Have an accent and still be understood

Not all variations in how English sounds are pronounced cause difficulties with comprehension.

The sound th is difficult for many speakers of other languages to say but it’s usually not so important for listeners’ understanding.

In the word clothes, substituting ze for th works just fine – much more vital for being understood is saying clothes as one long syllable rather than two.

But other sounds can cause confusion for listeners.

Such as the r or l dilemma for speakers of some east Asian languages or when Spanish speakers say ch for sh.

Many pronunciation problems are filtered by a speaker’s first language(s).

Which is why Valerie Fridland in Why we talk funny: The real story behind our accents recommends targeted training of specific sounds taking first language(s) into account.

Valerie also gives the example of how clarifying an instructor’s pronunciation of just one word – zero – improved understanding for his students in an advanced maths class.

Pinpointing personal pronunciation problems and advice on how to improve them is what we do in an English pronunciation check-up.

© Christina Wielgolawski