針對以廣東話為母語者的口音矯正
針對想改進英文發音、母語為廣東話人士的5個英文發音技巧
Accent Reduction for Cantonese Speakers
5 English pronunciation tips for Cantonese speakers who want to improve their English accent:
1) Voiced Consonants
- Cantonese speakers often have difficulty producing voiced consonants in English.
- If you touch your neck and say V, Z, B, D, G then you should feel vibrations. This is because these are voiced consonants and your voice box is vibrating.
- If you do the same and say F, S, P, T, K, then you should feel no vibrations. This is because these are unvoiced consonants.
- Here are the unvoiced consonants and their counterparts:
- S – Z
- F – V
- P – B
- T – D
- K – G
2) L & N
- N is made with the tip of the tongue touching the top of the mouth (just behind the teeth). The air escapes through the nose.
- L is made with the tip of the tongue in the same place. However, the sides of the tongue are down and the air escapes through the mouth.
- Touch your nose. If it’s vibrating, then you are making N, if not then you are making L.
- Compare:
- Night – Light
- No – Low
- Not – Lot
3) L & R
- L is made with the tip of the tongue touching the top of the mouth (just behind the teeth). The sides of the tongue are down. The air escapes through the mouth.
- R is made with the tip of the tongue curling back in the mouth. We don’t touch the top of our mouths when pronouncing a R sound in English. The air escapes through the mouth.
- Compare: low – row, led – red
4) TH
- This is made by putting the tip of the tongue by the back of the upper front teeth.
- Keep the tip of the tongue relaxed.
- Do not confuse it with:
- T – tin – thin
- D – den – then
- Z – zen – then
- F – fin – thin
5) Words ending in a consonant
- When a word ends in a consonant, do not (1) add a vowel or (2) take the consonant away.
- Book not (1) Booka not (2) Boo
- Red not (1) Reda not (2) Re
- Hat not (1) Hata not (2) Ha
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