Cooked Rice English

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

What English words or sentences are difficult for you to say?

For example: "Excuse me."

Vietnamese speakers have trouble with this phrase because:

1) The words "Excuse me" contain 8 consonant sounds: x = KS (2 consonant sounds); c = K (1 sound), u = YuW (2 consonant sounds); s = Z; m = M; e = eY.

(ehKSKYuWZ MeY)

2) 3 of the consonant sounds are voiceless ("K-S-K");

3) the 3 voiceless consonant sounds are together ("KSK").

Many Vietnamese would say "EhKYuW Meh," which provides only 4 of the 8 consonants. That means 4 of the essential sounds are missing. If you are standing behind an English speaking foreigner when you say this, they might not respond because they don't recognize these words without all their consonant sounds.

Let's try to fix it.

You need a sense of what these consonants sound like. If you don't know the sounds, please come to our Sunday Open Class at 18:30 (the first two classes are free - register first at phonemenon@gmail.com).

1) break the words into syllables (consonant sounds in capital letters):
ex cuse me
ehKS KYuWZ MeY

2) shout the voiceless consonant sounds (not the letter name) "K" "S"

3) shout these two sounds together "KS"

4) add the vowel sound "eh" and say "ex/ehKS" with strong consonant sounds "ehKS." Now you can pronounce the first syllable.

5) Do the same thing with "cuse/KYuWZ." If you have trouble pronouncing "K" and "Y" together, try saying "KeY.uWZ."

6) Now the hard part: put the first 2 syllables together with all the consonant sounds: "ex cuse/ehKS KYuWZ." This is difficult because there are 3 voiceless consonants together ("KSK") - this probably does not happen in Vietnamese. If you have trouble with this, say "K" then "S" then "K" three times. Then say "KS" then "K" three times. Then try to put all three together: "KSK" and repeat this at least three times. If you can't do it, don't be worried - these are very strange sounds for Vietnamese. Try it a few more times until you become angry, then email phonemenon@gmail.com to register for a free open class.

7) Those of you who can put these sounds together are speaking two syllables - making one word - of very clear English. You should be able to hear how clear the word sounds.

8) The final syllable/word is "me/MeY." Shout the consonant sounds "M" and "Y." Both these sounds must be pronounced in the word. Add the vowel sound and say "MeY." If you don't make a strong "Y" you will say the wrong word "Meh."

9) Pronounce the words together: "excucse (ehKSKYuWZ) me (MeY)."

10)Practice reciting these words 5 - 10 times.

You should hear yourself speaking very clear English - let me know if you have trouble with this. Let me know if this is helpful. It seems complicated but, after doing the exercise a few times, I hope you will understand the method.

Please tell me the words, phrases and sentences you have trouble speaking, and we will try to help you.

Those of you who understand how to make many of the sounds can use this exercise with other words.

Brad

WHY MANY FOREIGNERS DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR SPOKEN ENGLISH

The main reason foreigners don't understand your spoken English is because it is not "cooked."

Uncooked rice lies at the bottom of a pot. The taste is weak and chewing it will break your teeth. Uncooked rice is like words with the wrong sounds: it is difficult to eat uncooked rice and it is difficult to understand English words without their sounds.

SPOKEN VIETNAMESE IS POWERED BY VOWEL SOUNDS

First, Vietnamese is a tonal language: tones change the sounds of vowels and these changed sounds change the meaning of base words (e.g., "ngo"). Six different tones are applied to the vowel "o" of the word "ngo," changing it into six different words. To know which word is spoken, Vietnamese must hear which tone is changing the vowel sound. Vietnamese is a Vowel-Strong language. If the vowel sounds are wrongly toned or not toned, the Vietnamese is difficult to understand.

SPOKEN ENGLISH IS POWERED BY CONSONANT SOUNDS

English speakers more often hear which consonant sound is used to know what word is spoken: (e.g., "pay" / "say" / "day" / "lay" / "ray" are different words because of their different consonant sounds). If spoken consonant sounds are wrong, too quiet or missing, the English is difficult to understand.

VIETNAMESE TONGUES DISABLE ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS

Second, Vietnamese tongue tips make most consonant sounds just behind the front teeth. This tongue position traps the breath and softens - even eliminates - the consonant sounds English speakers must hear to understand.

RECIPE FOR COOKED RICE ENGLISH

1) Train your brain to recognize English consonant sounds in others' speech and in your own speech;

2) Train your tongue and lips to make stronger consonant sounds (CoNSoNaNCe);

or

Train your tongue and lips to make accurate English sounds (PHoNeMeNoN).

3) Learn to recognize which letters make which sounds;

4) Learn to organize words with basic grammar (expecially

articles, verb tenses and prepositions);

5) Learn fluidity with consonant-powered word links;

6) Learn to organize spoken ideas with intonations;

7) Improve your understanding by reading English and watching English- language films and programs.

Simmer with tongue exercises, lip exercises, sound exercises, word exercises, sentence exercises, read-aloud exercises and free speech exercises until your spoken English is cooked (understandable to foreigners).

RECIPE FOR A COOKED RICE ENGLISH MEAL (CONVERSATION)

1) Keep cooked rice warm with daily tongue and lip exercises.

2) Blend questions and answers into free conversations;

3) Season with real situations from work, study and life.

YES, IT IS DIFFICULT

BUT SOME DIFFICULT THINGS ARE FUN

You have learned the grammar and the words. Now you must put them where your mouth can use them.

If you can't afford the classes, or if you want to explore English speech problems and solutions here, you are welcome. We will help you cook your rice. And I think we will help me improve my classes.

Brad Ness

HOW THE BEST ASIAN SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH PRACTICE

After ten years in four Asian countries - and not including my own students - the best non-native Asian speakers of English I've heard are those who spent countless hours listening to and mimicking English language film dialogue.

I have a practice method to recommend.

First, find an English language film that uses fairly simple English. Then google the film script (e.g., "The Lion King script") and download it.

Keep the film script available while you watch the film with Vietnamese or English subtitles. Have a notebook ready for writing. After 10 minutes of watching the film you will probably know what the film is about and who most characters are. Stop the film. Turn off or cover the subtitles.

Listen to an English speech or conversation. Try to write the English words you hear. Rewind and relisten to the speech - write down more of the words you hear. Rewind and relisten until you have written down all the words you can. Your writing might look like this. "...ate...English..............grammar.... ............ and.............walk sometimes."

Then, rewind and listen for the words you don't know. Rewind and relisten until you have written all the consonant sounds you hear. Your writing might look like this: "I..ate...English d.......l.........grammar...p..n..s...sh...n and...p..l.....l...walk sometimes."

Use the words you've written ("I..ate...English.. .grammar... and...walk sometimes.") to guess what the passage might be about.

Rewind and relisten until you have written all the vowel sounds you hear and try to connect them with your consonants. Make any other improvements you can hear. Your writing might look like this: "I...ate...English.. .the... ools.. .v...grammar......bronu.sey..shun and...p..leng..o.le..work sometimes."

Check your script: "I hate English. The rules of grammar, pronunciation and spelling only work sometimes.

Which of your written words are correct (e.g. I, English, the, grammar, and, work, sometimes)?

Which of your written words are similar (e.g. ate/hate, ools/rules, o.le/only, ) ?

Which of your written words are wrong (e.g., ate/hate, walk/work)?

Which words did you miss(e.g., pronunciation, spelling).

Look up all new words in a dictionary.

Rewind again and listen to the same speech: Listen for the close, wrong and missed words until you can recognize all words in the speech.

Then rewind and try to recite the speech. Yell the consonant sounds (e.g., HaTe... ..GRaMMaR...SPeLLiNG..).Do this as many times as needed until your speech sounds close to the film speech.

Relax by watching ten minutes more of the film with subtitles. Then stop and work on another speech.

Practice this way for as long as you like with as many films as you like. Gradually pay less attention to the subtitles and more attention to the English speech in the film. As your skills improve, you should be able to guess some words from the surrounding grammar.

Watching National Geographic and Discovery programs with Vietnamese subtitles are another way to get practice.

The skills developed in this practice include:

Listening;

Vocabulary;

Grammar;

Pronunciation/speech.

The weaknesses of this practice include:

There is no instruction or physical guidance on where and how to make English sounds (this is most effective for sound-talented learners): you must listen and mimic.

Many films present realistic English speech with poor pronunciation and grammar: you must learn to listen to this English but it probably is not the English you want to speak.

Please post your comments on this method's strengths and weaknesses.

I will be grateful to anyone who cares to translate this posting to Vietnamese.

Thank you,

Brad Ness

Cooked Rice English

Purpose

Monday, June 28, 2010

Translate to Vietnamese

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

What English words or sentences are difficult for you to say?