{"id":7400,"date":"2018-06-01T16:12:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T22:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachingnomad.com\/living-abroad\/things-to-remember-about-the-english-language-when-speaking-to-or-teaching-foreigners\/"},"modified":"2024-12-11T13:06:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T20:06:09","slug":"things-to-remember-about-the-english-language-when-speaking-to-or-teaching-foreigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teachingnomad.com\/blog\/living-abroad\/things-to-remember-about-the-english-language-when-speaking-to-or-teaching-foreigners\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to Remember About the English Language When Speaking to or Teaching Foreigners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/266808\/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide\/\">378 million native speakers worldwide<\/a>, English surprisingly comes only third to Chinese and Spanish in the most spoken languages all over the world. Despite this, the English language doesn\u2019t come without difficulties, especially when it comes to pronunciation. In reality, foreigners and non-native speakers may encounter English pronunciation mistakes at some point in their conversations.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that people who are just starting to learn English are not alone in this kind of battle. A lot of students who took one-on-one Skype sessions with the <a href=\"https:\/\/preplytutors.pxf.io\/QjjPeY\">English tutors at Preply<\/a> started out confused but are now fluent in English.<\/p>\n<h2>Top 15 English Pronunciations Errors by Foreigners<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re just starting to learn English, don\u2019t let these 15 pronunciation lapses fool you!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Words spelled the same but pronounced differently<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Collectively called heteronyms, these dastardly words look the same, but they may be pronounced differently depending on how they are used. Here are some cruel examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Live<\/em>: Ed Sheeran will perform live near the place where you live.<\/li>\n<li><em>Read<\/em>: I\u2019ve read the entire book, but I\u2019ll probably read it again next month.<\/li>\n<li><em>Wind<\/em>: You need to wind the turbine before the wind arrives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Words that end in -ough<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Did you know that there are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/e\/s\/ough\/#ough\">10 different ways to pronounce the suffix <\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/e\/s\/ough\/#ough\"><em>-ough<\/em><\/a>? Nowhere in the rich vocabulary of the English language can a word have such complexity in pronunciation!<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the popular words ending in -ough that sound nothing alike:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rough = sounds like <em>puff<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Plough = sounds like <em>cow<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dough = sounds like <em>row<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Through = sounds like <em>glue<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/teachingnomad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ough_image.jpg\" alt=\"ough image\" width=\"231\" height=\"154\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Words using short \u2018i\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This particular pronunciation of the letter \u2018i\u2019 can be found in the words <em>sit<\/em>, <em>hit<\/em>, <em>bid<\/em>, and <em>twin<\/em>. Due to the nature of their own native languages, some foreigners pronounce the vowel longer than it should be read. As a result, the four words above may be pronounced erroneously as <em>seat<\/em>, <em>heat<\/em>, <em>bead<\/em>, and <em>tween<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Words with \u2018ght\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This odd combination of letters appears in several English words, but what\u2019s stranger is that they may be pronounced differently depending on the word. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eight = sounds like <em>hate<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Height = sounds like <em>bite<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Laughter = sounds like <em>after<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Daughter = sounds like <em>otter<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>desert vs. dessert<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/teachingnomad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/7d5892c62028808a16d72394e5640a70.jpeg\" alt=\"7d5892c62028808a16d72394e5640a70\" width=\"112\" height=\"112\" \/>\u00a0 \u00a0 or\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/teachingnomad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/easy-halloween-cake-decorating-ideas-festival-collections-in-halloween-dessert-recipes.jpg\" alt=\"easy halloween cake decorating ideas festival collections in halloween dessert recipes\" width=\"111\" height=\"111\" \/>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0?<\/p>\n<p>How can a single letter drastically change the way a word is pronounced? Apparently, that happens in English often, such as this case. <em>Desert<\/em> refers to a dry and sandy place, while <em>dessert<\/em> is something that you enjoy after a meal.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s strange about the two words is that adding the extra \u2018s\u2019 switches the stress from the first syllable to the second.<\/p>\n<p><strong>chocolate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u02c8t\u0283\u0251kl\u0259t\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Speaking of desserts, beginners in English tend to pronounce most (if not all) of the letters in the word, probably to play it safe. That\u2019s why when words such as <em>chocolate<\/em> come by, it\u2019s normal for most foreigners to say it as it\u2019s spelled. The correct pronunciation involves a silent middle \u2018o\u2019, and the last syllable spoken as \u201cl\u0259t\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>vegetable<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u02c8ved\u0292(\u0259)t\u0259b(\u0259)l\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a fairly common English word that can come up in casual conversations, especially when you\u2019re into cooking or buying at a local fresh food market. However, some foreigners tend to pronounce each letter in this word, most especially the middle \u2018e\u2019. On top of this, the last two syllables are erroneously pronounced in the same way as the word <em>table<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>receipt<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/r\u026a\u02c8sit\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This word is a doozy for some beginner English learners, especially because of the silent \u2018p\u2019. Some even go to great lengths and pronounce the last part as \u201dput\u201d, adding an extra syllable in the word.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wednesday<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u02c8wenz\u02ccde\u026a\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019re still in the line of silent letters, here\u2019s another mindbender: the first \u2018d\u2019 and the middle \u2018e\u2019 are both silent! Don\u2019t be surprised if non-native English speakers consider this word a tongue twister!<\/p>\n<p><strong>leopard<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u02c8lep\u0259rd\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Proficient and native English speakers know how to pronounce this word pertaining to a large spotted cat, but some basic English learners may read this as the name Leo (\u201clee-yo\u201d). It may be a fairly common term for people who are into zoology and fashion (hello, leopard print skirts!), but it\u2019s understandable why many foreigners have trouble pronouncing it correctly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>says<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/sez\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The root verb <em>say<\/em> rhymes with the words <em>hey<\/em> and <em>weigh<\/em>, but its third-person singular form <em>says<\/em> is pronounced differently. It morphs into something that sounds like <em>Mendez<\/em>. Foreigners who have minimal to basic English speaking skills may be caught off guard with this particular word.<\/p>\n<p><strong>aren\u2019t<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u0251rnt\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another popular word with a silent letter (in this case, the middle \u2018e\u2019). It\u2019s probably due to the fact that the root word <em>are<\/em> also has a silent \u2018e\u2019, which is then carried over to its negative variant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>women<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u02c8w\u026am\u026an\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The singular noun <em>woman<\/em> sounds rounder than its plural form. For a non-native speaker, it\u2019s easy to mistake the letter \u2018o\u2019 in <em>women<\/em> as its regular pronunciation, but it\u2019s pronounced more like the letter \u2018i\u2019. This is the only case in a commonly used word where the letter \u2018o\u2019 has this kind of pronunciation,<\/p>\n<p><strong>walk<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/w\u0254k\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the same breadth of silent letters, here\u2019s a more common one: the silent \u2018l\u2019 followed by a letter \u2018k\u2019. In this case, the sound of the letter \u2018l\u2019 is dropped altogether. Other examples include folk and chalk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>foreign<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\/\u02c8f\u0254r\u0259n\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019re on the subject of foreigners mispronouncing some common English words, our last entry on the list is the word <em>foreign<\/em>. Yep, that word involves another classic silent letter (\u2018g\u2019 in this case).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/teachingnomad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/BeFunky-Design.jpg\" alt=\"BeFunky Design\" width=\"386\" height=\"217\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While it may take an average learner a few years to become fluent in English, you can compress your learning curve by learning a few strategies along the way. We hope you will be able to avoid these common pronunciation mistakes and be on your way to mastering the English language pretty soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With roughly 378 million native speakers worldwide, English surprisingly comes only third to Chinese and Spanish in the most spoken languages all over the world. Despite this, the English language doesn\u2019t come without difficulties, especially when it comes to pronunciation. In reality, foreigners and non-native speakers may encounter English pronunciation mistakes at some point in their conversations. The good news is that people who are just starting to learn English are not alone in this kind of battle. A lot of students who took one-on-one Skype sessions with the English tutors at Preply started out confused but are now fluent in English.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Things to Remember About the English Language When Speaking to or Teaching Foreigners - Teaching Nomad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.teachingnomad.com\/blog\/living-abroad\/things-to-remember-about-the-english-language-when-speaking-to-or-teaching-foreigners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Things to Remember About the English Language When Speaking to or Teaching Foreigners - Teaching Nomad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With roughly 378 million native speakers worldwide, English surprisingly comes only third to Chinese and Spanish in the most spoken languages all over the world. 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