PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS OF

NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF
ENGLISH
l smhh mn bnt dllh @ bdul zz
Who is a non-native
speaker?
an individual whose first language was
something other than English

someone with little or no knowledge of

the English language, or someone who
speaks English fluently, but whose first
language was something else
 Contrast with Native Speakers of
English (NSE), they are the people
whose first language is English
learned English when they were
children
think in English
use it naturally
Usually they are people from English-
speaking countries like the USA, Great
Britain, Australia, Canada, Ireland, etc.
three types of English speakers
according to Kachrus Circles
Theory
Inner circle
Outer circle
Expanding circle
Inner circle
represents the traditional bases of English
English as it originally took shape and was spread
across the world
United Kingdom, the United States, Australia,
New Zealand, Ireland, Anglophone Canada and
South Africa, and some of the Caribbean
territories.
Outer circle
produced by the second diaspora of English
spread the language through the colonization by
Great Britain and the US in Asia and Africa
includes India, Nigeria, the Philippines,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya,
non-Anglophone South Africa and others.
The outer circle is also where English is
important for historical reasons and plays a part
in the nation's institutions, either as an official
language or otherwise.
Expanding circle
Finally, the expanding circle encompasses
those countries where English plays no historical
or governmental role, but where it is
nevertheless widely used as a foreign language
or lingua franca
includes much of the rest of the world's
population: China, Russia, Japan, most of
Europe, Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, etc.
Major languages in the world
Arabic
Cantonese
French
Hindi
Spanish
 in Arabic language, the speakers may
encounter some difficulties where /p/ and
/b/ are confused, and /b/ is being used for
both
example Paris is pronounced as Baris.
 In Cantonese language the initial position
of /w/ and /v/ are confused, /w/ is being
used for both.
The example is Venice is pronounced as
Wenise.
 Some non-native speakers that use French as
their first language would deal with some
difficulties such as // and // are confused and
// is being used for both.
The example of the word is Canteen
(/kntin/) is pronounced as Kntin.
 An English speaker that uses Hindi as a main
language also will have problem in pronouncing
English words. The sound of /d/ are made up
with the extreme edge of the tongue-tip curled
back to a point just behind the alveolar ridge and
this should be avoided.
For example many of them pronounced But
with Bud pronunciation
 The next major non-native speakers of English
are using Spanish as their first language are
having difficulties such as in consonant letters.
The letter /l/ is always clear and /r/ in Spanish is
a tongue-tip trill.
Example: Lord
// and // are confused but // is being used
for both.
Example is Cat (kt) is pronounced as Kt.
Rhythm in Spanish is like that of French or Hindi.
Malaysia
// sound is confused with /d/ sound.
Example of //:
Thing
Path
Example of /d/ :
Day
Duck
 their
Malaysians generally read it as thee-ya. In Oxford or any English
dictionary, the phonetic signs for this word is similar to the word
there.

debt
Pronounced as det, not debt.

doubt
Silent b too, hence daut.

receipt
In this case, the p is silent, hence ri-sit.

procedure
It's not prou-si-dear for goodness sake, but pre (e as in water)-si-jer.

penis
it's not read as pe (as in penalty)-nis, but pi-nes (as in harness).
Factors that cause the pronunciation
problems:
Lack of confidence
Lack of vocabulary
The teachers did not focus on the pronunciation
Influenced by the surrounding
Ways to overcome:

Practice
Listening
Watch the English movies, news in English
Assign the teaching and learning process to
the native speaker
phonology books
Using audio materials
Phonology classes
Qualified phonology teachers