Thursday, April 17, 2008

Something about English pronunciation

As I live in Malaysia, I notice that most Malaysians are influenced by Malay pronunciation when they pronounce English words. The following are some examples of how Malaysians utter words in English as influenced by Malay.

1 c [soft k] in cat is pronounced as k [hard k] in dekat [near in Malay]

2 p [soft p] in pan is uttered as p [hard p] in depan [front in Malay]

3 k [soft k] in kit is articulated as k [hard k] in sedikit [a little in Malay]

4 t [soft t] in tap is pronounced as t [hard t] in tetap (fixed in Malay).

5 p in stop is uttered without parting the lips as in p in tutup [close in Malay]

N.B. Soft k is pronounced as k as in kick with air coming out from the mouth. So are soft k, soft t and soft p. Hard k is pronounced without no air coming out from the mouth. So are hard t and hard p.

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