The gymnastics of pronunciation

It is not easy to narrow down the multiple factors that explain successful learning but some of them are fairly obvious. Exposure to the target language is key and so is work on pronunciation as well as sheer frequency (every day). If you use English (in any way) on a daily basis you will get used to it. The force of habit will make you familiar with expressions that eventually will “sound right”. No grammatical explainations there, no logic, no reasoning. If you become accustomed to hearing I should have known one day you will simply find yourself saying it.

As one of you said in the classroom, speaking a second language involves a certain degree of “acting”. Yes. Acting. I totally agree. What should we understand by "acting"? Well, let’s see. What do actors do? One could say they pretend to be someone else for the duration of a show but an alternative description would point out the fact that actor do things on stage they don't usually do in their real lives. The same principle applies to a language learner. You are expected to do things that you don’t usually do in your “L1 life”. I’m not going to try and question the very concept of personal identity (which is complicated enough) but let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you are the person that you usually are. It sounds like a stupid platitude but… think of it for a second. When somebody does something “out of character” we are quick to justify the person's behavior by saying “he did all those things but he was not himself because at the time he was going through a nasty divorce”.

He was not himself. What does it really mean? It means “he normally does not do those things” or “the Mike that I know doesn’t do those things”.

So let’s just assume that you are a person that has a certain set of skills, someone who enjoys doing certain things, etc… In short, you are used to doing certain things. You don’t devote your free time to melting plastic, practicing ninja moves or playing the theremin. That’s NOT “who you are”. So… placing your tongue in a way that allows you to sound out the only consonant in the word Asia (you have two options, by the way) is not something that you typically do because pronouncing the English sibilants is something that “your mouth is not used to doing”. Your facial muscles, your tongue, etc. need to learn to do something unusual and since you can’t possibly pronounce the sound [m] without closing your lips together, (ask your ventriloquist friends to verify that) I believe you should make a decision: “I’m going to act as if I was an English speaker”. You are going to be an actor.

Check out this video that my friend Antton sent me some weeks ago. Pay attention to the way he moves his mouth. That is exactly the kind of "gymnastics" I’m talking about.

N.B. Those of you who are not familiar with the theremin can click right here to become better acquainted with that instrument