In enabling learners of English to become proficient communicators in international settings, making themselves understood is the key goal, and sometimes close imitation of native-speaker pronunciation is not helpful. In fact, when teaching English, it is valuable to make students aware about which words can be problematic in all styles of pronunciation, and how these issues might be resolved. Here are some issues that learners of English should be aware of:
- can ~ can't: these two words are difficult to differentiate, especially in American English in which both have /æ/ and the final /t/ of can't is often omitted in fast speech. One solution to this is to avoid saying can't, and always say cannot instead. (This seems to be the solution widely adopted in Singapore.) If one wants to emphasise the ability to do something, under some circumstances saying 'am able to' instead of can would be a useful strategy.
- fifteen ~ fifty: these two words are hard to differentiate (just like six ~ sixteen and the others). In some circumstances, such as when giving a time like 10:15 or 10:50, speakers might be encouraged to add 'one five' or 'five zero' to clarify things (just like pilots do).
- oral ~ aural: in British English, these words are both pronounced as /ɔːrəl/, which is rather unfortunate as they are opposites! (The first means 'speaking' while the second means 'listening'.) The best solution here is to avoid using these words and say speaking or listening instead.
- D ~ T; M ~ N; S ~ F: the names of the letters are a nightmare in English. I find it astounding that we haven't adopted a more sensible system of letter names, like the Greek alpha beta gamma delta etc. The first thing is for students to be aware of the issue, especially that S and F cannot be distinguished over the phone (because of the low-frequency cut-off). The ideal solution would be to learn the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet: alpha bravo charlie delta etc. An alternative is to use place names: Africa Belgium China Denmark etc.
While no single solution is ideal for these issues, students should at least be made aware about them, and they should be encouraged to develop strategies strategies to resolve the problems.
