A friend who taught English in China tells me that his students, all of whom were English teachers there, were able to read and write quite well in English, but they couldn’t speak English intelligibly, and only understood English when spoken very slowly!
Let’s translate this story into Spanish: You don’t want to limit your Spanish to just the written word. Sure, it’s great to become a better reader and writer of Spanish, but don’t neglect the spoken word. SO, I encourage you to listen to Spanish radio, watch Spanish TV, and get out there and try your Spanish-speaking skills!
Here’s a recap of Spanish pronunciation lessons in the SPANISH group – check them out, review them – these simple tips can make a huge difference in your ability to speak Spanish intelligibly.
Spanish pronunciation links:
Spanish Pronunciation tips for letter d, plus honestidad and similar cognates.
Spanish Pronunciation tips for letter t, plus totalmente and similar cognates.
Spanish Pronunciation: Vowels.
Spanish Pronunciation: Accent or stress.
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Comments: 16
Great links.
Nor can Spanish be drawled. There is no drawling in *any* dialect of Spanish. People who speak drawled varieties of English have to completely retrain their mouths in order to speak Spanish even remotely comprehensibly.
I find that the most successful way to help students truly improve their pronunciation is to tach them how to draw a cross-section of the speech organs and draw in the differences in their placement for specific sounds. A kind of latter-day contrastive analysis that truly works despite what certain SLA scholars were saying 20-30 years ago--or even 12 years ago. (They who threw out the baby with the bath water!)
I knew someone here who did that, and she was a Speech Therapist by training, and also had an advanced degree in ESL. With your comments you reminded me of the "B bilabial" and the "v labiodental" etc.
Hey, I have an idea: Feel free to write a short piece focusing on a key problem sound, or whatever, to post to the Spanish group. In fact, you can make your piece for Spanish speakers who speak English as a foreign language! Folks learning Spanish would be able to take a peek to the other side, and I'm sure it'll help them too!
Asians can speak more fluetly and accurately, as most of the languanges have a lot of identical letters as in Spanish, where English language does not have.
Well, it always takes time to master pronunciation and dialect setting, but a person can still speak and understand.
//SHAH\\
So, shall I post some pronunciation tips on video? Would this help you guys?
those who don't speak Spanish. I'm tired of that. I say now that I refuse to speak Spanish to, or for, anyone who doesn't speak English. Right now, I'm doing all I can to
forget how to speak Spanish. I've tried hypnosis but it only works temporarily.
"Going through life speaking only one language is like living in a large and wonderful mansion and never leaving one room."
Why learn other languages? Just for the sake of reading Tolstoy, Mann, Borges in the original languages, watching film in other languages and not having to read subtitles... and so many other great reasons.
(And, Robert, this is for folks who are interested in learning Spanish -- if you're not, then this article, and the Spanish group, is not for you, so I would appreciate your non-participation.)