Pronunciation Improvement for Indians

The first language in India is Hindi, which can be said the most scientific language. Scientific language means that the words of that language are pronounced in the exact manner in which they are written, i.e. in Hindi, we speak the word exactly as described by its spelling, viz. there is no silent letters, voiced or unvoiced sounds. Moreover, Hindi is syllabic language whereas English is stressed language, which means; in Hindi we don’t emphasize any particular syllable more than others of the same word. But while speaking English the different syllables of the same word acquire different amount of stress viz. in the word “politics” the stress is given on ‘p’ whereas while speaking “political” primary stress is on ‘li’ and in “politician”, ‘ti’ acquires the primary stress. Hence the word pronunciation in English is different from Hindi. In Hindi we don’t need to bother about stress. Hence, being part of the nation in which Hindi is the first language, people face difficulties while speaking English, due to their habits in which they speak Hindi.

The problem for Indian speakers of English is that, they are not aware that English is not pronounced scientifically. I have seen many Indians in my surroundings, who pronounce English scientifically, some of the examples are, they pronounce “individual” as /indi-vidual/ in place of /in-də-‘vijwəl/, “certain” as /sərtāin/ in place of /’sər-tᵊn/, “environment” as /en-vironmеnt/ in place of /in-‘vī-rə(n)-mənt/ and necessity as /nesesiti:/ in place of /nə-sessətee/. They pronounce English word in the same way as their spelling force them to do. The thick pronunciation of /t/, /r/ makes their English to sound less like English and more like Hindi, viz. they use to give stress on /t/ every time, (irrespective when /t/ comes at end of the spelling then it is pronounced softly) e.g. in “butter”, many Indians think that the spelling tells that /t/ should be emphasized (due to double /t/) while a native American speaker will say it as /bədᵊr/ (even /t/ is much like /d/). So, to improve English communication you need to be less scientific for the pronunciation of English words. Here are some main problem areas and tips to improve them. [ American sounds: R, T and Th]

1. The pronunciation of ‘R’, ‘T’, and ‘D’ is not clear or hard to understand/distinguish:
‘T’ sounds almost like ‘D’: In some parts of American/Europe Pronunciation of‘t’ is supposed to be less crisp. It should sounds more like a‘d’ in many cases, especially between vowels. Katie is pronounced almost like KaDie, water like waDer.

‘R’ pronunciation: There are varying observations on the sound of ‘R’:
-Let the sound of R flow; don’t put too much stress on this sound especially in the middle or in the end of a word.
-Don’t totally chewing up the sound of ‘R’ in other cases. Practice the stress on this sound, and listen to how your American/English friends use it. In ‘Robert’, the stress is on first R; let the second ‘r’ flow, without any pronounced stress.

2. ‘V’ and ‘W’ sound: This is a common problem for many Asians and Europeans, so don’t take it personally. There is a clear difference between ‘w’ and ‘v’ sounds. Even though most of Indians understand the difference, the distinction is often not carried out in spoken English. Let us try this:

-For the sound of ‘v’, place lower lip gently on the upper teeth and say the word. Don’t press it hard, you should be able to exhale through, while making the sound. Most of us find this hardest to get used to.

-For ‘w’ sound, it’s a different than ‘v’, the lips are supposed to be rounded and puckered like when we say ‘u’, and with no contact between the teeth and tongue. Move your lips in the forward direction as you vocalize the sound.
-The key distinction between the w/v sound and the ‘B’ sound is the fact that the lips are closed when we start to vocalize ‘B’.

3. ‘S’ and “sh’ pronunciation: Some of the new comers have this issue. The problem is not how to make the sound what when to use what sound. Learn the difference in pronunciation.
-The difference in the sound of ‘Sue’ and ‘Shoe’ should be easy to follow.
-‘s’ as ‘s’ or as ‘z’:  ‘S’ in Sam (the sound is ‘s’), or in ‘is’ (the sound is like ‘z’).

4. ‘Th’ should not sound like ‘da’: Not a problem of speaking, but a habit. Put your tongue between your teeth to make ‘th’ sound.

5. The vowels are VERY important to pay attention to: If you are having difficulty with vowels, make sure to correct it. The long vowels are supposed to take longer to vocalize compared to the short ones.
Short vowels: rat, leg, pig, Rob, bus: Don’t park on them, move on to next sound.
Long vowels: rate, he, side, robe, tune: Hang in there, don’t rush.

6. Not too fast or too slow: Speak slowly, but not too slow. The right pace comes with practice. Don’t chew up the words by going too fast.

7. Open the mouth properly while speaking: Let the sound come out properly while speaking. Don’t speak through the teeth or with half open mouth.

8. Syllable stress matters: Understand which parts of a word should take the stress and which ones not. This comes with listening and practicing. [Intonation]

9. Practice is a must: A regular practice- over and over- is very helpful. The best way to get rid of so-called ‘thick accent’ is by speaking and imitating local (American or English) style and slang. A few ways to practice are:
- Speak out loud, speak out often, and as much as possible
- Practice in front of a mirror, or with a friend. Make a game out of it.
- Watch TV to get exposure to the local dialects and speech mannerism.
- Record your audio, listen to it, and then practice to improve the pronunciation.
- Avoid false or fake accent [More tips for Indian Speakers]

Another problem is pronunciation of article “the”. Many Indians don’t know the rule for pronouncing “the”; they either speak it as /ðə/ or as /ði/ irrespective of the sound followed by it. The rule is when “the” is followed by a vowel then it is pronounced as /ði/ and when followed by consonant then pronounced as /ðə/. If you have listened the Hindi song Tera hone laga hun..from [ Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani], then you can easily memorize this rule from the very first line of the song “ Shining in the /ðə/ setting sun, like pearl upon the /ði/ ocean, come and feel me..”

 

Many Indians do not distinguish between /o/ and /ō/, /e/ and /æ/ viz. the /o/ sound of “plot” /plot/and “load” /lōd/ seems similar to them. Similarly, they pronounce /e/ sound in “then” /ðen/ and “than” /ðan/ with no difference.

At last, the main problem is the avoidance towards improving English pronunciation. Many people are not aware of the necessity for the good English communication. Personally, I have seen many students who are very good at many fields of studies, but while public speaking; they stammer and come out to be unable to make the audience clear about their ideas. So, it’s the advice to consider the importance of good English communication.

How to pronounce verbs ending with ''-ed ''

The English verb ending -ed is a curious construction.
The suffix -ed is the sign of the past tense. That is, most English verbs form their past tenses by adding -ed. For example, walk/walked, love/loved, sneeze/sneezed. The same ending marks the simple past tense and the perfect: Yesterday I walked. I have walked for hours.
In earlier periods, English verbs presented more variety in the way they formed the simple past and the past participle. A few of the older forms survive in what the grammar books call “irregular” verbs. These verbs do not form their past tenses by adding -ed:
sing sang (have) sung
give gave (have) given
write wrote (have) written
These “irregular” verbs are sometimes called “strong” verbs. Once very numerous in English, only a few survive–fewer than 70. Many of them, like help, became -ed verbs long ago so we no longer say holp or holpen. Some of the survivors, like wake and dive, are in the process of changing and the old and new forms are both in use:
He woke the baby. or He waked the baby.
He dove from the top board. or He dived into the pool.

You may have noticed that in English, past tense verbs with an -ed ending are pronounced in three different ways: 

• [t]
• [d] or 
• [Id].

For example, if I say the past tense verb “walked“, as in, “I walked away,” what is the last sound that you hear in the verb?

• “Walked” [wakt]

1) The -ed verb ending sounds like a [t], “Walked” [wakt], even though it ends in the letter “d”.

What do you hear when I say:

• “smelled“, as in, “it smelled bad.”

2) The -ed verb ending sounds like a [d]: “smelled” [smeld]

And when I say, “visited”, as in “I visited New York City”, how did I pronounce  that “-ed” ending?

• [Id] [vizitid].

3) The -ed verb ending sounds like [ɪd], [vizitid].

So, Here I give the three rules that explain the differences in past tense verb ‘-ed’ pronunciation. But don’t be surprised if most Americans can’t explain these rules to you! The truth is, Americans make these changes in sound without even noticing. Rules presented here are only for non native speakers, as they learn english as a second language. To clarify this point, ask yourself  How many rules have you learnt to be proficient in your mothertongue ? The answer is obvious , No rule. Why ? because, you are surrounded by the speakers of your own language. But being physically present in an area where you are not getting the environment, in which you can surround yourself with native speakers, you must know the key rules to be efficient speaker. So, Here we go .

Intro | Why the Sound Changes

Place your fingertips on the front of your neck, and pronounce the following words. What do you feel on your fingers when you say the underlined sound?

• vow | fake (vvv | fff)
• zebra | snake (zzz | sss)

– When we pronounce voiced sounds, our vocal chords vibrate when we say those sounds. [v] [z]. Did you feel the vibration? 

– When we pronounce voiceless sounds, our vocal chords do not vibrate. [f] [s]. No vibration. 

This vibration or lack of vibration then carries forward to the following sound in the word. Therefore, this vibration or lack of vibration explains why we pronounce the past tense of verbs in three voiced or voiceless ways: [t], [d] or [Id].

1) [t] final sound

Verbs ending in voiceless sounds [p, k, θ, f, s, ʃ, tʃ] cause the “-ed” ending to be pronounced as the voiceless [t] (with no vocal chord vibration).

•  [p] “He popped a balloon.” [papt]
• [k] “They talked a lot” [takt]
• [θ] “th”: “She frothed a cup of milk” [frawθt]
• [f] “I laughed at the movie.” [læft]
• [s] “She kissed a frog.” [kIst]
• [ʃ] “sh”: “We brushed it off.” [bruʃt]
• [tʃ] “ch”: “I reached around for it.” [riytʃt]

2) [d] final sound

Verbs ending in the voiced sounds [b, g, ð, v, z, ʒ, dʒ, m, n, ŋ, r, l] cause the “-ed” ending to be pronounced as a voiced [d].

•  [b] “It bobbed up and down.” [babd]
• [g] “He begged her to stay.” [bɛgd]
• [ð] “She breathed loudly.” [briyðd]
• [v] “They loved it.” [luvd]
• [z] “We raised her expectations.” [reyzd]
• [dʒ] “They bridged the gap.” [brIdʒd]
• [m] “I claimed it was mine.” [kleymd]
• [n] “They banned new members.” [bænd]
• [ŋ] “She banged into the chair.” [bæŋd]
• [r] “He cleared it up.” [kliyrd]
• [l] “I rolled up the paper.” [rowld]

3) [əd] or [ɪd] final sound

Verbs ending in the sounds [t] or [d] will cause the “-ed” ending of a verb to be pronounced as the syllable [əd] or [ɪd].

•  [t] “I visited the Empire State Building.” [vɪzɪtəd]
• [t] “She edited the research paper.” [ɛdɪtɪd]
• [d] “We ended the game early.” [ɛndɪd]
• [d] “He breaded the chicken.” [brɛdɪd]

Why are these rules important?

Connected Speech [c+v]

These “-ed” pronunciation rules are particularly important, because in English we connect [ see more about word connection] our speech when we have a word that:

• ends in a consonant; and
• is followed by a word that begins with a vowel.

In this case, the way you say the verb’s “-ed” ending will be heard loudly and clearly.

Example

• “He walked away”  [walkt] –> “He walk taway” [hiy WAWK təWEY]

Did you hear that [t] in “walked” clearly?  

H-Deletion

The same rule of connected speech [c+v] occurs when h-deletion causes us to delete the “h” sound at the beginning of a word.

Example

• “We raised her expectations” [reyzd] –> ”We raizd her expectations” –> “We raizdər expectations”

We deleted the “h” in “her”, then connected the speech from “raised” and “her”, which became “raisder”. 

Self-help tips for Indians to improve English language command

“Are you enjoying the movie?”
“Simply”
Translated literally from Tamil, simply means absolutely.
There is nothing wrong with the above conversation if both sides know the intended meaning. Now, move that conversation to somewhere in USA or Canada or England, with someone who does not know the ‘Tamil-English’, the actual meaning is lost in the translations.
English language and English grammar is a bit tricky for those who are not used to it, for those with English as a second language. The basic mistakes we make are when we ‘think’ in our mother-tongue, and then translate in our head (Many of us say ‘translate in my mind), and then speak in ‘translated’ English. Here are some self-help tips on improving English :
1. Knowing and Having – the problem of the progressive tense: many Indians often translate and speak with excessive and often inappropriate use of progressive verb form.
For example, consider this:
“I am having a fever.”
“I am having a small family”
“I am knowing that you are having a party without sending me invitation.”
Of course, the correct way of saying is:
“I have a fever”
“I have a small family”
“I know you are having a party without inviting me.”
2. Isn’t it – The tag question: We tend to use ‘isn’t it’ without any discrimination.. It is a habit, but not a good one – everything is not it.
For example:
“Those are lovely flowers, isn’t it?”
“She is so pretty, isn’t it?”
The correct version, of course, is:
“Those are lovely flowers, aren’t they?” Make sure to refer to plural ‘flowers’ as ‘are’ not ‘is’.
“She is so pretty, isn’t she?” Make sure to refer to her as ‘she’ not ‘it’
3.The Royal treatment – the big word syndrome:
The Indian English dialects have originally evolved during and after the colonial rule of Britain in India. We tend to use the royal and big word in day to day speech; such usage is not common in western day-to-day English, especially in the spoken English.
For example:
That is a magnificent idea!
That is a splendid look!
It is not wrong, but more suitable conversation may be:
That is a great idea!
That is beautiful!
4. ‘But’ or ‘only’ to stress a point: That is another thing. We use ‘but’ and ‘only’ to stress. Consider this Indian way of saying, not correct grammatically:
It was he only who broke the glass.
She was just joking but.
She did not go only.
You could say it better such as:
He broke the glass. Or, It was he who broke the glass. ( the stress is on ‘He’)
She was only joking.
In the end, she did not go.
 Don’t eat up the words:
This happens, especially during early stage when you first go abroad or start using English, when you are not used to spitting out English like you do your mother tongue. Or, in many cases, you may think that incomplete ending is obvious and make sense, but it does not.
For example:
I was planning on going to the bazaar, but then ….
Come one, then what? I am waiting here. Say something complete, something like:
I was thinking about going to the market, but I changed my mind

Enunciation and pronunciation:
And, here is the hard part. Make sure you clearly enunciate your words. Speak clear, even if you have to speak slowly. Know your pronunciation.

Reduce or lose your accent:
Indian accent – often called ‘thick accent’ – is a key hurdle in clear communications. Work on reducing and losing your accent, if you think that is an issue.

Numeric terms:

we sometimes say our phone numbers and zip codes in form of doubles or triples. e.g 333-444 (triple three triple four) instead of ( three three three four four four)

Practice, practice and practice:
Yes, cannot say this enough times. Most of the above ways of speaking are our habits, the way we are used to speaking back in India. You cannot change it overnight. Practice as much as you can. It takes time to get used to the new way of speaking. Listen to others – how they speak – and use feedback from others to improve your spoken language.
And finally, don’t worry too much about it, just make it a conscious effort to improve your spoken language.