The document discusses challenges with pronunciation for foreign language learners and offers advice. It notes that as people grow older, the "boxes" in our brain for native language sounds get stronger, making it difficult to form new boxes for foreign sounds. When hearing an unfamiliar sound, the brain puts it in the closest existing box. The document recommends listening carefully to the sounds of the target language when practicing, and choosing a clear model of English to learn based on where one lives and communicates. It outlines the basic sounds of English, differences between sounds and phonemes, and challenges with connecting words smoothly in longer utterances.

1. Problems in Pronunciation
Rabar Azad

2. Why can’t grown-up people pick up the characteristic sound of a foreign
language as a child can?

3. • In our head, there are a certain fixed boxes for the sounds of a
language, and as we grow up these boxes getting stronger and the
habits of our own language doesn’t let us to make a new box for the
sound easily.
• When we listen to our language or another, we put the sounds into
their boxes, and whenever we speak, we go to the boxes and take out
the sound in the order we want.
• Every language has different number of boxes, and the boxes are
arranged differently.

4. • For example if we have these three words (fin, thin, sin) and our
English boxes contain the sounds (f, th, s).
• In many languages, there are boxes for (f and s), but there isn’t a box
for (th).
• If a foreigner hear th sound, he has to put it in one of his boxes, but
because he doesn’t have th box, so he put it into either f or s box.
• So when he wants to say (thin) you hear (fin or sin) intead.
f th s
f th s
f s
f th s
f s

5. Lend me your ears
• So as to learn English, You must hear English. But hearing it is not
enough, you must listen to it.
• You must listen not just for the meaning, also for the sounds.
• When you listen to something and you got the word correctly, try to
practice it loudly, it is no use practicing silently.

6. Which English?
• There are as many different kinds of English as there are speakers of it.
• There are no two people speak exactly alike.
• How do you decide what sort of English to use as a model?
1- if you live in a part of the countries that use English for general
communication purposes.  choose as required in the area.
2- if you live in a part of the countries that don’t use English for general
communication purposes.  choose the one that is good for you.

7. The Basic Sounds
• There are 24 sounds in English.
• They occur initially and finally, and they also occur in other positions
in the words.
• pier beer
• base baize
• feel fill

8. Letter and Sounds
• Letters are written, sounds are spoken.
• There are 24 consonant and 20 vowels, we give each sound a letter.
• Pier /p/ - feel /i:/
• Beer /b/ - fill /i/
• Tier /t/ - fall /o:/
• Deer /d/ - full /u/
• Gear /g/ - fool /u:/
The use of the colon
( : ) with the vowels
is to show that they
are in general longer

9. Sound and Sound-group
• A sound is made by definite movements of the organs of speech, if we
repeat the exact movements you’ll hear the same sounds.
• When there are two words like tea and two, the shape of lips are
different, for tea the lips are flat, but for two the lips are round.
• The organs of speech are not exactly the same by pronouncing the
consonants /t/ without the vowels, the /t/ of tea and the /t/ of two are
different when we pronounce them alone.

10. • The group of sounds, each represented by one letter of the phonetic
alphabet, are called phoneme, and the method of representing each
phoneme by one symbol is called phonemic transcription.
• Phonemic transcription may be enclosed in diagram lines /……/.
• There is a different between phoneme and sound.
The 44 phonemes make a distinguish between the words, for example
the words fi:l from fil. But the /f/ phoneme has different sound
according to their positions.
• In theory a single phoneme is represented by a different sound in
every different position in which it occurs.

11. • In general, if two sounds belong to one phoneme in your language, but
two different phonemes in English there will be a danger of confusion
until you have learnt to forget the habits of your language and use the
sounds independently as in English.
• This is can be done by a careful listening and accurate use of the
speech organs and a great deal of practice.

12. Words and Utterances
• So as to speak, we don’t use singles sounds or single words and
phrases, to produce long utterances the sounds and words are
connected together.
• These long utterances have special difficulties:
1- They must be pronounced smoothly, without hesitation.
Pronouncing the single words are easy such as (library, been, lately, you,
to, the, have) but pronouncing the question is more difficult (have you
been to a library lately?)

13. 2- In longer English utterances some of the words are treated as being
more important to the meaning than the others.
3- The rhythm of English must be mastered. That’s the different lengths
which the syllables of English are given and the reasons why these
different lengths occur.
4- The tune of the voice, the melody of speech is different in different
languages and it is necessary to learn something of the English way of
using tune. For example, when we say (Thank you) the voice my go
from higher to lower, or from the lower to higher. These two different
tunes show two different attitudes.