 collect/correct              filing/firing
Stall/star                            mole/more                   foal/four
Flight/fright                       flame/frame                 flail/frail
Blight/bright                      bloom/broom               blink/brink
Pleasant/present                 play/pray                     Blake/break

V.   /l/ vs. /w/ in word-final position:

Pronounce the dark /l/ in word final position, and distinguish between the dark /l/ and /w/:

Mole          call       fall       fail       mail     nail      coal      ball      small
Mole/mow     goal/go        veal/view         feel/few           old/owed 

VI.  /b/, /d/, /g/ vs. /p/, /t/, /k/ in word-final position:

Pay special attention to the final sound in the following minimal pairs as you pronounce them. Be sure to distinguish between the voiceless and voiced consonants in word final position:

Cab/cap     nab/nap            gab/gap            rib/rip              nib/nip
Mad /mat   wed/wet           sad/sat             said/set            made/mate
Bag/back   rag/rack           wig/wick         wag/whack      lag/lack

VII.  /s/ vs. /z/:

Thai speakers tend to devoice the English /z/ and pronounce it as /s/. Practice pronouncing the following minimal pairs, paying special attention to the /z/ in different positions:

Sue/zoo     seal/zeal           sink/zinc          sip/zip              sing/zing
                              Bus/buzz   muscle/muzzle             brace/braise                 grace/graze

VIII.  /dz/

Thai speakers of English usually pronounce the voiceless version of this fricative.  Pronounce this sound in the following words carefully without devoicing it.
                              
                              Japan         jury                  German           Judaism           Germane         
Merger      forgery            sergeant           bulging            major
Judge         grudge             smudge            nudge  budge  dodge 
                            
                              Now practice pronouncing the following minimal pairs:
                              chain          choice              rich      search              lunch   March
                              Jane           Joyce               ridge    surge               lunge   Marge

IX.   /t / vs. /  /:

Practice discriminating between /t / and / / in the following minimal pairs:

chair          chill     choose             chips    chop    batch    leech
share          shill     shoes               ships    shop    bash     leash
chain          March  match               switch  watch   latch     watcher
share          marsh  mash                swish   wash    lash      washer

X.   Past suffix ‘ed’:

Thai speakers often pronounce the regular past tense as a separate syllable.  There are three morphophonemic rules that determine the pronunciation of the past tense –ed ending.  They are:

·      When –ed is preceded by /t/ or /d/, it is pronounce /Id/
·      When –ed is preceded by a voiced consonant, it is pronounced /d/
·      When –ed is preceded by a voiceless consonant, it is pronounced /t/

                               Now practice examples of each of the above rules:
                               Wanted     guided             padded             patted               distracted
                               Merged     boiled              braised             smeared           geared
                               Searched   kissed              missed             brushed           flushed
      
Vowels:
I.  /I/ vs. /i:/:
Thai speaker find it difficult to distinguish between short and long vowels in English. Practice pronouncing the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

live           sit        hit        fit         fill        sill       hill       skim      skit
leave         seat      heat      feet      feel      seal      heal      scheme   skeet

II.   e/ vs. /ei/:
Practice pronouncing the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

Met            red       led       fed       wed     med     sell       set
Mate          raid      laid      fade     wade    maid    sale      sate

III. /U/ vs. /u:/
Make the distinction between the short and long vowels in the following word pairs:

Full                        foot                  should                         book
                              fool                        food                 shoot                           boot

IV. /^/ vs. /a:/:
Practice pronouncing the following minimal pairs, distinguishing between the above vowels:

curt                  hurt                 bird           herd          Bert      
cart                  heart                Bard         hard          Bart

V. /^/ vs. /ou/:
Practice pronouncing the two vowels in the following minimal pairs carefully:

curt           herd                 bird      must    first      mud     bust     
court         hoard               board   most    forced  mode   boast

VI. /ou/ vs. /Ou/
            Practice discriminating between the above vowels in the following minimal pairs:

hope         cope     mope   lope     lobe     robe     soap     boat

hop           cop      mop     lop       lob       rob       sop      bought

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