 Re: Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian students and pronunciation
The site you gave seems to be playing tricks with my head, Sue. It lists 27 pronunciation issues for Thai students, 26 for Germans, but only 15 for Koreans! It seems to go against what I mentioned about Thais and that language group having the 'worst' pronunciation. But I'm gonna go with my instincts on this one...
On the 'ng' sound, I have to tell you that 'Ng' is a common name in some parts of Asia. The first time I saw this name (on a class register), I was absolutely stumped!
The other experience I've had of this was in Turkey, trying to pronounce the 'u' with two dots on top (cok guzel = very good, for example). I could only get it right if I concentrated really hard on it. There was no way I could do it naturally when speaking.
So I guess I know where these students are coming from, but it's hard work to get them where they're going. |