One thing that I really get a kick out of is listening to my students pronounce English words. Sometimes I don't even know what they are saying...it's like a whole other language! Some of them ask me how to pronounce words, but others just give their own version, after which I usually have to correct them.
I already told some of you this story, but it's too good to pass up. The other day in class we were talking about Fashion and how lots of clothes are made in other countries, where the work has been outsourced and the workers are exploited by working long hours for meager pay. So my students kept saying "exploit the people" in whatever they were saying, but the pronunciation wasn't exactly right. It came out sounding more like "explode the people." I corrected them and told them they HAD to pronounce that word right, or else they would be exploding people. They thought that was pretty funny, as did I!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Pronunciation...it's more important than you think!
Posted by Kristina at 11:27 AM
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3 comments:
That is so funny. I bet it is rather entertaining to hear them speak English.
I was probaly the same way, but with speaking Spanish when I first start by mission! The people probably thought that I sounded funny! That is do good that you are able to teach them and help them learn.
The verb "explotar" in Spanish is used for both English verbs 'exploit' and 'explode.' You may need to explain the difference in meaning between these English verbs.
Dr. Meredith
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