The Top 8 English Pronunciation Problems for Asian Speakers

Top 8 English Pronunciation Problems for Asian Speakers (and how to fix them!)

If you are a native Asian Speaker, you may be facing a frustrating issue on a daily basis. You say something to someone, and they say…

– ‘I beg your pardon?’
– ‘Say that again?’
– ‘Pardon?’
– ‘Sorry?’

Or they just stand there staring at you. If this situation is familiar, then your pronunciation might need some work.

The Top 8 English Pronunciation Problems for Asian Speakers

There are some sounds in English that are more difficult for Asian Speakers to pronounce properly. Here are some typical pronunciation errors Asian Speakers tend to make.

1. Confusing consonants ‘l’ & ‘r’

Sometimes native Asian speakers say ‘r’ instead of ‘l’.

Check: do you say ‘comprete’ instead of ‘complete’?
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

2. Pronouncing consonants ‘f’ and ‘v’ incorrectly

Sometimes Asian speakers say ‘p’ instead of ‘f’, such as ‘preper’ instead of ‘prefer’.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

Another common issue is using ‘b’ instead of ‘v’, for instance saying ‘bideo’ instead of ‘video’.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

3. Pronouncing the consonant ‘th’ incorrectly

Sometimes speakers of Asians might say ‘sink’ instead of ‘think’, or ‘sick’ instead of ‘thick’. That changes the meaning of the word entirely and the listener would struggle to understand them.

Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

4. Vowel /oʊ/ like in ‘note’

If you pronounce ‘note’ more like ‘not’, that’s incorrect – it needs to be pronounced like ‘nowt’.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

The word ‘most’ has the same sound /oʊ/.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

5. Vowel ‘er’ /ɜː/ like in ‘hurt’

If your ‘hurt’ sounds more like ‘heart’, and ‘firm’ more like ‘farm’, that is incorrect.
Listen here to both incorrect and correct pronunciation, and fix your own, if you need to (scroll down to the blue box to listen).

6. Vowel /æ/ like in ‘hat’

If you say ‘hat’ but it sounds like ‘hut’, or ‘back’ sounds like ‘buck’, that is another problem.
Go here to listen to the correct and incorrect pronunciation, and you will see the difference (scroll down to the blue box to listen).

7. Word stress

Each multi-syllable word in English has one stressed syllable. In the word ‘rePORT’ the stress is on ‘PORT’, so you should say it in higher pitch and put more emphasis on it. When you don’t, it makes your word stress and rhythm flatter than a native speaker’s.

8. Weak vowels

Asian speakers pronounce every vowel in English the same way – but some vowels should be pronounced differently. A good example of a weak vowel is ‘o’ in ‘today’ – it should be pronounced more like ‘uh’ rather than ‘o’. Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

Thanks.

 Subscribe to IELTS-Expert via email