Pronunciation is something that a lot of learners want to be better at, but a lot of trainers do not feel comfortable teaching. They often feel they don’t have the necessary knowledge or skills to effectively teach pronunciation. But, many learners want to improve in this area, and some even want to speak like a native. Is this all really that important?
How important is pronunciation
This is a question that rather depends on the learner. For example, I currently work with doctors here in Spain whose pronunciation is rather good, but somtimes there are a few issues. Spanish speakers generally struggle with the /v/ sound and pronounce it as a /b/ so, imagine the word “very” being pronounced “berry”. This is very common as Spanish does not have the /v/ sound. This is a sound that needs to be taught so that learners aren’t saying “yes, it’s berry berry good”.
Then there are my German clients that have issues with /w/ and /v/ and sometimes confuse their use. Again, a very normal thing to happen given that their L1 (their first language) tends to pronounce /v/ as /w/, so you might get “willage” instead of “village”.
And then there are my Russian clients, some of whom struggle to make sentences sound fluid and natural. This is all related to word stress, sentence stress and the use of weak forms (often sounds are reduced or ommitted in natural speech). Indeed, all learners of English need coaching in these particular areas of speech.
Pronunciation is not just essential, it should be an integral part of any training that takes place with English language learners. It should also be specific to the needs of the client so that valuable time is not wasted going over pronunciation areas that the client has already mastered.
If you are well understood, you have achieved the primary goal of communication.
Without pronunciation being an integral part of training, learners will not be understood as well as they could, which can lead to issues in negotiation, presentation and general conversations. And then there are those embarrassing moments when instead of saying “clean sheet”, the long vowel sound needed for “sheet” /iː/ gets shortened to /I/ making the word “sheet” sound more like “sh*t”.
Nobody wants that!
So, to reiterate, pronunciation is not just essential, it should be an integral part of any training so that learners make themselves more intelligable. If you are well understood, you have achieved the primary goal of communication.
I want to sound like a native
I have heard this many times and I totally understand that many learners want their pronunciation to be native-like. Maybe some learners need native-like pronunciation. But, my experience tells me that not many learners need that level of proficiency. Many of my clients work at international level, they are speaking English daily with people who are also using English as a second or third language. In these contexts, it is not necessary for learners to have native-like pronunciation. In addition, working at international level and speaking with native English speakers still does not necessarily warrant that your pronunciation is native-like. There needs to be a clear and specific need for such requirement.
We come to any conversation with our many different cultures, attitudes, desires and needs, and many come with English not as their first language. Of course, the way we speak will have a touch of our own culture in terms of the words we choose and the way we say them. this makes us uniquely who we are. None of this requires native-like pronunciation, all it requires is that we speak so that we are understood.
Indeed, many have raised their voices about the need for native speakers of English to be better trained to use English in an international context because it simply is not the same English that they would speak with other native speakers.
To conclude
Pronunciation training should be an integral part of learning English, I include it in every session that I deliver and so do my trainers. Is it really that important? Yes, it is!
But, trying to get learners to a native-like level is not necessary. The key is to be well understood. With good quality and consistent training, intelligibility is increased significantly when pronunciation is integrated.
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