Misconception when learning English: Pronunciation is not important

Many English learners think their pronunciation is good because teachers rarely correct them and others understand them. They think that pronunciation is not important. This can be a big mistake.

The fact that when you learn English in your home country, you are not corrected does not mean that your pronunciation is correct.The fact that you don't get corrected actually comes down to two facts:

Firstly, most teachers ignore students' pronunciation mistakes and only interrupt when they cannot understand what is being said. The reason is that students have too little class time, teachers cannot correct pronunciation for each student.

Second, most teachers often do not know how to help students with poor pronunciation. As a result, pronunciation is the most neglected part of learning foreign languages ​​in general and English in particular.

Besides, if you are Vietnamese and your classmate is also Vietnamese, even if you pronounce it incorrectly, the other person will still understand. Because you both make the same pronunciation mistakes.

The other fact is that your pronunciation can be very different from that of a native speaker, and it is a big barrier to communication.If you believe your pronunciation is good enough to communicate, try going abroad and talking to native speakers. You will be surprised that even if you are the best in your class in English, when you go abroad, in the beginning, native speakers will only understand about 50% of what you say.

You need to talk to foreigners in their country. Photo: pda.vn

So how do you make sure that when you speak English, native speakers will understand you? If the problem isn't your delivery, it's probably your pronunciation.

If your English pronunciation is too different from native speakers, they will have to strain to understand what you are saying. This is uncomfortable and may be the reason why they are reluctant to talk to you.

If you have never spoken to a native speaker in their country, don’t assume that your pronunciation is good. Your English teachers in Vietnam, even if they are native speakers, are already familiar with the way Vietnamese people speak English and can understand you easily.

Your goal is to speak English so that you can communicate with everyone in the world, including native speakers in their own country, so spend some time in your English budget on pronunciation. It will help you a lot later on.

According to VNE