语音学习的重要性(英语版)

IsaacZ

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<FONT size=4>WHY SHOULD YOU STUDY ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
（语音学习的重要性）</FONT>

First Impressions

Pronunciation is definitely the biggest thing that people notice when you are speaking English。 How is one's English judged by others as good or bad? Because of the difficult words used? No. Because of the advanced grammar structures contained? No. It is the pronunciation that makes sense.
When you meet a person and you just say a sentence or two, do you think they will notice your poor vocabulary or bad grammar? Probably not. However, they surely will notice if your pronunciation is good or bad. If your pronunciation is poor, they will immediately think about you as "the one who speaks bad English". It's your pronunciation creates the first impression you make.

Communication

Good pronunciation should be one of the first things that you learn in English. You can live without advanced vocabulary - you can use simple words to say what you want to say. You can live without advanced grammar - you can use simple grammar structures instead. But there is no such thing as "simple pronunciation". If you don't have good pronunciation, you have "bad pronunciation" indeed. And the results of bad pronunciation are tragic. Even if you use great vocabulary and grammar, people may simply not understand what you want to say.

Can you communicate in English?

Unfortunately, many learners ignore pronunciation. They can communicate in class, so they think that they are good enough. After a few years they go to England or the USA and. nobody understands what they are saying.

If you can communicate in English with people from other countries, congratulations! It's a big achievement. But it may not be enough. If you are of intermediate pronunciation skill, your English is understandable, but you have a strong foreign accent that is unpleasant for other people.

We have already said that your pronunciation is important because it makes your first impression. This is certainly true - nobody will say that you speak good English if you have a foreign accent. But there is more. If you have a pleasant accent, people will simply enjoy talking to you. They will want to spend time with you. On the other hand, if your accent is bad, people may be even avoiding you (consciously or unconsciously).

The good news is that you can work on your pronunciation until you speak "understandable and pleasant English" (we simply call it good pronunciation). For example, you can learn the sounds of English, listen to recordings, watch English-language television, etc. But first you have to realize there is a problem! Most English learners don't.

What is good English pronunciation?

There are three levels of English pronunciation:

*Level 1: People often don't understand what you want to say. You use the wrong sounds in English words.
*Level 2: People understand what you want to say, but it is unpleasant to listen to you.
*Level 3: People understand you, and your English is pleasant to listen to.

Level 3 will be called good pronunciation. Notice that good pronunciation is not "perfect American or British accent". You don't have to sound like the Queen of England or the President of the United States of America.

Why not? Because there are many regional kinds of English in the world. In England, people from Newcastle speak English differently from people in London. In America, people from New York City, California and Texas each have their own pronunciation. So it is no problem if you have your own accent.

But your accent must be close to the standards (American and British English). What does it mean? Turn on your TV and watch channels like CNN International, NBC, VOA or BBC. You will hear many different people (news anchors, reporters, etc.) from Germany, France, and other non-English-speaking countries. They all have good accents - easy to understand and pleasant.
The rule is: If you are close to the standard, you can always communicate, and your English will be pleasant. If you are far from the standard, sometimes you won't communicate successfully.