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Humaniora

Learning English and Factors which Influence It

1 Februari 2015   19:35 Diperbarui: 26 April 2017   20:00 113
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Introduction

I am often questioned by the participants of education and training if there is a special English for example for broadcasting, news and engineering. I answered the question that I have never found such English for Special purpose (ESP). There are indeed English for Special Purpose for business, for example. But, what is called by ‘special’ is actually the content, while the English used in it is actually general English.

I wrote this article based on my research that English is often mispronounced and mis-stressed by Indonesian learners, even some announcers of broadcasting organization. And I am not quit sure that most English teachers of junior and senior high school pronounce and stress English words correctly.

They probably don’t realize that their English pronunciation and stress are incorrect, because no one notices it or no student understands that their teachers do wrong pronunciation and stress.

One of the factors that causes incorrect pronunciation and stress is probably they have not learned English accurately based on the International Phonetic Alphabets (IPA) which will guide the learners how to pronounce and give stress on the syllable of a word correctly.

Indonesian people generally do not recognize stress on the syllable of a word. On the other hand English (people) naturally use stress on every word. If the word consists of a syllable only, the word is usually given stress on it. And if the word consist of two or more syllable, the stress is given on one of the syllables.( example of stresses on words will be seen in this article.)

This article is expected to help English learners (readers) to smoothen their English, especially in pronunciation, stress, and style, so that their English does not sound funny/strange to English native speakers or international community.

 

There is indeed probability that Indonesian people speak English with their own way, which may be called ‘Indonglish’, just like American English, British English, Australian English, and less popular English such as Japanese English, Chinese English, and Philippine English. Just important to know, however, Japanese, Chinese, and Philippino do not like their way of speaking English, because they acknowledge that their English is bad.

 

Recognizing English Alphabeths

a. Organs of Speech

Because our business is voice, That’s why, let’s recognize our speech organs, of which probably we don’t care about so far. (I don’t care of my speech organs, whereas, I use them every day for my business). Or even, poison them with cigarettes. A friend of mine, an announcer spends 3 packs of cigarettes each day and says that the cigarettes can make his voice more melodious. Is it right? Who can guarantee it?

Recognize well your breath and voice. Your vocal cords move just like your lips. Our vocal cords can be opened and closed tightly or can also be loose altogether that can cause vibration when air passes through.

When vocal cords are in an open position (for example, when the glottis is open) and the air passes through, the sound which is produced is called ‘breath’. When the vocal cords are very closed and the air is forced to pass through, the sound which is produced is called ‘voice”. When the vocal cords are closed but there is still a narrow space which let the air passes through, the sound which is produced is called ‘whisper’.

Most speech sounds generally consist of breath and voice. Sound containing breath is called ‘breathed’ or ‘voiceless sounds’, and sound consisting of ‘voice’ is called ‘voiced sound’. Examples for breathed/voiceless sounds are f, s; and for voiced sounds are v,z,b and all vowels.

It is possible to pronounce/say various sounds with the position of glottis is closed. The sound which is produced is not breathed or voiced sounds. Such sounds do not appear in English.

b. How to Pronounce the Alphabets

There was a strange experience when I was still working for Radio Republik Indonesia Semarang. One of the newsreaders (not important to mention) pronounced the letter/phoneme W /wi/ not / dʌbəl jʊ /. So that, when reading PWI in English, he pronounced it ‘pi wi ai’, whereas, it should have been pronounced /piː dʌbəl jʊ aɪ/. Why did he make such a mistake? My analysis is that he felt enjoyable to say that due to the influence of P /pi:/ or another factor, he was lazy to check in the dictionary.

Someone who has been working and dealing with others, moreover in present globalization era, s/he has to know English terminologies. Just imagine if a secretary does not know this sentence: ‘Could you spell your name, please? How can a business run if s/he does not know it? If s/he knows the meaning, then can s/he spell his/her own name? To spell a name s/he should learn the English Alphabets below.

 

A : /ei/

J : / dʒei/

S : /es/

B : /bi:/

K : /kei/

T : /ti:/

C :/si:/

L : /el/

U : /ju:/

D :/di:/

M : /em/

V : /vi:/

E :/i:/

N : /en/

W :/dʌblju:/

F :/ef/

O : /əu/

X : /eks/

G :/dʒi:/

P : /pi:/

Y : /wai/

H :/eit∫ /

Q : /kju:/

Z : /zed/

I :/ai /

R : /a:/

 

You may find some strange phonetic symbols in the above alphabets, because we don’t find in Bahasa Indonesia, for example: colon (:). This is the explanation: for exampleà B : /bi:/, means that you have to pronounce the phoneme B with a little longer that others. For clearer example, please differentiate the following two phrahes: Sit down, please dan have a seat, please. Now pronounce the words ‘sit’ and ‘seat’. If you heard the same sounds of the two words, there should be a wrong pronunciation in one of them. Here is the transcription: / sɪt/ dan /siːt/. The overall sounds are:/ ‘sɪt ‘daʊn pliːs / and / ‘hæv ə ‘siːt pliːs /.

You also find consonants such as: dʒ, ʒ, t, . Consonant dʒ appears in Bahasa Indonesia in the words of janji, juni, jejak, but Indonesia does not have the symbol. Because we find the consonant, it is no problem for us to say that consonant in English, just like in January / ‘dʒænjʊə /, June/ ‘dʒʊn /, jasmine /‘dʒæsmɪn /.

Consonan/phoneme ‘ʒ is not found in Bahasa Indonesia. But in English you will find it such is in ‘television’ / ‘telɪvɪʒn /.

Consonant ‘t∫’ is not identified in Bahasa Indonesia, bur is it exactly the same as c. The pronunciation is the same, such as in cicak, cincang: compare with ‘church’ / ‘t∫ ɜː t∫ /. Meanwhile, consonant ∫ is neither found in Bahasa Indonesia. To distinguish the sound, please try to pronounce the following sentences:She is a very good announcer. I see her crossing the street everyday. (♀) She / ∫iː/ the pronunciation is different from i see / siː/. ∫ is a voiced sound and s is a voiceless sound. Voiced sound means when you produce it your vocal cords vibrate more than when you produce voicesless sound. The following example will be clearer to distinguish the voiced sound: father / ‘fɑːðə(r) / mother: / ‘mɑːðə(r)/, then / ’ðen / and voiceless sound : thin / ‘θɪn /, theatre / ‘θɪətə /. ð is a voiced sound and θ is a voiceless sound.

Thus, by learning the aforementioned English Alphabets, now you are expected to be able to spell your name well. Anyone, especially a non native speaker who want to master the sound system of English has to learn it attentively because only few of its elements may be similar to those found in his/her own language.

Phonetic Symbols for English

a. Language Terminology

Vocals/vowels in English (the number of which is 12) and consonants (the number is 24) and diphthongs (the number is 8) will be described in the next part of this article.

Prevously, let’s study the following language terminologies.

●Phone / ‘fəʊn / n : language sound

●Phoneme / ‘fəʊniːm / n : the smallest unit of sound which has meaning.

●Phonemic / fəʊ’niːmɪk / adj 1. In relation with phoneme. 2.in relation with

phonemics.

●Phonemics / fəʊ’niːmɪks / n : scince of ilmu phonemics

●Phonetic / fəʊ’netɪk / adj 1. In relation with science of phonetics. 2. In

relation with sound. 3. sesuai dengan cara pengucapannya.

●Phonetics / fəʊ’netɪks / n : science of language sound and the way of

writing it; science of phonetics.

24 Consonants

p

pen, copy, happen

b

back, baby, job

t

tea, tight, button

d

day, ladder, odd

k

key, clock, school

m

more, hammer, sum

n

nice, know, funny, sun

l

light, valley, feel

r

right, wrong, sorry

f

fat, coffee, rough, p

v

view, heavy, move

s

soon, cease, sister

z

zero, music, roses

h

hot, whole, ahead

w

wet, one, when, queen

g

get, giggle, ghost

church, match, nature

judge, age, soldier

ŋ

ring, anger, thanks, sung

θ

thing, author, path

ð

this, other, smooth

ʃ

ship, sure, national

ʒ

pleasure, vision

j

yet, use, beauty, few

12 Vowels

fleece, sea, machine

ɪ

kit, bid, hymn, minute

ɑː

start, father

æ

trap, bad

e

dress, bed, head, many

ʌ

strut, mud, love, blood

ɔː

thought, law, north, war

ɒ

lot, odd, wash

, two, blue, group

ɜː

nurse, stir, learn, refer

u

thank you, influence,

ə

about, common

 

 

8 Diphthongs

face, day, break goose

price, high, try

ɔɪ

choice, boy

əʊ

goat, show, no

mouth, now

ɪə

near, here, weary

square. fair, various

ʊə

poor, jury, cure

ˈ

(stress mark)

 

() shows the primer stress and is put on the syllable which has stress, for example: defend /dɪ’fend /. The primer sound in American English is shown with (). (,) shows the secondary sound and is put below the syllable which has the secondary stress, for example: education /,edjuː’keɪʃn/ or /,edʒ uː’keɪʃn/.

 

b. Pronunciation and Stress Problem

Word stress is one of the keys to recognize the English pronunciation. It is the magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they do not even know they use it. Non-native speakers speaking English to native speakers without using word stress encounter to problems:

1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast.

2. Native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.

The way to overcome the problem is to imitate and practice what the native speakers say or speak. ‘Speaking is a matter of habit and its acquisition is accomplished through repeated and untiring practice on the part of the learner. (Ramelan, 1985). ☻Ramelan, a professor from IKIP Semarang (now Universitas Negeri Semarang UNNES) pointed out that speaking is a habit and it could be achieved through sustainable practice.

That’s why, a presenter and or announcer as well as reporter of English in radio or television will automatically speak English fluently because they always practice English every day.

However, someone should not be proud of himself. S/he should realize whether his/her English has met the requirements based on the international standard. Based on the fact that some of them, including some government officials still make some mistakes when they use English words. Let’s se the word ‘event’ which is prononced / iːvən / without any stress on one of the syllables. Or even said / evən / which is not found in English. Whereas, the word must have been pronounced / iːvent/ with stress on the second syllable. Meanwhile, ‘even’ without t, is pronounced /‘iːvən/ and stressed on the first syllable. ‘Even’ and ‘event’ are different from each other. So, when you listen a reporter saying /‘iːvən/ , please remind his/her that it should be pronounced / iːvent/, and the editors should write it with t.

Something funny when in a time, an announcer of a radio station pronounced a foreign a word ‘rate’ as / ‘rɑːtə/. The phrase is ‘BI Rate’. If BI is pronounced with Bahasa Indonesia, it’s ok, anyway, because it is a name, but ‘rate’ is pronounced /‘rɑːtə/, it’s funny, isn’t it?. I am sure, you as an English department student can pronounce the word ‘rate’ correctly, can’t you?

I once did a research on English news broadcasting in a radio station. The research was on the pronunciation and stress on words and sentences spoken by the newsreaders. The result was considered good because the mistakes on the pronunciation and stress only reached 4.86 percent. However, seen from the number of words repeatedly pronounced incorrectly was high enough, which reached 501 words from the total of 10.307 words.

Below is a table showing the mistakes in pronunciation and stress.

Types of Stress Mistake Occurrences

No

Type of Stress Mistakes

Occurrences

Percentage

1

Simple Noun Stress

335

66.9 %

2

Simple Verb Stress

49

9.8 %

3

Simple Adjective Stress

72

14.4 %

4

Simple Adverb Stress

45

8.9 %

 

Total

501

100 %

 

As you see the highest mistakes took place on the nouns which reached 66,9 %. This happened possibly due to nouns appeared very often in the news items.

These are example of words which were often mispronounced and mis stressed

Words

Standard

Stress Mistakes

administration

/ ədmɪnɪ’strʃn/

/edmɪnɪstrʃn/

addition

/ə’dɪʃn/

/edɪ’sɪən/

alumni

/ə’lʌmniː /

/’æləmniː/

areas

/’əs /

/’ʌʌs /

committee

/kə’mitɪ/

/kɑmitɪ/

cooperation

/ kəu,ɑpə’rʃn/

/ kəupə’rʃn/

education

/edʒu’kʃn/

/edʒukʃn/

electricity

/ɪlek’trɪsɪtɪ/

/ɪ’lektrɪsɪtɪ/

professor

/prə’fesə/

/prɑfesɑ/

regency

/’ri: dʒənsɪ/

/ri: dʒənsɪ/

academic

/ ækə’demɪk/

/ ə’demɪk/

comparative

/ kəm’pærətɪv/

/ kəmp ərətɪv/

foreign

/’fɑrən/

/fɑreɪn/

Illegal

/ ɪ’lɪgəl/

/ ’ɪlɪ dʒəl/

national

/’næʃn/

/’neɪnʃənl/

optimistic

/’ɑptɪmɪstɪk/

/ɑptɪmɪstɪk/

caused

/’k ɔːsd/

/’kausd/

because

/bɪ’k ɔːz/

/bɪ’kausz/

however

/hau’evə/

/’hauevə/

meanwhile

/’mi:nwail/

/mi:n’wail/

illigally

/ ɪ’li:glɪ/

/ ’ɪli:dʒəlɪ/

accurately

/’ækjurətlɪ/

/æ’kjurətlɪ/

negatively

/’negətɪvlɪ/

/nɪ’gætɪvlɪ/

transparently

/træns’pærəntlɪ/

/trensperənt’lɪ/

 

c. English Pronunciation Tips

The following are 5 tips how to practice pronunciation. You must be consistent in practicing them. When you do, I guarantee you will be a good speaker of English, even better than I am. I am, too, still learning how to be a good English speaker. Good luck!

Tip 1

Do not confuse pronunciation of words with their spelling! For example, ‘threw’ and ‘through’, although spelled differently, are pronounced the same.

Tip 2

Imagine a sound in your mind before you say it. Try to visualize the positioning of your mouth and face. Think about how you are going to make the sound.

Tip 3

Listen to and try to imitate the instructor. Listening for specific sounds. Pay attention to pauses, the intonation of the instructor’s voice and patterns of emphasis.

Tip 4

The English language has many different dialects, and words can be pronounced differently. It is important, however, that you pronounce words clearly to ensure effective communication.

Tip5
You must practice what you are learning!
Remember: You are teaching your mouth a new way to move. You are building muscles that you do not use in your own language. It is like going to the gym and exercising your body. Exercise your mouth a little bit each day.

Refferences

Christopher, P. 1981. An English Phonetics Course. Colchester and


London:Spottiswood Balantyne Ltd.

Hornby, A.S. 1974. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English.


Oxford: Oxford University Press. Third Edition.

Jones, D. 1987. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge University Press.


Ninth Edition.

Norish, J. 1983. Language Learners and their Errors. London. Macmillan

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