Some thoughts on Pronunciation
As to whether you NEED to practice pronunciation, I completely agree with what Steve says: Pronouncing like a native English speaker is not important. What matters is if you can make yourself understood or not. I do not believe in spending too much time on pronunciation just because you do not sound like a native speaker. It is probably better to learn new words or phrases to improve your overall English ability.
However, there is a difference between "need needing to improve" and "want wanting to improve". I cannot help but think how I
can obtain more native-like pronunciation myself. It is more like wanting to
sing better at Kkaraoke. You can sing anyway you like, but some people want to
sing like a professional singer, probably to impress people. I do not practice
singing to be a better singer, but when I speak English, I want it to be said,
“wWow, your pronunciation is good!”
Comments
WestEnder-san,
How is your baby?!
Sometimes (no, often ) due to my pronounciation ploblem, I cannot make someone to understand what I said.
At that time, I tried to pronounce many ways, it looks like "I am a dialect dictionary".
I think I need to improve my pronounciation _to communicate_ with others...
PS
赤ちゃん、いつ産まれてもおかしくないんですよね。
どきどきします。。。
My baby boy is bouncing around in my womb and keeps me awake all night! I'm so glad that I do not have anyone else to take care of and am able to sleep as much as I can during the daytime. ;)
Yes, pronunciation is a big problem! I remember how hard I had to try when I just wanted to say "Ralph Lauren"! There are many other episodes like this... The problem is, when I finally make myself understood and the other person goes like "Oh, you mean XXX!", but it does sound the same to me. (TT)
P.S. そうなんです。一応予定日は８月１５日なので、まだ心の準備が追いつかず、待ってね、待ってね、と声をかけているのですが。でも初産は遅れるそうなので、この状態が延々と続くのかもしれません〜〜(><)
Yes I do agree with you Westender...I personally feel that 'We shouldn't concentrate on pronounciation until our English is fluent'...
As I am getting more exposure to native speaker I NEED TO IMPROVE my pronounciation so that I should sound like native speakers. But its really hard unless you are fluent in English.
My first aim is to be fluent and then I will work on my pronounciation.....
Thanks for your comment, shashi!
Yes, if we say one sentence with perfect pronunciation, then other people might think our English should be perfect as well. It would be a bit embarrassing only the pronunciation is good and our words or phrases are very poor!