Common Phonemic Difficulties for German Native Speakers
Part 3: Dealing with
Native German Students
[Phonotactics]
As it has been pointed out on our first two posts on
phonotactics [1] & [2],
English has a unique sound distribution that may or may not be similar to that
of the German language, or any other tongue on this planet. The phonotactic
distribution of German does overlap with some areas of the English vowel and
consonant sound distribution, yet there are areas that don’t overlap –at all-
with English. Those areas are the ones that need to be polished by the German
student.
[1] Acuña, J (2013) Phonotactics and
English Language Learning (ELL) 2
[2] Acuña, J (2013) Phonotactics and
English Language Learning (ELL)
This new account on English phonotactics intends to help
EFL/ESL instructors dealing with German native speakers learning English to
overcome five of the most common mistakes they make: 1) Problems with voicing
at the end of words, 2) the /v/ and /w/ sounds, 3) the TH in English, 4) Confusion
of /æ/ and /ɛ/, and 5) The /ow/ vs. /ɔ/ vowel sounds.
One of the first phonotactic differences ELT instructors
spot when working with German learners is the lack of appropriate voicing in
words ending with voiced consonants such as the /v/-sound.
Word
|
English
Pronunciation
|
Common
Mistake
|
live
|
/layv/
|
/layf/
|
knives
|
/nayvz/
|
/nayfs/
|
Sample words /
Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx.
|
||
It’s imperative that the German learners get to practice
with different contrastive words including sister sounds –voiced and voiceless
counterparts-. This way will be a great exercise to self-train their ears to
listen to the sound difference and speech apparatus to actually produce the
sounds accurately.
Sample
Drilling Exercise
|
||||
/f/
|
vs.
|
/v/
|
safe
|
save
|
/k/
|
vs.
|
/g/
|
pick
|
pig
|
/t/
|
vs.
|
/d/
|
bet
|
bed
|
/tʃ/
|
vs.
|
/ʤ/
|
batch
|
badge
|
/s/
|
vs.
|
/z/
|
face
|
phase
|
/p/
|
vs.
|
/b/
|
rope
|
robe
|
Exercises for
German Students / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx
|
||||
Probably, the most noticeable pronunciation mistake an
EFL/ESL instructor is bound to detect when working with native German students
is the way they pronounce the letter –w-. In German the W is pronounced as a
/v/-sound. This is just a language transfer they make from their mother tongue
to English. That’s why the learner, with the help of his/her instructor, must
be alert to counterattack this problem. And once more, constant drilling can be
of great help for the student.
Sample
Drilling Exercise for /w/
|
||
went
|
vs.
|
vent
|
wine
|
vs.
|
fine
|
wary
|
vs.
|
ferry
|
well
|
vs.
|
fell
|
will
|
vs.
|
fill
|
west
|
vs.
|
fest
|
Exercises for
German Students / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx
|
||
The Consonants of English and German (König and
Gast 2007: 14)
Another common pronunciation habit carried into English
because of the German’s phonotactics is the TH. As Bastug (2011) points out,
the TH sounds don’t have a counterpart in German. [Also see König and Gast (2007)] And as Mojsin (2009) suggests in her book, some
Germans speakers may substitute /t/ or /d/ for TH. For these reasons, the
student must work on learning how to pronounce these sounds correctly to
continue to work on their accent reduction.
Typical
Mistake
|
Should
be …
|
tank
|
thank
|
dose
|
those
|
mudder
|
mother
|
Taken from
Mojsin (2009, page 147)
|
|
Confusing /æ/ and /ɛ/ is also another challenge for the
German student. The instructor has to work with him/her on how the mouth is
shaped and how much it is open to model the sound and have him/her produce the
vowel sound right.
Sample
words to practice /æ/
|
|
sand
|
send
|
salary
|
celery
|
bat
|
bet
|
dad
|
dead
|
mat
|
met
|
fans
|
fence
|
Exercises for
German Students / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx
|
|
Finally, another challenge for the German English
learner is to accurately produce the /ow/ sound, which is usually substituted
by an /ɔ/ sound. No doubt that working on sound production and recognition
needs to be stressed to guarantee that both sounds are not confused. Preparing
some pronunciation cards with contrastive words can help the student constantly
practice the correct pronunciation for these vowel sounds.
Sample
Pronunciation Card for /ow/
|
||
/ow/
|
vs.
|
/ɔ/
|
low
|
vs.
|
law
|
boat
|
vs.
|
bought
|
coat
|
vs.
|
caught
|
woke
|
vs.
|
walk
|
Exercises for
German Students / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx
|
||
To sum up, making students aware of the phonotactic or
phonemic differences and similarities can be of great help to have them avoid
their transfer of pronunciation habits in their mother tongue. Knowing some of
these phonetic differences on the instructor’s side can also help them better
plan for their classes.
ETo
fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research
and expand these areas:
1
|
Phonotactic rules in German
|
2
|
Common pronunciation mistakes by German students
|
3
|
The /r/ sound
|
4
|
The lax “i”
|
5
|
The lax “u”
|
Professor
Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT
Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in
Central America
For
further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at
the university are:
Bastug, N. (2011), A
Contrastive Analysis of the English and the German Sound System, Munich,
GRIN Publishing GmbH, http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/195175/a-contrastive-analysis-of-the-english-and-the-german-sound-system
König & Gast (2007) The Consonants of English and German http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/195175/a-contrastive-analysis-of-the-english-and-the-german-sound-system
Mojsin, L (2009) Mastering
the American Accent. LA: Barrons
Get a copy of this article by clicking here.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
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