THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION ON MOTHER TONGUE

1. Pronunciation
1.1 Definition
"Pronunciation" is the act or manner of speaking a word which refers to
the way in which we make the sound of words. To pronounce words, we push
air from our lungs up through our throat and vocal chords, through our mouth,
past our tongue and out between our teeth and lips. (Sometimes air also travels
through our nose.). To change the sound that we are making, we mainly use the
muscles of our mouth, tongue and lips to control the shape of our mouth and the
flow of air. If we can control the shape of our mouth and the flow of air
correctly, then our pronunciation is clearer and other people understand us more
easily. Speakers of different languages tend to develop different muscles of the
mouth for pronunciation. When we speak a foreign language, our muscles may
not be well developed for that language, and we will find pronunciation more
difficult. By practicing the foreign language pronunciation, our muscles develop
and pronunciation improves.
1.2 The important of pronunciation
Pronunciation is the most important and difficult problem that non-native
English speakers have to face when studying English. Proper pronunciation not
only help native speakers understand what you are saying but also help you
integrate their culture easily. Improper pronunciation can lead to negative
impression, misunderstanding and ineffective communication. This page is
designed to indicate some negative impacts of poor pronunciation and to provide
you with some tips for the improvement.

2. Factors that affect students pronunciation

2.1 Students Ages:
 Age is one of the elements affecting peoples pronunciation and it
also affect the success when study a foreign language.
Young learners will easy to obtain an accurate pronunciation.
Especially, young learners from 1-12 years old.
Age has a huge impact on the pronunciation of learners. Children
learn faster than adults so children should be familiar with English as
soon as possible.
Young children from 2-3 years old have the ability to acquire a new
foreign language and it is similar to acquire their mother tongue.
They are easier to imitate new sounds and adopt pronunciation than
adults. Young children from 1-12 years old have time to learn
through recreational activities.
In addition, the structure of hearing and speech organs in young
children makes them easier to imitate the different pronunciation.
People have problems with sounds that do not exist in their
language, especially with adults.
If the learners are older, it will hard for them to learn the sounds
and have an accurate pronunciation because they are still affected
my mother tongue when they pronounce in English.
2.2 Exposure to English
English outside of the classroom: English language that the students
are exposed to outside of school. Ex: Watching TV or reading an
English book before bedtime.
ESL students who live in English-speaking environment acquire better
pronunciation faster (they are immersed in the language)
The degree to which they are exposed to English on a daily basis will
determine how fast theyll be able to improve their pronunciation
 The more authentic experiences that a student has with the language the
better their pronunciation normally is.
Singapore:
-English is a second language in Singapore beside Mandarin
-English has become the language spoken most often at home in Singapore
+36.9 per cent of residents aged five and older use English most
often at home against 34.9 per cent for Mandarin.
+The use of English has been rising steadily: 23 per cent in 2000,
28.1 per cent (2005), 32.3 per cent (2010) and 36.9 per cent (2015).
+People in Singapore use English at home when they start a family:
Ms Kate Tan, 27, uses English when talking to her two children
Philippine:
-The American influence on the education system (won 3 wars against the
Filipino independence) a result imposed not only American clothes and
(fast) food but also the English language on a very large scale
+introduced a free education system
+sent teachers from America to help spread the language and made
all teachers speak English in school
-many English Channels and they even got CNN Philippines and ABS-
CBN Philippines that are 100% in (American)
-Filipinos who are exposed to the heavy usage of English not just in
school but also in their everyday lives
+all signages are in English
+waiting room of a ferry or bus terminal have TVs around showing
the latest NBA match or even some random American reality show.
Spain:
-Spanish society has little or total lack of exposure to English
+small amount of English exposure comes from television, internet,
radio, cinema, books or newspapers
 +just 27 % of Spaniards can hold a conversation in English
(Eurobarometer, 2006)
+44 % of them say that they cannot speak any language besides
their own (Eurobarometer, 2006)
Japan:
- Japanese learn words using picturegraph
-Pronunciation: English has many sounds that Japanese doesn't have
-Teacher: most of the English teachers are not so good at speaking English.
Japanese schools don't hire non-Japanese as a permanent teacher.
-Lack of chances: about 98% of the population is Japanese they don't
really have chances to speak English.
-The school dont reinforcement of the lessons:
+no reading program, no opportunities for conversation or
presentation, no schedule for watching English movies.
-Japanese dont understand that English is not optional, but essential.
English isnt spoken partly because its not important
+most of the words are still in Japanese
+the rest of the world doesnt exist except on TV
Vietnam:
-Vietnamese English is wrong English because it's English spoken with
Vietnamese sounds produced by a Vietnamese mouth becomes a habit
+students can only listen to teachers, while teachers are not make
good pronunciations in all cases
-the traditional teaching method
+teachers focus on teaching grammar, while students also focus on
grammar lessons in order to pass tests and examinations.
-students stay passive in learning
-do not have a communication environment
+the bad material facilities dont have the chance to access to
modern teaching and learning tools.
 2.3 Learners Attitudes
The reason why many English learners never reach their destination is that
they do not have a clear goal to learn.
Motivation is the one that can really make a difference => Highly motivated
students will in all likelihood have a better pronunciation.
Students who are genuinely open-minded and interested in improving their
pronunciation often do improve it.
Students who have prejudices or a natural dislike for English will be less
successful than those with a positive attitude and open mind.
Lack of persistence: Some people fail when they learn English not because
they are not capable.
2.4 Native Language Interference
According to Bauman (2006), some basic Korean pronunciation errors
included /b/ verus /p/, /f/ verus /p/, /b/ vs /v/, /t/ or /d/ verus /z/, the
problem of mispronouncing "s" as "sh", /l/ and /r/ confusion , long vowel and
short vowel.
Besides, this error mainly occurs in word endings as the [n] in Japanese
pronunciation, when it occurs in the end of a word, it is usually very similar
to the English // [ng].
Japanese learners are not able to produce the consonant /r/ for the simple
reason that it doesnt exist in Japanese. Its often replaced by a consonant
which is at times either identical or similar to the consonant /l/.
While it is not difficult for Japanese learners to position the tip of their
tongue behind their upper teeth, it seems to be quite difficult for them to
control the movement of their lips during the production of consonant /l/.
When producing the consonant /f/, Japanese learners are not able to:
1/restrict the downward movement of the upper lip; 2/situate their lower lip
underneath their upper teeth to produce the restricted air coming out from
the gap between the lower lip and the upper teeth.
Sometimes, the consonant /f/ is replaced with the consonant /h/ especially
before vowels /u/ and /o/ which require rounded lips. The English /f/ and
/v/ do not exist in the Japanese pronunciation
As Japanese learners struggle with lifting their tongue high inside their
mouths, theyre unable to pronounce vowel /e/ which ends with the
consonant /j/.
Therefore, this vowel is often substituted for long /e/.
/i:/: This vowel exists in Japanese but learners substitute it with // in
English. Learners find difficulty in elevating the tongue and holding it close to
the roof of the mouth.
// This vowel does not exist in Japanese and as a result pronounced as
either // or //.
Japanese learners open their mouths too wide and lower their tongues,
which prevents them from pronouncing the // correctly.
a) Problem with voiced versus voiceless stops
o One of the problems that Vietnamese have when they
pronounce a word is voiced and voiceless stops in word final
position. Voiced: /d/, /g/, /p/, /b/ and voiceless: /p/, /k/, /t/.
o Words final fricative consonants /s/, /f/, //, /v/, /z/, //
which are the problems Vietnamese people have to face with
when they pronounce.
o /v/, /s/ and /f/ are fricatives that Vietnamese people can
pronounce at the beginning of English words. But in their
mother tongue, fricatives do not occur in word-final position
and that is the reason why Vietnamese people usually forget
to pronounce those fricatives when they speak English.
o For example The boys always pass the garage on their way
home but when Vietnamese people pronounce this sentence
 and it turns to The boy alway pa the gara on their way
home.
b) Problem between consonants /s/ and /z/

Correcting the pronunciation of /s/ and /z/ sounds in English:

Some main reasons:
- Original language didnt make plurals or simple present tense by
adding a sound at the end.
- Use /s/ or /z/ to make the plural sound at the end of words.
- The influence of the mother tongue.
c) Problem with ending s/ es/ ed
o When pronouncing English, Vietnamese often have the habit of
not pronouncing the ending sounds because they think there
are not too much important, or they do not know how to read
them exactly.
o When the learners speak without ending sounds, It is easy to
mislead in communication, cause a lot of humorous situations,
or even offend the person we do not know.
o When words end in s in forms of consonant-vowel-consonant,
the /s/ sound is frequently omitted.
o For example, "She likes riding bike in the countryside". Many
learners will ignore / s / in the word "likes"; But in simple
sentences without / s / many people accidentally add in.
d) Problem with grammatical ending
Forms of consonant-vowel-consonant the /s/ sound is frequently
omitted.

+ sits may turn to /sIt/

+ wants may become /wan/

Vietnamese speakers tend to omit both /t/ and /s/ sound in the
word wants
Other final consonant clusters:

+ /kt/- walked

+ / t/- washed

+/ d/- judged

+ /ld/- filled

difficult for Vietnamese learners to pronounce two-consonant cluster

that contain /l/ in /lz/, /lt/, /ld/, or /lf/ difficult for all speakers (the
sound itself never appears in the first language)

e) Problem with liquid /l/ and nasal /n/

o /l/ and /n/ are the two sounds that exist in Vietnamese
language.
o People from the north of Vietnam cannot differentiate the
differences between /l/ sound and /n/ sound in their mother
tongue.
o They always make mistakes with /l/ and /n/ when they speak
English.
o For example they say /lain/ for nine, /snwni/ for the word
slowly or /lw/ for no.
f) Problem with // and / m th
g) Problem with /p/ vs. /f/ and /b/
o In Vietnamese language, the voiceless stop /p/ does not
occur in initial places of words. As such, Vietnamese
speakers can substitute a voiced stop /b/ or a voiceless
fricative /f/ for /p/.
o Examples of this are that the word pool may sound like
fool, and big may sound like pig.
 o In addition, in the final positions, these consonants often
provoke confusion for learners. For example, tab might
sound like tap.
3. Solution for proper communication
Here are some tips to improve pronunciation that pointed out by Hope Speaker :
1. With every new word, you should look it up in the dictionary to find
the correct pronunciation.
2. Listen to native speakers to get used to their accent. Instead of boring
listening lessons, you can listen to English songs, watch movies or
listen to your native English speaking friends and relatives.
3. Practice in front of a mirror and make sure you move your mouth in
the correct way.
4. Do a lot of practices. Remember that practices make perfect. Be ready
to plan and devote some of class time to targeted pronunciation
practice.
5. Be patient and determined. The journey may be tough, but the result
will be worth.