Pronunciation

My view has always been that practising another language’s pronunciation when we declare ourselves speakers of that language, shows respect, above all. Remember how uncomfortable we get when a non-native struggles to utter incomprehensible “greek” phrases!!!

Pronunciation Try to imagine a person who has claimed knowledge of English (in which situation you secretly reveled, thinking it would be good practice), uttering the following sentence: Plosh man lernsh. Probably bewildered, if not already desperate, you might ask them to repeat it, slower, louder and clearer.  They would almost certainly grant your request, which would provide a slower, louder, and clearer version of Plosh man lernsh. Not wanting to offend them, and trying to conceal the fact that you have not the faintest idea what they?re saying due to learner?s insecurity, you might try to repeat it yourselves. Try, please. Perhaps forcing it through your own mouth will shape it into something meaningful. After all, you are an advanced speaker of  English,? or are you? Well, anyhow, the phrase is still not making sense. By now, your probably Portuguese friend has started to get impatient with your ignorance. They might even find a lame excuse to scurry away, muttering things that do not require knowledge of Portuguese to understand. And you are already repeating the utterly incomprehensible and puzzling phrase, making a mental note to ask your teacher.  Would you ever believe your teacher if they told you that your friend was actually trying to say Ploughman?s lunch (a typical English cheese sandwich)? Imagine trying to combat a French lady persistently asking for a slice of garrot geck, a student struggling to explain that he has visited Con tear boory which is a seaty and it ez catty drawl, or even the burly and somewhat scary guy declaring that he go eat some creeps now.  * Heavily affected pronunciation is usually simply funny. But very often it becomes frustrating and sometimes it can even be misunderstood with undesirable consequences. You should never let it hinder your communication skills. After all, trying to improve one?s pronunciation of a foreign language shows respect for the language and the speakers.