A good friend of mine is Japanese-American. Born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Japan, she is fluent in both English and Japanese. 

On the few occasions when I say a word in Japanese, I can see my friend cringing! Arigato, Kyoto, Tempura.  Her face says it all: my Japanese pronunciation is pretty awful.

​Why is that?

Because when I pronounce the few Japanese words I know, my brain is relying on the sounds and rhythms of my first language: English. Broca’s area—the part of our brain that is responsible for speech production—gets less flexible as we age. Unfortunately, for almost everyone, that flexibility starts to fade as early as around the age of 10.

As a result, it is natural for people, particularly adults, to use the sounds and rhythms of their first language to speak a second language. And for languages as different as Japanese and English, that creates many challenges.

Why is English Pronunciation Challenging for Japanese Speakers?
This chart illustrates just how different English and Japanese are.  The x and y axis represent different rhythmic features of a language. Without getting into the details, you can see that English and Japanese are on opposite ends of the spectrum. And that creates challenges.

The Rhythm of American English versus the Rhythm of Japanese
What is rhythm in language?

Rhythm is the timing patterns among syllables. A syllable is a word, or part of a word, with a vowel sound For example: Learn has 1 syllable because it has 1 vowel sound.  Learner has 2 syllables because it has 2 vowel sounds.

Different languages have different syllable, or rhythm patterns. English alternates between stressed syllables and unstressed syllables, and stressed words and unstressed words. For instance:  I want to improve my pronunciation of Japanese.

The words in bold are stressed. The other words are not. The underlined syllables are stressed. The other syllables are not. We call this contrastive stress. In English, contrastive stress is made up of volume, pitch and length.

Japanese does not use contrastive stress in the same way as English. Pitch is used, but each syllable (or, to be precise, each mora, which is the unit of rhythm in Japanese) is said with equal length. As a result, English vowels are often too short when pronounced by Japanese speakers.

This image shows the difference between a language that has a very even rhythm, such as Japanese, and a language with a lot of rhythmic variation, such as English.

​Vowel Challenges for Japanese Speakers of English
As described above, a major challenge for Japanese speakers when they pronounce English vowels is the rhythm, specifically the length.

In addition, just the sheer number of vowel sounds in English is challenging. Japanese has only five vowel sounds. American English has about 15 vowel sounds (depending on the regional accent.) That means that Japanese speakers of English need to work on distinguishing and producing many more vowel sounds. 

The good news is that there is some flexibility with English vowel sounds. After all, there are dozens and dozens of native English accents, and vowel pronunciation varies. As long as the pronunciation of English vowels is in a "range of recognizability" (i.e., close enough that the word can be deciphered by the listener) and the vowels are given enough length to make the stress clear, you can be understood fairly easily.

What about Consonants?
When it comes to English pronunciation, do consonants matter?

Yes, they do.

However, research shows that some consonant sounds impact the listener’s ability to understand you more than others[1].

Plus, for many adults, it is not even possible to change the pronunciation of individual sounds to any great degree. That is because of the above-mentioned Broca’s area.

So it’s extremely important to prioritize. Before you devote months and possibly years trying to address all the consonant challenges for Japanese speakers of English, I suggest getting a pronunciation assessment from a professional teacher. An assessment will identify which consonants in particular are tricky for you, and which ones matter the most.

Consonant Priorities for Japanese Speakers of English
Based on research of which consonant sounds have the biggest impact, I typically recommend the following consonants as a starting point for Japanese speakers of English.

• /l/ vs. /r/. Glamour is pronounced Grammar, or Arrive is pronounced Alive.
• /b/ vs/ v/.  Very is pronounced Berry.
• Articulation of final consonants: Japanese speakers often delete consonants that occur at the end of a word. Shine sounds like shy.
• Consonant clusters: Because Japanese has few consonant clusters, these may be broken up with a vowel sounds.  Ski sounds like Suhki.
• Extra final vowel sounds: Japanese speakers of English often add a vowel sound after a final consonant. Match sounds like Matchi.

Yes, there may be other consonant challenges, but it’s all about prioritizing. 

What Should a Japanese Speaker Do to Improve Their English Pronunciation?

Step One: Get a Pronunciation Assessment
As suggested above, have a professional pronunciation teacher who is familiar with intelligibility research conduct an assessment. This will ensure that have a realistic and achievable learning plan.

Step Two: Work on the “Music” of Your Spoken English
I suggest first working on the rhythm, or what I like to call the “music”, of American English. In addition to syllable stress and sentence stress, the “Music of English” includes pausing in logical places. If you pause more frequently, you will slow down your speech in a natural way and allow time to add stress to your English.

You will be amazed at how much more easily people will understand you if you change the “music” of your English. For many of my clients, who are busy professionals with not a lot of time, we can stop their pronunciation lessons here.

But sometimes, it is necessary to address consonant issues as well.

Step Three: Improve Your Pronunciation of High-Impact Consonants
Don’t work on consonants that are low-impact. You have better things to do with your free time!

Are You Ready to Work on Your English Pronunciation?
If you’re ready to improve your English pronunciation, Well Said Coaching offers all of the above: a pronunciation assessment, a course on the Music of English, and, for those who need it, additional lessons on individual vowel and consonant sounds.

If you’re interested to learn more, please check out our accent coaching and pronunciation services, and then schedule a free consultation.  

It’s true. Japanese and English pronunciation are very, very different. But with the right training and lots of practice, you can become a clear, confident English speaker. 

[1] Brown, Adam. Pronunciation Models. Singapore, Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore, 1991.
 

One of my clients was a wedding singer in Vietnam many years ago. She had a lovely singing voice. When she sang an old love song, “Yesterday Once More”, by The Carpenters to me, I understood all the words perfectly.

But when she spoke English,  she was quite challenging to understand.

Why?

The reason is clear, if you know why spoken English pronunciation is challenging for Vietnamese speakers.

Why is English Pronunciation Challenging for Vietnamese Speakers?
There are a number of reasons why Vietnamese speakers have difficulty with English pronunciation.

But let's start with the good news: the vowels of English are not that difficult for my Vietnamese students to pronounce. They are usually able to distinguish the different vowel sounds and pronounce them accurately or close enough to how they are pronounced in American English.

So that’s the good news. Here's the problem:

Vowels are not pronounced in isolation. Vowel sounds are the basis of syllables. And syllables, especially stressed syllables, are critical to the rhythm of English. If the vowel sound in a stressed syllable is not clear to your listener, you may be difficult to understand.

The Rhythm of American English versus the Rhythm of Vietnamese
What is rhythm in language?

As mentioned, a syllable is a word, or part of a word, with a vowel sound. Rhythm is the timing patterns among syllables.  For example: Tax has 1 syllable because it has 1 vowel sound.  Taxi has 2 syllables because it has 2 vowel sounds.

Different languages have different syllable patterns. Putting these patterns into distinct categories is not so simple, but in essence, there are two rhythms: syllable-timed and stress-timed.

• Syllable-timed rhythm: each syllable takes approximately the same amount of time to say.
• Stress-timed rhythm: some syllables are stressed by making them longer, and other syllables are not stressed. 

Vietnamese is a syllable-timed language. The syllables are spoken with equal length. For example, ba-na-na.

English is a stress-timed language. It alternates between stressed and unstressed syllables. Some syllables are longer. Some syllables are shorter. For instance, we stress the middle syllable in ba-nA-na by making it longer, louder, and at a higher pitch. We do not pronounce all three syllables with equal weight, as Vietnamese speakers  do. 

This image shows the difference between syllable-timed and stress-timed languages.

Are There Other Syllable Stress Challenges for Vietnamese Speakers of English?
Yes. When it comes to syllable stress, there are two additional challenges for Vietnamese speakers of English.

1. Syllable stress in long words: Vietnamese words typically have only one syllable. But English contains many words with multiple syllables. Some examples: drama (2 syllables), dramatic (3 syllables), and dramatically (4 syllables.) There are patterns for syllable stress, but there are also many exceptions. Therefore, knowing which syllable is stressed is something that must be learned.
2. Pitch: Vietnamese is a tonal language. If you change the pitch, you change the meaning of the word. Pitch in English functions differently. It doesn’t change the meaning of the word. It changes the speaker’s meaning. “Mom!” has a different pitch change (downward) than “Mom?” (upward). But both are referring to your mother. Since Vietnamese speakers use pitch differently than English speakers, intonation and even syllable stress can be challenging.

 
As you can see, when it comes to rhythm, Vietnamese and English are very different. So why was my client from Vietnam so much easier to understand when she sang English?
 
Singing English versus Speaking English
When you sing, especially a slow love song, the musical notes are often extended. And when notes are extended, it is almost always on the vowel sound. So vowel length is built into singing. And that length makes English easier to understand. 
 
Look at all the vowels in this snippet from “Yesterday Once More”:

Every sha-la-la-la
Every wo-o-wo-o still shines.
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're startin' to sing's so fine.

If my client had spoken these lines, she would have 1) given all the vowels equal length and 2) made each vowel very short.

But when she sang the vowels, she extended them. As a result, much of her accent melted away, and she sounded a lot like Karen Carpenter!  Just listen to all those long, gorgeous vowels ...

Consonants Matter, But Some More than Others
What about consonants? Aren't they important for clear English pronunciation?

Yes, they are. But research shows that some consonant sounds impact the listener’s ability to understand you more than others [1]. So it’s important to prioritize.

What’s more, changing individual sounds is an extremely time-consuming process. For many adults, it is not even possible. That is because Broca’s area—the part of our brain that is responsible for speech production—closes as we age. That closure starts as early as puberty.

So before you devote months and possibly years trying to address all the consonant challenges for Vietnamese speakers of English, I suggest you get a pronunciation assessment from a professional teacher. An assessment will identify which consonants are tricky for you, and which ones matter the most.

Based on research of which consonant sounds have the biggest impact, I usually recommend working on the following consonant challenges.

Consonant Priorities for Vietnamese Speakers of English

• Initial Position:  /p/ vs. /b/ (example: party is pronounced barty)
• Final Position:
  • Articulation: Vietnamese speakers often delete consonants that occur at the end of a word (example:  shine is pronounced shy)
  • Voiced vs. Unvoiced Consonants: Distinguishing voiced from voiceless final consonants (example: cap and cap are pronounced identically)
• Consonant clusters: Sometimes, Vietnamese speakers will delete one of the two consonants in a cluster.

So what should a Vietnamese speaker do to improve their English pronunciation?
Here are the steps I suggest:

Step One: Get a Pronunciation Assessment
Have a professional pronunciation teacher who is familiar with intelligibility research conduct an assessment. This will ensure that you have a realistic and achievable learning plan.

Step Two: Work on the “Music” of Your Spoken English
Work on the rhythm, or what I like to call the “music”, of American English.

In addition to syllable stress, the “Music of English” includes key word stress (emphasizing the most important word or words in a sentence) and pausing in logical places, which slows your speech down in a natural way.

You will be amazed at how much more easily people will understand you when you change the “music” of your English. For many of my clients, busy professionals with not a lot of time, we can stop their pronunciation lessons here. But sometimes, it is necessary to address consonant issues as well.

Step Three: Improve Your Pronunciation of High-Impact Consonants
Only work on consonants that have a high impact on your ability to be understood easily. Skip the low-impact consonants. You have better things to do with your free time!

Are You Ready to Work on Your English Pronunciation?
If you’re ready to improve your English pronunciation, Well Said Coaching offers all of the above: a pronunciation assessment, a course on the Music of English, and, for those who need it, additional lessons on consonants.

If you’re interested to learn more, please check out our Accent Coaching services, and then schedule a free consultation. 

We look forward to helping you improve your pronunciation so you can speak English as clearly as you can sing it!
 
[1] Brown, Adam. Pronunciation Models. Singapore, Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore, 1991.
 

That’s what one of my Korean clients told me after we worked on her English pronunciation. The stress she was talking about was syllable stress.

Why is syllable stress so important (and sometimes stressful!) for Korean speakers of English? Let’s explore ...

The Rhythm of American English versus the Rhythm of Korean

What is rhythm in language?

Rhythm is the timing patterns among syllables. ​A syllable is a word, or part of a word, with a vowel sound.  For example: Pass has 1 syllable because it has 1 vowel sound.  Password has 2 syllables. 

Different languages have different syllable patterns. Putting these patterns into exact categories is not so simple, but in essence, there are two rhythms: syllable-timed and stress-timed.

• Syllable-timed rhythm: each syllable takes approximately the same amount of time to pronounce.
• Stress-timed rhythm: some syllables are stressed by making them longer, and other syllables are not stressed. 

Korean is a syllable-timed language. The syllables are spoken with equal length. For example, the word "banana" is pronounced with equal stress: ba-na-na.

In contrast, English is a stress-timed language. English alternates between stressed and unstressed syllables. Some syllables are longer. Some syllables are shorter. In the word "banana", the middle syllable is stressed: ba-nA-na. We do not say all three syllables equally, as Korean speakers tend to do.
 
Here’s a simple illustration that I show my Korean-speaking clients to make the difference clear:

As you can see, Korean and English have very different rhythms. If you use the rhythm of one language to speak the other, that contributes to your accent. In other words, accents are not exclusively due to the pronunciation of individual sounds (vowels and consonants.) Rhythm plays an equally important part.
 
If you do not stress a syllable, or if you stress the wrong syllable, your English becomes difficult to understand. This can leave your listener frustrated, which is clearly not your goal.
 
An example: You are making a presentation, and you say ...

Our sales increased drAm-a-tic-ly

Your audience may be confused. Why? The word should be pronounced dra-mA-tic-ly.
 
Please remember, it goes both ways. Americans who learn Korean as adults will want to use the stress-based rhythm of their native tongue. And this impacts how hard their listeners have to work to make sense of the Korean that they are hearing when spoken by an American.
 
On a recent trip to Korea, I tried to learn a few phrases. As an American English speaker, it’s very hard for me to say kamsahamnida (thank you) without stressing a least one or two of the syllables. Even a simple word like umma (mom) is a challenge for me: I desperately want to say Um-a, like the actress Uma Thurman, who is definitely not my umma!

What about the individual sounds? Aren’t they important to clear English?
It’s true. There are several individual sounds in English that are challenging for Korean speakers: the L, R, Q and W, for example.

In addition, sometimes Korean speakers of English will insert an extra syllable at the end of words (bus is pronounced bus-u) or between consonant clusters (skirt is pronounced suh-kirt.)

These pronunciation errors do affect your intelligibility (your listener’s ability to understand you easily), but not as much as you might think. With context, I will have no trouble understanding whether you are talking about the importance of human rights or human lights. Probably, you mean the first one – human rights!

What’s more, changing individual sounds is an extremely time-consuming process. Most of my clients are busy, working professionals. They have jobs and families and very little time for the repetitive practice needed to change individual sounds in their spontaneous speech. In fact, many of my clients are relieved to learn that they don’t have to completely change how they are pronouncing individual English sounds.  I mean, who has the time!?

So what should a busy professional do to improve their American English pronunciation?
I suggest working on the rhythm, or what I like to call the “music”, of American English. In addition to syllables stress, the “Music of English” includes key word stress (the most important word or words in a sentence) and pausing in logical places.

To be clear, my clients from Korea speak English at a high-intermediate to advanced level. I am not talking about lower-level English learners. Vowel and consonant pronunciation is critically important to speaking English clearly.

But for higher-level English speakers with limited time, try improving the “music” of your English. This will provide you with the best and fastest path to speaking English more clearly and confidently.

Are You Ready to Work on the Music of English?
“The Music of English” is one of Well Said Coaching's most popular packages. In just a short amount of time -- typically five to eight lessons -- we teach you the essential elements of this music. Plus, you receive plenty of practice.

If you’re interested to learn more, please check out our pronunciation lessons, and then schedule a free consultation. 

We look forward to helping you improve your English dra-mA-tic-ly.