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When I actually speak English in an English-speaking country, there are many things that I can't understand just because "pronunciation is incorrect", and no matter how many times I say it, I can't understand simple English, and I lose confidence. I think there are many people who have done this before.
This time, I will explain what English words are particularly difficult for Japanese to pronounce, that is, "English that is difficult to pronounce".
Difficult to pronounce English features (1) Words with a mixture of L and R
- really [ˈriːəli]
- blueberry [ˈbluːbəri]
- world [wɚːld]
L and R are the classics among the classics.
It is difficult to pronounce each correctly, but if one word contains multiple L and R, the difficulty will be even higher.
Furthermore, there are two types of R pronunciation, R that winds the tongue and R that pulls, and it is necessary to use different pronunciations for consonants and vowels.
For example, when pronouncing "really", the first R sound is the consonant R, so instead of pronouncing it with the Japanese "ri" sound, you have to wrap your tongue and pronounce it. I can't.
Even if we say "really" in Japanese pronunciation, it doesn't look like the original pronunciation of "really".
Also, the R of "world" is the R of the vowel, and in this case, it is pronounced by pulling it without wrapping the tongue.
[Reference article] What kind of sound is /r/ in English?
There are so many English words that have a mixture of L and R. You need to be able to pronounce correctly naturally without being aware of it.
Features of English that are difficult to pronounce (2) Words that need to be surely distinguished between vowels [æ] and [ʌ]
- fan [fæn] vs. fun [fʌn]
- staff [stæf] vs. stuff [stʌf]
- ran [ræn] vs. run [rʌn]
The vowel [æ] is a typical pronunciation that looks very easy and is unexpectedly difficult.
If you use katakana, both will be "a", but for example, when we Japanese say "fan", it sounds like "fun" which means fun.
This means that when you pronounce "fan", which represents a fan such as a ventilation fan or an entertainer, you must be able to pronounce [æ] properly.
The same goes for the past tense "ran" of "run".
The pronunciation of this [æ] is said to be an intermediate sound between "a" and "e", but the back of the tongue is lifted up and attached to the upper back teeth as in the case of "e". , Pronounced with the image of crushing the voice.
If you can't pronounce [æ], there are so many words that you can't understand or have different meanings, so you need to pay attention to this point as well.
By the way, when you look at the spelling, the alphabet "a" is often pronounced as [æ] and "u" is often pronounced as [ʌ].
You may want to study phonics about the relationship between spelling and pronunciation.
Characteristics of English that are difficult to pronounce (3) Katakana Words in which English is too established
- chocolate [ˈtʃɑːklət] chocolate
- salad [ˈsæləd] salad
- damage [ˈdæmɪdʒ] Damage
One of the reasons why Japanese people are not good at pronouncing English is "Katakana English that is too established".
Both chocolate and salad are in English, but no one would understand if they pronounced it as it is in the United States. For those of us who are too accustomed to Katakana English, it is very difficult to determine what and how much English can be understood.
In English pronunciation, chocolate is pronounced as [ˈtʃɑːklət], so it sounds like a "charklet" and the first "o" part is pronounced strongly.
Salad [ˈsæləd] can be pronounced by capturing the above-mentioned [æ] and [l].
To give another example, damage is read as "damage", but this is also pronounced like "damidge" in English pronunciation.
There are unexpectedly many cases where the pronunciation that I thought "this should be right" is not understood at all, and I am stunned.
[Reference article] "What is wrong with Katakana English?"
Difficult to pronounce English features (4) Words containing TH
- think [θɪŋk]
- Thursday [ˈθɚːzdeɪ]
- teeth [tiːθ]
TH is pronounced with the tongue out, but even if you understand that "tongue out" in your head, it is very difficult to keep conscious of it every time you pronounce a word that contains the TH sound. Because there is no sound in Japanese that is pronounced with the tongue out, the act of "putting out the tongue" itself makes you unconsciously stressed.
However, if you take care and pronounce think as "think", it will be a word with a different meaning of "sink" instead of "think" at that point. I think it will be understood in context, but it is not the correct pronunciation.
The same is true for the frequently used "thank you". Even if you say "thank you", it will be conveyed to the other party in an atmosphere, but this is a typical example of "Japanese and English". You need to improve early to speak more natural English.
Features of English that are difficult to pronounce (5) Words with accents in unexpected places
- calendar [ˈkæləndɚ] calendar
- elevator [ˈeləveɪtɚ] Elevator
- volunteer [vɑːlənˈtɪr] Volunteer
English words have a fixed position to put an accent on every word, and if you make a mistake in that position, it may not even make sense.
The English accent indicates the strength of the sound, but the Japanese accent refers to the pitch of the sound, and the concept is different from the English accent.
Even when you say "Japanese", you don't put a strong accent anywhere and it's flat. I pronounce English in this tone.
English is often thought to be difficult to pronounce, but it is not only the pronunciation that is difficult, but also the fact that the accent is taken differently from Japanese.
When the calendar is pronounced in English, it is accented at the a position of "c a lensar".
When the elevator is pronounced in English, it is accented at the e position at the beginning of " e levator". For volunteers, there is an accent in the position of the second half e of "volunt e er".
It sounds more like English when you become aware of not only individual sounds but also "accents", so it is a point that you want to be aware of.
Summary: What are the characteristics of English that are difficult for Japanese to pronounce?
I think that the difficulty of pronouncing English is something that many people learning English feel. There are many sounds that are not in Japanese, the position of the accent is different from what I think, and the songwriter of Katakana English has penetrated too much, which makes me feel that it is difficult to pronounce English. That's the cause.
Since pronunciation is not emphasized in school education, there are few opportunities to study in the first place, which can be said to be one of the causes of weakness.
If you can pronounce correctly at the word level, you will not be able to understand English even with a single word.
Studying pronunciation tends to be postponed, but please try incorporating "pronunciation" into your everyday English learning.
In the Discovering Sounds curriculum, you can learn the pronunciation of L, R, TH, which Japanese people are not good at in the very first 7th grade.
If you are interested, please try our pronunciation correction lesson first with a trial lesson.
