The Most Important Lesson on Learning a New Language

This one element is even more important than vocabulary

If you determined to learn to communicate in another language, then learn the most important element for you to be well understood — it is proper pronunciation.

Besides my native American English, I also work in American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

Just speaking the words as you see them is not enough. You really have to know how to pronounce every letter as a native does and that same letter as it appears in every word.

Have you ever been in a meeting where someone from another country is speaking English and you can barely understand a single word? He or she is hard to understand due to lack of ability to pronounce the letters and words properly.

Take a native Spanish speaker speaking English: We pronounce our vowels differently in English than Latinos pronounce theirs in their language. So for example will you understand someone who asks you for a “pah-PEAR”. Read that word aloud and see if you can figure what it is in English. Remember, this is a common English language word that I am asking you to pronounce with Latino pronunciation.

Have you figured out the word is paper? Notice our pronunciation is different from theirs. So the reverse is true, if you pronounce the words of another language as you say those same words in English, no one is going to understand you.

Now let us go the opposite direction. Imagine you need to pronounce the word libraría, which means bookstore. It looks like the word library so if you pronounce it that way — LIE-brayr-ee-ah again no one is going to understand you. In English we pronounce our vowels differently than they do in Spanish. The proper pronounciation would be Lee-brahr-EE-ah.

Getting the pronunciation down is essential. It is also important to know the unique pronunciation of certain letters in that language. For example, if you are speaking Spanish, you do have to roll your R’s. Spanish spoken without that unique quality broadcasts that you are an American trying to speak the language.

One of the best ways to get the pronunciation down is to listen to it as it is spoken by those around you, either by other native speakers or on TV or Radio. pronunciation.

Be careful, make sure the people speaking are using a form of the language that you plan to use as well. If, so, listen and practice well. If not, be aware of it, but do not imitate it.

I say the latter because, living in Boston, I would never teach anyone learning my language to speak like a Bostonian. I would encourage people to learn a more universal pronunciation. If you do not think that is essential, consider this: a friend of mine who was not from Boston picked up the accent. She then moved to Western Pennsylvania. Later, she lost her ‘car keys’ and asked if anyone had seen them in that heavy Boston accent. After telling her no, one person told her that she would have a long walk to Boston, so distinctive is the accent.

If you are coming to the United States, do not study British English. We do not speak it here; we speak American English. Granted they dialects are similar, but the accents are different, so is the spelling and even some of the words.

Likewise, if you going to work with American Latinos, they do not speak European Spanish or Portuguese. The languages are slightly different so you want to learn the dialect for the continent you will be working/living. If you are moving to Europe learn the European dialects, in Spanish that means the Theta sound for example. It also means using the pronoun vosotros — you familiar, plural — which is not used here in the Americas. We use ustedes for both familiar and formal forms of you plural.

Study the proper pronunciation from the region you intend to live and work and you will succeed in the most important aspect of the language. We can understand when someone is working to improve their grammar and even word placement and choice. When someone is not using correct pronunciation, we can understand nothing at all.

photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Joshua Adam Nuzzo/Released [Public domain]