There are some who say that English is the hardest language to learn because there are silent letters and so many different “slang terms” that we use. There are words that sound the same, but are spelled very different, there are words that mean this or can mean that. There is no denying that it all equals complicated to learn. However, what makes it even more complex is the accent that you may have left over and the way it influences how you say certain letters. This can cause mispronunciations and more. Therefore, you need a teacher who understands your struggles and can help you with accent reduction and pronunciation.
The Trouble with Pronunciations
You may not realize that your language is affecting your ability to learn English, but it does. A person who speaks Spanish may have the same letters as the English language, but they have two very different sounds. This can be confusing if you have only ever spoken Spanish. The truth is, every language spoken will cause different problems when it comes to pronouncing different English words properly. Your first language will always influence you in some way. To get beyond it, a teacher must focus on solving the problems before teaching you about the other things that make English words complicated.
The Teacher’s Job
As someone who teaches English as a second language, the instructor will have to understand that pronunciation is not just about producing the right sounds. The students will have to learn how to link sounds together, learn how to have proper intonation, and more. They will have to forget what they were taught when learning their native languages and focus on the new words, sounds, and meanings. They say that it isn’t hard to learn English words, but it can be very hard to speak English fluently without a teacher that is able to help.
Making Complicated Simple
Think about how you, as an English speaker, would answer a question about what you plan to do this evening. You may say that you are “going to call out for delivery”. In the literal sense of the word, it may not make much sense. You are going to yell for delivery of what? Or it can be interpreted in other ways as well. We do not say that we are going to use the phone to have pizza delivered to our house. That takes too much effort. A person who speaks another language can get confused by this type of statement. A good teacher understands where the problem is, and after teaching pronunciation, they will focus on simplifying the way the language is spoken.
A student will have to focus on certain base words and their meanings. Then, they will have to learn to focus on what is being said if they want to understand the meanings behind what is being said. In other words, they must get to a point where they can rely on context to infer what a new word may mean. It will take dedication on their behalf and their teacher’s.