Pronunciation is a pretty interesting topic that I can hear every single day. When I first started I didn't know the Korean alphabet and how it does sound. By knowing that it would give me hints and a general idea on the sounds and letter combinations the students would have a hard time to pronounce. While being here I now have heard and I know the basic letters or sounds that give the students issues.
My first day I did come across one combination of letters that is hard for them to pronounce one of the many ways it can be pronounced. It happened the first day because it is my last name. It doesn't have an “a” in it but the way it is pronounced sounds like there should be one. The spelling is “Keiser” and so the students wanted to pronounce it like “kee-zer.” After a few classes I started to write my name with an “a” “Kaiser” so I didn't have to explain. Of course some words do have that spelling and are pronounced how my name is pronounced, but these words aren't that common and don’t make sense for my students. Words such as: beige, deign, feign, freight, rein, veil, vein, weigh, etc. So I wonder how many people were looking up those words as you were reading off of the list. This combination of letters with the “a” sound I think is for higher level students and not feasible to teach false beginner English as a second language students.
Another pronunciation issue I have heard quite often has to deal with one letter. Obviously this means they don’t have this letter or a sound that is close to this letter in their alphabet. That letter is “z.” It was kind of funny when I figured it out. The topic for the lesson was about animals. I am asking the students various questions and I kept hearing something along this line: “I have seen that animal in the ‘Jew.’” The students were not trying to make a joke or say something wrong. It is just that it is hard for them to pronounce the ‘Z’ sound, and instead it sounds more like a ‘J’ sound. First couple times it did take me a second to understand what they were saying, but then I realised this is the case for all of them. It did get me thinking that if Adolf Hitler had spoken Korean then maybe there would have been a lot of killing of “zoo” animals and not actually what happened. That would have been an interesting curve-ball to World History. Of course how often does somebody use the ‘z’ sound in everyday conversations? Here is a list of some ‘z’ words so you can practice using a dictionary to figure out what the words mean: zoo, zebra, zesty, mizzen, Nazi (fits well with Hitler part) zodiac, zipper, braze, winze, crazy, ablaze, tizzy, gazebo, cozy, etc. I have heard from other foreigners it is pretty hard to teach them the ‘z’ sound, and besides a few words there aren't that many the students need to know.
One more pronunciation thing I have encountered here is the dreaded ‘e.’ For native English speakers we know when words have a silent ‘e.’ For a non-native speaker they usually see an ‘e’ and assume it needs to be pronounced. Some good examples of words with the silent ‘e’ that the students should know are: gave, love, stove, toe, brave, gate, hate, dime, cake, bake, plane, ride, age, etc. For some of those words if you take away the ‘e’ then it is a whole new word, and so there is a purpose to the ‘e’ at the end. In order for the students to get a hang of this pronunciation I use a lot of repetition, and have the students repeat the word after they have heard me say it.
These are just some nuances that I do encounter with teaching people whose native tongue is Korean. Obviously other languages will have their own pronunciation difficulties for non-native English speakers. Really the only way to get around the pronunciation issues would be to have a silent language. Of course with this language there are other things that could be confusing that would never come up in a spoken language. At the end of the day, I think if the students hear the pronunciation from me, then in the long run they can have conversations with someone else where the other person does understand. Then they will be able to communicate and pronounce in English.
This post does give a little insight on some specifics of teaching and of the Korean language. Vacation is coming up soon so will write more about school related topics in the fall. This week the students are taking finals and so for me there is no teaching. I am getting ready for the Summer school that does only last for five days. After that I will be on vacation. I did just buy plane tickets and will be heading to both Thailand and Malaysia. Scuba diving in both places is supposed to be amazing and so I can’t wait to get in the water. I am sure I will write before vacation because that doesn't start until the end of July.
