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Q: Question for the other ESL teachers
What are the most difficult English syllables for mainland Chinese to pronounce?
11 years 49 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
One of my students nearly swallowed her tongue when I asked her to say the word 'bugs'...
The "th" sound is definitely one of the hardest for them.
/th/ hands down!!! (given that only 3 major world languages have this phone, not surprising...)
Some have a problem with /r/ and /l/, which tends to mostly be northerners. Simlarly, /w/ and /v/ will often be mixed up (again, northerners).
Some can't do /zh/ (can't do the right symbol) - like in 'usual' But, it's mostly in that word alone (usuall/usually). If you drill it, words such as 'treasure' and 'pleasure' will be easy for them, but bad habits will mean that 'usually' will still be a problem (for those who have that problem)
somesing, sank u, yurally, and if you want a good chuckle, ask them to say "BROWN"
i thinks those words would be thanks you, usually ,thirsty i dont know exactly but i can guess so
excuse me, may i cut in, honesty, i made a mistake,
Don't worry = don't urry or orry
It's not my fault = it's not my f-ck.
Ice cream = eyes scream
Th = z
zat=that, zing= thing, zem= them and so on.
Photography = photo graphy
And the list goes on as many have point out.
As a chinese student,i'd say "th" isnt the hardest one if i be careful,we just forgot it all the time.the key issue of our awful oral english isnt cos we dont know how say it,it cos when we speak chinse our mouth dont have such a big move,for example a chinese barely can tell what other people saying from mouth,but in english you can...so i think the point is the mouth
Depends on where they're from. With Hong Kong people it is often the /r/, /l/, /y/ sounds and a good tongue twister for that is "Red lorry, yellow lorry." repeated at least 4 times.
This links to another problem I have encountered, the /r/ sound as in rude and the /y/ sound as in yellow. Trouble with that one is my usual technique of drawing a mouth and telling them where to put the teeth, lips, and tongue (and where to move it) doesn't work as it is almost identical. On that one I get them to hold their throat (gently) and feel the difference. (If they are adults and 'comfortable' with this idea you can get them to hold your throat while you correctly pronounce it. (I wouldn't try that with children, or the more introverted characters.)
