Konnichiwa Minnasan.-
Several
times I have heard how people complain about not understanding a foreign
language after they finish their language courses.
Well here
are two reasons:
1st They make the mistake to
pronounce letters and words as they do in their native language.
2nd They don’t pay attention on how
are the sounds done (of the letters and words) of the foreign language they are
learning.
Two ways to
improve listening and pronunciation.
- Mouth movements
Avoid to pronounce
words as you do in your native language. Here is the key, even if the foreign letters
seems to be the same like in your own language, these are pronounce using a
quite different movement of your mouth, lips, jaws and pronunciation emphasis.
Let´s put
some examples: Japanese letterふ(fu) sounds more like a short “who” in English. The letter “r” in Spanish sounds like letter
“t” in English (e.g. letter). So pay attention to how foreigners do their
sounds.
- Check analogies
Another
great tip, to improve pronunciation is to make “analogies in sounds”. Look for
some word or phrase in your native language, similar to that word or phrase of
the foreign one you are try to pronounce. Doesn’t matter, if they do not have
same meaning: For example the Japanese phrase
Ohayo:gozaimasu. Here the word “
Ohayo:” sounds so similar to State of “Ohio”. So you see it!!
Now try these
powerful tips. It will tremendously improve your pronunciation and understand
of the foreigner language you are
studying.
Ja: Mata
