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Englishlearnerinjp Posted 14 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Urgently need your honest opinions on their pronunciation!!!!
Hi everyone,
I know this is not your business, but could anyone (native speakers preferred) give me your take on their pronunciation?
In this file, there are three Japanese people talking in English on how Japanese people speak poor English, shy away from speaking their minds, etc. They speak only Japanese for the first minute of the file, by the way.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17434844/hirosimanodosummit/11070715.MP3
Let's say the most talkative guy in this file is Mr. A, the second Mr. B, and the least Mr. C (he starts saying "you know, I do a lot of businesses with Koreans" at around 4:50).
According to some Japanese guy who claims he knows how to speak English like a native speaker (especially a white person), Mr. A is a genius because he sounds like a white American in terms of pronunciation accuracy and voice. He thinks Mr. A is the only person among the three whose voice is like that of a white person. He believes that native speakers of English use their vocal organs differently from native speakers of Japanese, which I actually think is partly true. But he seems to overfocus on that and dismiss Mr. C as just a good speaker of English, not even close to Mr. A in terms of pronunciation.
Anyway, I found it ridiculous, so I said "Mr. C sounds closest to a native speaker, even though he doesn't talk much during this conversation. More importantly, there’s not much difference in the accuracy of their pronunciation. Voice doesn't matter as much as you think." Apparently, he and his followers think I am crazy and have no comprehension ability.
Am I wrong to think that Mr. C sounds more natural than the other two? I totally know this is just a trifling matter and not worth arguing over, but it would be really nice if some native speakers commented on this file.
Am I wrong to think that Mr. C sounds more natural than the other two? I totally know this is just a trifling matter and not worth arguing over, but it would be really nice if some native speakers commented on this file.
I know this is not your business, but could anyone (native speakers preferred) give me your take on their pronunciation?
In this file, there are three Japanese people talking in English on how Japanese people speak poor English, shy away from speaking their minds, etc. They speak only Japanese for the first minute of the file, by the way.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17434844/hirosimanodosummit/11070715.MP3
Let's say the most talkative guy in this file is Mr. A, the second Mr. B, and the least Mr. C (he starts saying "you know, I do a lot of businesses with Koreans" at around 4:50).
According to some Japanese guy who claims he knows how to speak English like a native speaker (especially a white person), Mr. A is a genius because he sounds like a white American in terms of pronunciation accuracy and voice. He thinks Mr. A is the only person among the three whose voice is like that of a white person. He believes that native speakers of English use their vocal organs differently from native speakers of Japanese, which I actually think is partly true. But he seems to overfocus on that and dismiss Mr. C as just a good speaker of English, not even close to Mr. A in terms of pronunciation.
Anyway, I found it ridiculous, so I said "Mr. C sounds closest to a native speaker, even though he doesn't talk much during this conversation. More importantly, there’s not much difference in the accuracy of their pronunciation. Voice doesn't matter as much as you think." Apparently, he and his followers think I am crazy and have no comprehension ability.
Am I wrong to think that Mr. C sounds more natural than the other two? I totally know this is just a trifling matter and not worth arguing over, but it would be really nice if some native speakers commented on this file.
Am I wrong to think that Mr. C sounds more natural than the other two? I totally know this is just a trifling matter and not worth arguing over, but it would be really nice if some native speakers commented on this file.
Top answer
Hello, englishlearnerinjp—and welcome to English Forums. In my opinion, you are absolutely right. All three men are very fluent in English and they can speak at native speed and with broad vocabularies, but Mr C certainly has the least trace of accent and the best enunciation; he is the only one that could fool me into thinking he was a native speaker if you hadn't told us they were all Japanese.
- Hello, englishlearnerinjp—and welcome to English Forums.
- In my opinion, you are absolutely right.
- All three men are very fluent in English and they can speak at native speed and with broad vocabularies, but Mr C certainly has the least trace of accent and the best enunciation; he is the only one that could fool me into thinking he was a native speaker if you hadn't told us they were all Japanese.
- Mr A speaks most rapidly, so that may be why your acquaintance thinks Mr A is the most adept, but actually, Mr A also makes the most grammatical mistakes (primarily with plural '-s') and also slurs word endings most obviously, which is one trait of Japanese English speakers.
- I complement them all on their facility in English, however; not even the most advanced of my students are so fluent.
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1 Answers
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Hello, englishlearnerinjp—and welcome to English Forums.
In my opinion, you are absolutely right. All three men are very fluent in English and they can speak at native speed and with broad vocabularies, but Mr C certainly has the least trace of accent and the best enunciation; he is the only one that could fool me into thinking he was a native speaker if you hadn't told us they were all
In my opinion, you are absolutely right. All three men are very fluent in English and they can speak at native speed and with broad vocabularies, but Mr C certainly has the least trace of accent and the best enunciation; he is the only one that could fool me into thinking he was a native speaker if you hadn't told us they were all
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