Butterfly2015
-
Posts
4 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Butterfly2015
-
-
3 hours ago, NATASHA said:
It is important to learn how to pronounce words because sometimes the way words are said could mean something completely different or you will find people still don't understand you. To do this it is a good idea to get a video or sound clip of words that you have troubles with so that you are able to play back and repeat what you are hearing.
Well said! I agree 100% I'd just like to add that with pronunciation, repetition is the key. Listen to your native speaking source (video, audio, or actual native speaker) and repeat and compare to the native speaking source. Repeat and compare. Repeat and compare. Just like an actor practicing for an accent specific role. Once you are confident that you sound as close as you possibly can, then repeat the phrase over and over again until you feel comfortable with it and it just rolls off of your tongue.
-
On 8/10/2014, 4:09:37, calebmelvern said:
I am fluent in English and my writing skills are quite good, but I am not confident when it comes to speaking in English. I have always had a problem with my diction, especially with the letter R. Some say that I tend to pronounce my Rs as Ls, and that's something I want to change. What can I do to improve my diction? Do you have any sites, apps or exercises to recommend?
Hey buddy, there is no magic solution. But here is what I think is the secret: motivation and deliberate practice (lots of both!) What do I mean by this? Well, let me start by giving you two examples of two people. The first is a guy I met when I was in the US Navy. I worked in a Navy hospital pharmacy, and he worked along side me as a civillian pharmacy technician. He was from the Phillipines and his pronunciation and command of the English language was almost perfect. I asked him why his English was so good considering he had only been in the US for a short while. He said that when he was back in the Phillipines he loved to watch movies. He would watch American movies on his VCR and pause and and write down the phrases he heard, rewind and try to sound exactly like the actors. He would do this for hours everyday after work. And longer on his days off. He did what he loved (watched movies and pretended to be actors). He was motivated by his desire to immigrate to the US as a fluent speaker of English, and he put in the delibarate practice. He put in the time. He wanted to sound American when he spoke English, so he deliberately practiced sounding like the American actors in some of his favorite movies. He was motivated and he had fun learning the language doing something he loved.
Another example is of an American guy from Houston, Texas that went to Taiwan to teach English. Basketball was his passion. He loved to play it, watch it, talk about it, read about it.... you get the idea. He would go to the basketball courts whenever he wasn't working and play basketball with the local teenagers. He learned basic Chinese by interacting with them everyday. He learned all of the basketball terminology in Chinese. He hung out with his basketball loving Taiwanese friends on and off the court becoming more and more fluent in the language, especially concerning anything to do with basketball and his favorite home team: the Houson Rockets. He eventually returned to Houston after 2 years in Taiwan. Sometime later the Houston Rockets hired an up and coming basketball player from China named YaoMing (I'm sure you've heard of him). YaoMing couldn't speak English, so the Rockets advertised for an English teacher for him. Thousands of people applied and interviewed, but the guy I'm talking about got the job of hanging out all day with YaoMing and teaching him English at basketball practice, shopping, going out to bars, etc. So out of thousands of people, he got the dream job, not by breaking his back in Chinese classes, but by doing something he loved. He was motivated to learn Chinese so he could play and talk with the locals about basketball. He deliberately learned the specific basketball terms he would need to join the locals. He put in the time. He had fun.
Hope this helps.
1414 -
Hello everyone! I am a native English speaker from the United States. I am currently learning Chinese in Taiwan. I have a TESOL and also teach English. It is a pleasure to be here and I am looking forward to contributing and learning from you all!
Have you ever fallen in love with someone who speaks a foreign language?
in Language Learning
Posted
I am in love with someone who speaks Mandarin Chinese as their first language. Her English is not bad. It's getting better, but it was a struggle at first. Aside from the obvious language barrier, the cultural barrier is the thing that causes most of the problems. I live in her country right now, and I do my best to try to understand why certain things are done and just go with it, but sometimes it is extremely difficult. But it is a challenge that I have chosen!