Speak like a native speaker

Most of us love English because it is a magnificent communication tool. Although its vocabulary is bursting at its seams with more than half-a-million words, people have been using it in almost every part of the world.

Speakers of other languages use English words and phrases quite freely. It shows that English has successfully infiltrated the vocabularies of other languages.

In literature, business, science and technology, English remains the lingua franca despite the fact that the British Empire is no longer in existence. The Economist says that two-thirds of all scientific papers are published in English today. What is more, more than two-thirds of the world’s daily emails are written in English.

As far as written English is concerned, there is hardly any communication gap. However, making yourself understood in oral communication poses a serious problem. This is because speaking skills are the most difficult of all language skills to master. It is tragic that no emphasis is placed on speech in most of our schools.

Accent

This has snowballed into a major problem in international business. Most non-native speakers find it difficult to understand various accents. Some people speak with a strong French accent. Sometimes we meet people speaking with a Scottish, Yorkshire, American or Australian accent.

Paddy Kennedy: Once you train your ear, you’re well on your way to speak better English.

As a result, when people speak with a foreign accent, non-native speakers find it difficult to understand them.

Foreign accents need not be a communication barrier because non-native speakers can use the basic vocal features popularly known as intonation, rhythm and stress.

Intonation is the sound changes produced by the rise and fall of the voice when speaking, especially when this has an effect on the meaning of what is said. Rhythm is a strong pattern of sounds or words. Stress means that we have to pronounce a word or syllable with greater force than other words in the same sentence or other syllable in the same word.

Stress

Paddy Kennedy, founder and principal of Kennedy Communication Studio in Victoria gives a fine example to show how we put the stress in a seven-word sentence:

* I never said he stole the money. (I didn’t say it; someone else said it!)
* I never said he stole the money. (I never said it; I did not!)
* I never said he stole the money. (I never said he stole it; I may have insinuated it).
* I never said he stole the money. (I didn’t mean him; I meant someone else).
* I never said he stole the money. (I didn’t say he stole it; I said he borrowed it!)
* I never said he stole the money.(Not the special money; he stole some other money).
* I never said he stole the money. (He didn’t steal the money; he may have stolen the jewels, however).

Second language

When a non-native speaker learns English as a second language, he does it in a classroom using textbooks. Very often, it is taught by a non-native speaker of English. A native speaker speaks the language in melodic sound units. A non-native speaker uses the sound patterns of his own language when speaking English. For instance, speakers of Sinhala or Tamil rarely stress words or syllables in a sentence. They will use the same pattern when they speak English.

By listening to native speakers, we can easily learn how words and syllables are stressed. Once you learn how they speak, you will understand them very easily. An old adage says, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” For instance, listen to the United States President Barack Obama whose English is heavily stressed. His stress pattern is strongly influenced by his emotions and intended meaning.

Sri Lanka has produced many international speakers of English such as S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Lakshman Kadirgamar. They were well understood by native speakers of English whenever they addressed them. They had their own accents, but they never failed to maintain the pitch and rhythm of English. Similarly, actor Jackie Chan has a strong accent, but he is understood in the United states.

Sound patterns

If we train our ears to the sound patterns of English, accent will not be a problem. The trouble arises when non-native speakers of English apply the sound patterns of their mother tongue. When this problem is properly understood and remedial measures taken, accent will not be a bar to comprehend what native speakers of English tell us. As Paddy Kennedy said, “The only way to beat foreign accent interference is to practise, practise and practise speaking like a native speaker.”