Conclusion

Tout au long de ce semestre, j'ai pu prendre conscience de certains de mes défauts de prononciation en anglais. Vivant avec des personnes venant du monde entier, je me suis vite rendue compte des différences dans la prononciation en fonction des pays d'origine et c'est pour cela que j'ai pris la décision de m'inscrire à ce cours au deuxième semestre. 

Je me destine à travailler dans la communication et il est donc très important pour moi d'avoir le meilleur accent possible afin d'être prise davantage au sérieux lorsque je m'exprime à l'oral. J'estime que c'est notamment ce qui saura faire la différence entre deux candidats lors d'un éventuel entretien d'embauche, et je souhaite donc travailler sur ce point. 

Je suis consciente d'avoir une prononciation correcte à la base et je suis arrivée dans ce cours avec des attentes de perfectionnement. Ce cours m'a permis de mettre des mots sur les problèmes que je rencontrais et à y trouver des solutions pour en venir à bout. J'ai notamment apprécié le côté technique du cours qui m'a permis de mieux comprendre le fonctionnement physique de la langue anglaise.

Je pense aujourd'hui mieux appréhender l'anglais dans sa prononciation. Certains mots qui me posaient problème sont beaucoup plus simple à aborder aujourd'hui et j'ai réussi à prendre des automatismes de langage qui rendent mon accent meilleur. Je me sens plus en confiance lorsque je dois parler à des anglophones même si il me reste des points à améliorer.

J'ai en effet encore quelques problèmes dans l'accentuation des syllabes que je place souvent au mauvais endroit. C'est donc un point sur lequel je vais devoir travailler, notamment en continuant de communiquer régulièrement avec des personnes anglophones (notamment après mon retour en France) et en regardant davantage de documents vidéos et audios en anglais.

Glossary

PROBLEMATIC WORDS OR SENTENCES

Fatal/Fetal (feɪtəl/fitəl)

The disease was fatal for the fetal development.

I tend to pronounce those two words in the same way so I worked to differentiate them in a same sentence.

Hurled (hɜrld)

The ball was hurled far away.

I used to say the “u” as a /u/ and not as a /ɜ/ as it is supposed to be.

Canada/Kanata

I live in Kanata next to Ottawa in Canada.

I tend to pronounce those two words in the same way which could create real confusion in a discussion.

A graduate/to graduate (grædʒuɪt/ grædʒueɪt)

I need to graduate to become a graduate student.

I had difficulties to make the difference between those two words.

Refuge/ Refugee (rɛfyudʒ/ rɛfyudʒi)

I was a refugee in this refuge.

I had difficulties to know which pronunciation needed to be used for each word.

Collar/Color (kɒlər/ kʌlər)

What is the color of this collar ?

I used to hear those two words exactly in the same way so it was very difficult for me to pronounce them differently.

Matter/Meter (mætər/ mitər)

The number of meters doesn’t matter.

I tend to pronounce those words in the same way when I speak fast.

Mountain (maʊntən)

I climbed this mountain.

The glottal stop is kind of difficult for me, especially in this word.

Word/World (wɜrd/ wɜrld)

There is no word to describe this world.

I have difficulties in clearly pronouncing the /l/ in “world” which makes it sound like “word”.

Warm/Worm (wɔrm/ wɜrm)

The worm feels warm in there.

I used to hear those two words exactly in the same way so it was very difficult for me to pronounce them differently.

Editor (ɛdɪtər)

I met her editor, he is really nice.

I sometimes have difficulties with the flapped /t/, probably because I am more used to the English accent than the American one.

Education (ɛdʒʊkeɪʃən)

What is your level of education ?

Most of the time, I forget to pronounce the /dju/ in education and I only say a /d/.

Meadow (mɛdoʊ)

The meadow is greener in the west.

I tend to pronounce /i/ instead of /ɛ/. 

Clothes (kloʊz)

Those clothes are ugly.

I find it difficult to link the “th” and the “s” in the word “clothes”.

Escape (ɪskeɪp)

I tried to escape but I failed.

I tend to pronounce “excape” instead of “escape”.

Receipt (rɪsit)

Did you give me my receipt ?

I am often pronouncing the /p/ in this word even if I know that it needs to disappear.

A record/To record (rɛkərd/ rɪkɔrd)

She needs a record. Can you record it ?

I had difficulties to know which pronunciation needed to be used for each word.

Toronto (Trono)

I am going to Toronto this summer.

The pronunciation of this word is very particular and was complicated to reproduce.

Lawn (lɔn)

The lawn is pretty soft here.

I tend to pronounce this word like the word “loan”.

Bilingual (baɪlɪŋgwəl)

I went abroad to become bilingual.

I tend to pronounce /ɪ/ instead of /aɪ/.

Muscular (mʌskyələr)

He is very muscular, it’s impressive.

I never know if I need to pronounce the /c/ or if it needs to be mute.

Autumnal (ɔtʌmnəl)

That is an autumnal weather.

I never know if I need to pronounce the /m/ or not.

Solemnity (sɒləmniti)

There was too much solemnity in this ceremony.

I never know if I have to tell /a/ or /e/.

Malignant (məlɪgnənt)

His attitude is so malignant.

I tend to pronounce it in the French way.

Furled (fɜrld)

The car furled into a bush.

I have difficulties in linking the /r/ and the /l/ together.

Humorous (hyumərəs)

This guy was amazingly humorous.

It was difficult for me to pronounce the /h/ at the beginning of the word.

Dishonest (dɪsɒnɪst)

Don’t be dishonest like that.

I used to pronounce the /h/ in the middle of the word.

Rehearse (rɪhɜrs)

He kept rehearsing this sentence all the time.

I tend to say /i/ instead of /ɜ/.

Heir (ɛər)

She is the heir of a famous family.

I just didn’t remember how to pronounce that word every time I had to use it.

Inherit (ɪnhɛrɪt)

She was glad to inherit from her grandmother.

I never know if I need to pronounce the /h/ in the middle of the word or not.

Vehicle (viɪkəl)

It was difficult for me to find a good vehicle to get there.

I never know if I need to pronounce the /h/ in the middle of the word or not.

To supper (sʌpər)

Are you going to supper with us tonight ?

I tend to pronounce that word like “super”.

Cupboard (kʌbərd)

I think the dishes you’re looking for are in the cupboard.

I used to pronounce it almost like two separate words : “cup” and “board”.

Customer (kʌstəmər)

The customer wasn’t happy when he saw the package in front of his door.

I had a professor in France who told me that I wasn’t supposed to pronounce the /t/ in this word, but it appeared to be false. Unfortunately, I always kept the habit to avoid pronouncing the /t/ in this word.

Schedule (skɛdʒul)

What is your schedule for next week ?

The pronunciation of this word is just not natural for me.

Seizure (siʒər)

The seizure of this document was too long for me.

I tend to say /ei/ instead of /i/.

Massage (məsɑʒ)

My back hurts, I think I really need a massage.

I tend to pronounce this word in the same way as the word “message”.

Vacuum (vækyum)

You can take the vacuum if you want.

I had a problem with the pronunciation of the two “uu”.

Stomachache (vækyum)

I need to buy medicine for my stomachache.

I used to pronounce it almost like two separate words : “stomach” and “ache”.

Artichoke (ɑrtɪtʃoʊk)

I love artichokes, especially on pizza.

I didn’t pronounce the /tʃ/ properly in the word.

STRATEGIES THAT CAN IMPROVE THESE PROBLEMS

-          Keep repeating those words in different contexts.

-          Ask a native speaker to have a discussion around those themes so I can place the difficult words in my conversation.

-          Write the new difficult words in a notebook with the phonetic alphabet (it helps me a lot to visualize the phonetic way to write the word)

-          Watch my series in English in order to hear the correct way to stress words in a sentence. 

Personal pronunciation profile

Note to the reader : You will find recordings of the work we have done during the semester on the USB key I gave you. Hope it will help you in evaluate the progression of my accent.

I must admit that I don’t often get the occasion to hear myself speaking English. I know that my accent is understandable and even quite good but I would like to improve it because I am going to work in communications, which means that I need to have a really good accent in order to share my ideas in the best way.

At the beginning of the semester, we had to do several recoridngs in order to assess our level of pronunciation and to focus on the difficulties we had. When I listened to the recordings of Part 1 and 2, I thought that my way to read was not fluent. I tendeq to separate the syllables too much which gave the impression that I didn't understand what I was reading. The words were not fully connected to each other which could almost change the meaning of a sentence sometimes. For example, when I read the sentence “Although they may be able to read and write very well, they often find that they can’t understand what people say to them”, the meaning is not really clear because I separate “Although” from the rest of the sentence.

But reading a text and talking with somebody are completely different exercises. They don't require the same abilities and we don't need to take care of the same issues. I have the feeling that my pronunciation is quite good but that my tone is not good. I tend to use the french tone while I am speaking english which emphasizes the fact that I sound like a foreigner. This last point was told to me by a native speaker. I tend to put the emphasis at the same place as I would do it if I was speaking french. So I guess, this is one of my biggest jobs when it comes to improving my level of pronunciation.

That point of view of my pronunciation was mainly made by listening to recordings I had to do for class and by examinating the comments made by the professor on my assignments and oral presentations. Here are some of the work I have done through the semester with the comments on it. They really helped me to realize some of my difficulties and I tried to face it in the glossary part.

From those comments on my work and also thanks to the conversations I had with native speakers, I could realize that the five main problems that I am facing with my pronunciation are :
- on certain words, I tend to avoid pronuncing certain consonants and say the word in an approximative way.
- I need to improve my pronunciation of diphtongues.
- The rythm of my sentences is not very good when I am reading.
- Sometimes, the linking between my words is not always good and I need to repeat my sentence to the person I am talking with.
- I tend to put the emphasis on the wrong syllables.