EMI one-day course

English Pronunciation Basics for Cantonese Speakers

Pronunciation

• Consists of the phonemes (sounds from alphabetic letters)…– 24 consonant sounds– 20 vowels sounds

• …and stress, rhythm and intonation

Cantonese speakers

• Cantonese is in a different language family than English

• English is a Germanic language in the Indo-European family

• Chinese is in the Sino-Tibetan family• This results in very different ways of making

sounds with our mouths.

Strategy for 90-minute lesson

• Focus on the areas where English and Cantonese are most different

• Practice some of these starting with vowels and consonants

Th- sound

• Three-free• Thin-fin• Thread-Fred• Death-deaf• They-day• Those-doze• Words from your

subject area:

l-n-sound

• Lot-not• Night-light• Life-knife• Lame-name• Line-nine• Words from your

subject area:

V-sound

• Vic-wick• Wine-vine• Why-vie• Advice• Arrive• Five • Words from your

subject area:

l-r-(w)-sound

• lamp ramp• lace race • lake rake (awake)• lock rock (wok)• light right (white) • load road• Words from your

subject area:

S-sh-sound

• Sea-she• She sells seashells on

the seashore.• Words from your

subject area:

Most difficult word

• What do you think is the most difficult word to pronounce in the English language?

Why is English sometimes so hard to pronounce?

• ⅓• ⅕• ⅚• five-[sIksθs]

Task: Consonant clustersPartner A

• How do you spell:

• Grow• Bloom• Flea• Fry• Clock

Task: Consonant clustersPartner B

• How do you spell:

• Grass• Free• Frame• Flute• Crown

Vowels/i/ /I/

• Sheep- ship• Beat-bit• Chip-cheap• Seed-sit• Words from your

subject area:

Vowel length

• Perhaps the most characteristic feature of a Cantonese accent in English is the clipping of vowels on words ending in a consonant.

• “Voiced” consonants (g,d,b,z,v) at the end of a word require the vowel to be longer.

• Compare these two words and listen to the vowel sound– “Dock” and “dog”

Vowel Lengthening

• Pick-pig• Lived-lift• Lock-log• Tab-tap• Miss- Ms.• Lake-leg• Save-safe

• Feet-feed• Knees-niece• Lice- lies• Plays-place• Proof-prove• Belief-believe• Excuse (n)-excuse (v)

Lengthening Exercises

• Example:• What’s a cap?– A kind of hat.

• What’s a cab?– A taxi

Lengthening ExercisesPartner A

• What’s a seat?• What’s a seed?• How do you spell “tight?”• How do you spell “tide?”• What does wrote mean?• What does rode mean?

Lengthening ExercisesPartner B

• What is a rope for?• What is a robe for?• What does “bright” mean?• What does “bride” mean?• How do you spell “beg?”• How do you spell “bake?”

Regular past tense

• Walked (t)• Liked (t)• Laughed (t)• Closed (d)• Filled (d)• Smiled (d)• Agreed (d)• Hugged (d)• Planned (d)

• Decide• Want• Need• Add• Start• Rent• Crowd• Visit

Past tense exercise

Partner A• Wash• Cause• Arrange• Load• Cause• Calculate• Subtract• Practice • Multiply

Partner B• Plant• Wait• Work• Divide• Open• Save• Add• Record

Nouns and verbsVerbs have a longer (last) syllable

Verbs• Use (it)• Prove (it)• Save (it)• Excuse (me)• Advise (me)• Believe (me)• Relieve (me)

What are the associated nouns?

• What use is it?• Show me the proof.• Put your money in a safe.• That’s a good excuse.• Give me some advice.• He has strange beliefs.• The device is broken.• I need some relief.

Word stress

• Word stress in English is so important that it is sometimes more important than the actual letter sounds.

• I can swim. [kən]• I can’t swim. [kænt]• All words of two syllables or more have stress

on at least one syllable.

Word stress

• 7/11• Seven eleven• There is no set system but there are some

patterns.• For example, what pattern do you notice:

• Reduction, suggestion• Politician, registration• Participation examination• Identification, electrification

Stress on second last syllable

•Reduction, suggestion•Politician, registration•Participation examination• Identification, electrification

More stress patterns

• Strategic• Economic• Statistic• Biology• Geology • Astronomy• Policy• equality

• Main stress comes on the syllable before:

• ic• omy, • ery ,• ogy,• ity

Where is the stress?Patterns do not hold for all endings, e.g., “ment”

• Argument• Establishment• Regiment • Achievement

Stress on nouns and verbs

Nouns (try making a question starting with “Is it a…”• Record

• Object• Permit• Suspect• Conflict• Contract• Increase• Produce

Verbs (try asking a question starting with “Does it…”

• Record• Object• Permit• Suspect• Conflict• Contract• Increase• Produce

English rhythm

• I really like eating apples.• I really like eating apples.• 我好鍾意食蘋果 .

• Content words tend to be stressed while function words are unstressed.

• In Cantonese, all words tend to be equally stressed.

English rhythm

• The girl is interested in increasing her vocabulary.

• The girl is interested in increasing her vocabulary.

Practice rhythm

• I ate a chicken salad sandwich• In an hour, I’ll be ready to go to school.• He eats three full meals each day.• Do you like the photo on your passport?• My cat eats fish and she likes to hunt mice in

the garden.• Make sure you study for the test during the

holiday.

Rhythm

• I ate a chicken salad sandwich• In an hour, I’ll be ready to go to school.• He eats three full meals each day.• Do you like the photo on your passport?• My cat eats fish and she likes to hunt mice in

the garden.• Make sure you study for the test during the

holiday.

Intonation

• English uses rising and falling tone to indicate meaning?

• For example– Falling tone indicates the end of a sentence.– Rising tone indicates a yes/no question.– Rising also indicates a list• Get some bananas, oranges, apples and lemons.

Coffee or tea?• Would you like coffee or tea?• Two stress and intonation patterns…• …and different expected answers.

• Would you like coffee or tea? (Choose one)

• Would you like coffee or tea? (yes or no)

Common teachers’ question?Either or

• Is the answer 2 or 4?• CPU or RAM?• Melody or harmony?• 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional?• Underhand or overhand?• Think of two words or concepts in your own

teaching that you ask this type of question.

Why is spoken English so hard to understand?

• Is he busy?• Ed • edited • it.• ededitit

Informal contractionswhich you don’t learn in school

• Wanna- I wanna study English. (want to)• Gonna- I’m gonna study English. (going to)• Hafta- I hafta study English. (have to)• Gotta- I’ve gotta study English. (got to)• Shoulda- I shoulda studied English. (should

have)• Do you… [jə]

Informal sentences

• What are you going to do tonight?• [wǝdǝyǝgǝnǝdutǝnait]• Do you want to go to a movie tonight?• [jəwanəgotəəmuvitənait]

Finding the stress in tech words

• alphanumeric, asynchronous, proprietary, mnemonic

• Acrylics, Assemblage, Maquette, Rhythm

• disassembly, ergonomics, translucent, malleable, adhesive

• strenuous, sport etiquette, calisthenics

• revenue, allotment, Merchandiser, Proprietorship

• utensils, recipe

Classroom instructional language

• http://www.slideshare.net/josemariaagulleiro/classroom-language-simple-instructions

• http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/training/

Dictionary help

• Check online dictionaries for sample tech words pronunciation

• http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/acrylic

• http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/proprietary

• Requests?

Pronunciation help

• http://www.howjsay.com/