Students from China: Quickly Fix English Pronunciation Challenges for the Interview (and Beyond)
Written by Nina, UCLA MA; Former Teaching Fellow, Harvard University; and author of 20 language textbooks—the newest one will come out in 2025.
Please read "Students from India: Quickly Fix English Pronunciation Challenges for the Interview (and Beyond)" up to the section "The Top Sounds to Practice for Speakers from India".
This blog post focuses on native Chinese speakers and the differences between key pronunciations in Chinese and English. Those differences comprise your accent. A strong accent can make it difficult for others to understand you. Perfect English makes a great impression.
I've taught English to speakers from most major countries in the world. I created a university-level teacher training class at the University of California, Irvine for professors of Sichuan University in China. I remember wondering what they'd be like because of the "noise" the media amplifies between our countries. Sometimes, that noise is all we know, but after a very short time working with my learners, I felt a strong connection, and I blurted out in class, "You feel like us." They'd been talking about how much of their paychecks they tried to save each pay period, their dedication to their children, and how they wanted to try some of the American interactive teaching techniques in their own classrooms. Many of the stories we read portrayed people from the Far East as not showing their emotions, but when we had their good-bye party, many of them cried. They spoke English very well, but except for one learner who studied English by watching American movies, they had accents.
Accents are natural when you're not a native speaker, but when you want to sound very advanced and confident (like during a college or job interview), the less accent you have, the more advanced you'll sound.
If you do the exercises from the "Open the Mouth Audio Exercise" in "Students from India: Quickly Fix English Pronunciation Challenges for the Interview (and Beyond)," your English will be significantly closer to a native speaker pronunciation. Every international language group will benefit from this audio exercise.
The Top Sounds to Practice — Specifically for Chinese Speakers
Practice by recording the following sentences, then listen to your recording. How close to a native speaker pronunciation do you get?
Audio (Practice the following sounds with me.)
Consonant clusters
He listens to modern songs.
This is a strange street.
Have you read the texts?
Diphthongs
I like night lights.
Is there any pain in your shoulder?
Dark "L" ("L" at the ends of words)
People listen to the instructor very well.
Help me pour this milk.
My goal is to speak without an accent.
Intonation and stress
A: You don't seem to like that singer.
B: That's not true. I LOVE that singer.
"n" word endings
He wants to win.
Ron, please open the door.
Additional Practice
The "v" sound is often replaced with "w," making "very" sound like "wery".
Why did you say you're very upset with him?
Final consonants may be dropped, so "dog" might be pronounced more like "do".
What's your favorite dog breed?
The "th" sounds in "this" and "think" are often replaced with "d" or "s", leading to mispronunciations.
This story makes me think about three important questions.
Misplacing stress in multisyllabic words can occur, affecting the natural rhythm and clarity of speech.
The information is complicated, so please let me know if you're struggling to understand.
"L" and "R" confusion
Please listen to this very well.
As I've mentioned before, it's important to practice so that the body knows what the correct mouth positions feel like. Chinese and English both represent beautiful languages. Your efforts to be authentic in each elevate the level of your communication and show you in the best light.
