Anglophone pronunciation of foreign languages explained

pronounced as /notice/The following is a list of common non-native pronunciations that English speakers make when trying to speak foreign languages. Many of these are due to transfer of phonological rules from English to the new language as well as differences in grammar and syntax that they encounter.

This article uses International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation. See and IPA chart for English for an introduction.

Esperanto

See also: Esperanto phonology.

• English speakers tend to assimilate pronounced as //m// to pronounced as /[ɱ]/ before pronounced as //f// or pronounced as //v//, as well pronounced as //n// to pronounced as /[ŋ]/ before pronounced as //k// or pronounced as //ɡ//, neither of which occurs in "strictly regular" Esperanto. However, since Zamenhof himself recognized this type of assimilation, there is debate over whether this is actually an error.
• Speakers tend to pronounce Esperanto pronounced as //e// as pronounced as /[eɪ]/, the vowel of pay.
• Speakers tend to reduce unstressed vowels.
• Speakers tend to pronounce pronounced as //x// as pronounced as /[k]/ or otherwise have a hard time pronouncing it. This sort of difficulty is behind the gradual shift from (ĥ) to (k) (see Esperanto phonology#Loss of phonemic ĥ).
• Speakers tend to pronounce the rhotic consonant as pronounced as /[ɹ]/, rather than an alveolar trill. Speakers of non-rhotic accents tend to mute the r when at end of a word or before a consonant.
• Other pronunciation difficulties are related to spelling pronunciations of digraphs. The digraph (sc) represents pronounced as //st͡s//, though speakers may substitute pronounced as /[s]/ or pronounced as /[sk]/. The digraph (kn) represents pronounced as //kn//, though speakers may mute the pronounced as //k//. The (g) in the digraph (ng) is always pronounced.

German

See also: Standard German phonology.

• One of the most difficult is German pronounced as //eː// as it is further forward in the mouth than in varieties of Standard English so that speakers may pronounce German geht as if it were English gate.
• Similarly, speakers may pronounce German pronounced as //oː// with the vowel of goat so that ohne is pronounced pronounced as /[ˈəʊnə]/.
• Speakers tend to have difficulty with the front rounded vowels, pronounced as //øː//, pronounced as //œ//, pronounced as //yː//, and pronounced as //ʏ// (written (ö) and (ü)).
• Speakers have some difficulty with German pronounced as //a//, which may be pronounced as pronounced as /[æ]/ or pronounced as /[ɑ(ː)]/. Equally, pronounced as //aː// may be pronounced as pronounced as /[ɑː]/, though this is less problematic since the same realisation is also used by some native speakers.
• Speakers have difficulty with the two sounds represented by (ch) (pronounced as /[x]/ and pronounced as /[ç]/) in German, particularly the latter. Often both are replaced with pronounced as /[k]/; replacement of pronounced as /[ç]/ with pronounced as /[ʃ]/ is also common.^[1]
• Speakers may have trouble pronouncing German (l) as a clear l in positions where it is a dark l in English (that is, in the syllable coda).^[2]

Mandarin Chinese

See also: Standard Chinese phonology.

• English speakers have difficulty with the 4 lexical tones of Mandarin Chinese.

Russian

See also: Russian phonology.

• Some speakers have difficulty with the trilled pronounced as /[r]/ in Russian, especially the palatalized pronounced as /[rʲ]/ since neither are sounds of English.
  • Non-rhotic speakers, even after learning the rolled-r, are prone to omit pronounced as //r// in such Russian words as удар pronounced as /[ʊˈdar]/ ('blow') and горка pronounced as /[ˈɡorkə]/ ('hillock').
• Depending on the speaker's dialect, they may have difficulty with "dark l" pronounced as /[ɫ]/ (that is, velarized pronounced as /[l]/, which in Russian contrasts with a palatalized pronounced as /[lʲ]/) in positions other than in the syllable coda.
• Difficulty with Russian vowels:
  • Most English speakers have no pronounced as /[ɨ]/ (although it is an allophone in some dialects, see weak vowel merger) and speakers generally have difficulty producing the sound. They may instead produce pronounced as /[ɪ]/.
  • Speakers may replace pronounced as //e// with the diphthong in day. e.g. pronounced as /[ˈdeɪlə]/ instead of pronounced as /[ˈdʲelə]/ дело ('affair').
  • Speakers are likely to diphthongize pronounced as //u//, making сижу pronounced as /[sʲɪˈʐu]/ ('I sit') sound more like pronounced as /[sɪˈʒʊu]/. Some speakers may also universally front it to pronounced as /[ʉ]/.
  • Speakers may also diphthongize pronounced as //i// in a similar fashion, especially in open syllables.
  • Speakers may have difficulty with Russian pronounced as //o//, pronouncing it as either pronounced as /[ɔ]/ or pronounced as /[oʊ]/.
  • It is likely that speakers will make the second element of Russian diphthongs insufficiently close, making them resemble English diphthongs (e.g., pronounced as /[druzʲeɪ]/ instead of pronounced as /[druzʲej]/) or pronounce it too long.
  • Speakers may pronounce pronounced as //a// as pronounced as /[æ]/ in closed syllables так ('so') and pronounced as /[ɑ]/ in open syllables два ('two').
• Speakers may also have difficulty with the Russian vowel reduction system as well as other allophonic vowels.
  • Tendency to reverse the distribution of pronounced as /[ɐ]/ and pronounced as /[ə]/. English speakers tend to pronounce pronounced as /[ə]/ in the pretonic position, right where pronounced as /[ɐ]/ is required in Russian, while they pronounce pronounced as /[ɐ]/ in pre-pretonic positions, where pronounced as /[ə]/ occurs. Thus, speakers may say голова ('head') as pronounced as /[ɡɐləˈva]/ instead of pronounced as /[ɡəlɐˈva]/ and сторона ('side') as pronounced as /[stɐrəˈna]/ instead of pronounced as /[stərɐˈna]/.
• There are no cues to indicate correct stress in Russian. Speakers must memorize where primary and secondary stress resides in each word and are likely to make mistakes.
• Speakers tend to fail to geminate double consonants.

Serbo-Croatian

See also: Serbo-Croatian phonology.

• Speakers may have a difficulty with Serbo-Croatian pitch accent and vowel length. This rarely leads to loss of intelligibility as long as the word stress is correct.
  • Speakers may transfer vowel length from English, producing longer vowels before voiced consonants (such as pronounced as //b// or pronounced as //z//) and shorter vowels before the voiceless ones (such as pronounced as //p// or pronounced as //s//) - see pre-fortis clipping. In Serbo-Croatian, vowels can be long or short in any environment; in fact, there are minimal pairs based only on length: compare grad ('city') with grad pronounced as //ɡrâːd// ('hail').
  • If speakers learn to produce correct vowel length, they may diphthongize long pronounced as //iː, uː, eː, oː// to pronounced as /[ɪi, ʊu, eɪ, oʊ]/ instead of the correct pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|iː}}, {{IPAplink|uː}}, {{IPAplink|e̞|eː}}, {{IPAplink|o̞|oː}}]/.
• Speakers may incorrectly reduce unstressed vowels to pronounced as /link/, yielding pronunciations such as pronounced as /[ləpǒtə]/ instead of pronounced as /[lepǒta]/ for lepota ('beauty'). In Serbo-Croatian, vowels do not change their quality in unstressed positions.
• Voiced consonants (pronounced as //b, d, ɡ, dʒ, dʑ, z, ʒ//) can be only partially pronounced as /[b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, d̥ʒ̊, d̥ʑ̊, z̥, ʒ̊]/ rather than fully voiced pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|b}}, {{IPAplink|d̪|d}}, {{IPAplink|ɡ}}, {{IPAplink|dʐ|dʒ}}, {{IPAplink|dʑ}}, {{IPAplink|z}}, {{IPAplink|ʐ|ʒ}}]/.
  • Similarly, pronounced as //ʋ// (which phonologically is an approximant and therefore not the voiced counterpart of pronounced as //f//) can also be realized as a partially voiced fricative pronounced as /[v̥]/ instead of a fully voiced weak fricative pronounced as /link/.
• Speakers may incorrectly realize the voiceless stops pronounced as //p, t, k// as aspirated pronounced as /[pʰ, tʰ, kʰ]/.
• Speakers may realize pronounced as //n, t, d// as alveolar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|n}}, {{IPAplink|t}}, {{IPAplink|d}}]/ rather than dental pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|n̪}}, {{IPAplink|t̪}}, {{IPAplink|d̪}}]/.
  • Speakers may incorrectly transfer allophones of English pronounced as //t// to Serbo-Croatian, yielding pronunciations such as pronounced as /[tʃûɾi]/ instead of pronounced as /[tʃûti]/ for čuti ('to hear') or pronounced as /[ɲûʔn̩]/ instead of pronounced as /[ɲûtn̩]/ for njutn ('newton'), all of which sound strange to native ears and might not even be understood as belonging to the pronounced as //t// phoneme, potentially leading to a serious loss of intelligibility.
• Speakers may have a difficulty distinguishing pronounced as //tʃ, dʒ// from pronounced as //tɕ, dʑ//. This does not lead to loss of intelligibility as many natives merge them as well.
  • Speakers who try to distinguish pronounced as //tʃ, dʒ// from pronounced as //tɕ, dʑ// may realize the former with inappropriate palatalization, i.e. as palato-alveolar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|tʃ}}, {{IPAplink|dʒ}}]/ instead of flat postalveolar (laminal retroflex) pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|tʂ|t̻ʂ̻}}, {{IPAplink|dʐ|d̻ʐ̻}}]/.
  • The same applies to pronounced as //ʃ, ʒ//, which can be realized as pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʃ}}, {{IPAplink|ʒ}}]/ instead of pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʂ|ʂ̻}}, {{IPAplink|ʐ|ʐ̻}}]/.
• Speakers may realize pronounced as //x// as glottal pronounced as /link/, rather than a weak velar fricative pronounced as /link/.
• The palatal sounds pronounced as //ɲ, ʎ// may be realized as sequences pronounced as /[nj, lj]/.
• Instead of a trill pronounced as /link/, pronounced as //r// can be realized as a postalveolar approximant pronounced as /link/.
• pronounced as //j// preceded within the same word by a vowel (as in gaj pronounced as //ɡâːj// ('grove')) can be articulated with an insufficiently raised tongue (pronounced as /[ɪ̯]/ instead of pronounced as /[i̯]/ or pronounced as /link/).

Spanish

See also: Spanish phonology.

• Substitution of pronounced as /[ɹ̠]/ for pronounced as /[r]/.^[3]
• "R-coloration" of vowels, especially at the end of infinitives.^[4]

See also

• Accent reduction
• Non-native pronunciations of English

Notes and References

1. Web site: German Consonants 'ch' - Paul Joyce.
2. Web site: The German Consonant 'l' - Paul Joyce.
3. Web site: 2016-09-14. Most Common Pitfalls of English Speakers Learning Spanish. 2020-06-02. My Daily Spanish. en-US.
4. Web site: Pronunciación de la lengua española para anglohablantes Middle Tennessee State University. 2020-06-02. www.mtsu.edu.