Avoiding sounding like an Italian when you speak English
There is nothing wrong with having an accent when you speak English - in fact, everyone has an accent! What can cause problems is when your pronunciation confuses the people listening to you and makes it difficult to understand what you're saying. This is usually because you are pronouncing a sound following the rules of your native language instead of English rules.
For example:
Spanish people are known for pronouncing the "r" sound very, very clearly. So, when Spanish people speak English, they usually over-pronounce the "r" sound. The reverse is also true, English people speaking Spanish have to make an effort to "roll" their RRRRRR sounds.
Most Italians usually have problems with specific sounds that are pronounced differently in English. If you can identify and practice pronouncing these sounds correctly, you can do a lot to make your English more understandable.
For example: How do you pronounce the name of the comic character "Iron Man"?
I found that most of my Italian students didn't recognise my pronunciation of the name, because I said something that sounded like "IYUN MAN". They knew him as "IRRRRON MANNN". The problem? English people usually avoid pronouncing the r sound and often pronounce their consonants much more weakly than Italians.
Here is a great link to a list of 10 common pronunciation errors that Italians make. Try practicing the correct pronunciation:
https://pronunciationstudio.com/italian-speakers-english-pronunciation-errors/
For example:
Spanish people are known for pronouncing the "r" sound very, very clearly. So, when Spanish people speak English, they usually over-pronounce the "r" sound. The reverse is also true, English people speaking Spanish have to make an effort to "roll" their RRRRRR sounds.
Most Italians usually have problems with specific sounds that are pronounced differently in English. If you can identify and practice pronouncing these sounds correctly, you can do a lot to make your English more understandable.
For example: How do you pronounce the name of the comic character "Iron Man"?
I found that most of my Italian students didn't recognise my pronunciation of the name, because I said something that sounded like "IYUN MAN". They knew him as "IRRRRON MANNN". The problem? English people usually avoid pronouncing the r sound and often pronounce their consonants much more weakly than Italians.
Here is a great link to a list of 10 common pronunciation errors that Italians make. Try practicing the correct pronunciation:
https://pronunciationstudio.com/italian-speakers-english-pronunciation-errors/
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