>I helped a guy last night for his oral English test. He’s from a small town, so predictably, his English is bad. It’s beyond terrible, in fact.
His vocabulary isn’t too great, but his pronunciation is far worse. Aside from the usual issues (pronunciation of the dental fricative “th”), he had trouble with “r” and “v”. He pronounced the R’s as L’s, but only some of the time. Great was great.
Grow was glow. Something like glow. Not the real English “l” but a rhoticized “l”. I told him to keep his tongue down when making that sound. He couldn’t. Even after demonstrating several times, he could not do it.
So we skipped and went to the next problem.
The “v”. Or “b”, as he pronounces it.
I again demonstrated, and he again didn’t get it. So, I told him to pronounce every “v” is sees as an “f”, which he has no trouble grasping. For some of the words, the neighboring vowels seemed to unlock the voicing that “v” needs. I hope this will help him.
After we reviewed, he sort of just stuck around and asked me short, random questions. I’d like to say I didn’t mind, but I did. Finally, after ten agonizing minutes, I decided to take a walk and we left.
On the way out, he patted my stomach and said, “You need…” He froze. “I do not know the word.”
But he did know an alternate way to say it.
“You are a little fat.”
You clearly have never been to America, my friend. Come on down to the Lexington, TN Wal-Mart some time. You will see what fat truly is.
**I know he didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. Just an observation, a friendly piece of advice. I think that’s how it goes anyways.
