Pronunciation Pitfalls

Bettie Ido

When I first came to Japan with my zero Japanese, I had to relearn how to pronounce some English words in order to be understood.  For example, when I first ordered a hot dog, I got ho-to (hot coffee).  Conversely, when one of my students went to the US and ordered coffee (ho-to), of course he got a hot dog.  When I wanted to talk to my students about a theme park near Nagoya called Little World, I had to be careful to say "ree ta ru wa ru do", so they would know what I was talking about.  It was like learning a whole new language, which was actually quite fun.

These adopted English words with their unique pronunciation can cause some confusion.  Students have reported that the pronunciation of "milk" can cause some grief on the airplane, and they usually solve it by drinking their coffee black.  Oh well, practice makes perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhgnuwwpnxi 

Added to Saved

This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

Comments (0)

Login to Comment Log in »
Premium ribbon

from:

in:

Lesson Categories

Language Fluency

English   Native
Japanese   Daily conversation
French   Just a few words
German   Just a few words
Dutch   Just a few words

Bettie Ido's Most Popular Columns

  • English

    Pronunciation Pitfalls

    When I first came to Japan with my zero Japanese, I had to relearn how to pronounce some English wo...

    Bettie Ido

    Bettie Ido

    0
    5769
    May 30, 2019
  • English

    The dog days of summer

    This is an expression that keeps running through my mind at this time of summer.  Originally i...

    Bettie Ido

    Bettie Ido

    0
    5502
    Aug 14, 2019
  • Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

    My very first Cafetalk lesson took place on Christmas Day last year, and I was quite nervous and ex...

    Bettie Ido

    Bettie Ido

    0
    5319
    Dec 20, 2019
  • English

    Ted Talks

    While wandering the labrynth of online information looking for English teaching and learning resour...

    Bettie Ido

    Bettie Ido

    0
    5280
    Mar 2, 2019
« Back to List of Tutor's Column
Got a question? Click to Chat