Is correct pronunciation necessary?

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• LONTO-BOY 11 years ago

  Mr Idris, I must say your article is very educative. I think we all mispronounce words at some point in our lives. The ability to pronounce a word, the 'correct' and 'proper' way or in the generally accepted pronunciation is ...
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  Mr Idris, I must say your article is very educative. I think we all mispronounce words at some point in our lives. The ability to pronounce a word, the 'correct' and 'proper' way or in the generally accepted pronunciation is very important. Good communication in English depends on proper pronunciation of words. Clearly, the correct pronunciation is necessary in making your message understood. Of course, we shouldn't expect everyone or Ghanaians to speak with a standard English accent, but it is necessary to learn correct pronunciation of words.
  
  In Ghana, incorrect pronunciation is widespread because it is not properly taught in our schools. I find it either embarrassing or funny when some common words are regularly mispronounced by professional newsreaders and teachers. Sometimes we see a written word, and decide to pronounce by its spelling. For example, the word, Athlete: should be pronounced "ath-leet" not "ath-el-etes". And the word, Picture: should actually sound "Pik-ture", not "pitcher". Even the word, Pronunciation is often mispronounced as "pronounciation".

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• kwadede 11 years ago

  Idris, you have done very well to bring to the notice of some of us who might have forgotten of the usefulness of correct pronunciation of words in which ever language or dialect we claim to speak.
  Believe me that some peop ...
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  Idris, you have done very well to bring to the notice of some of us who might have forgotten of the usefulness of correct pronunciation of words in which ever language or dialect we claim to speak.
  Believe me that some people will come up with insulting comments when their lazy minds could not go the full hog of reading this article to know what you are driving at.
  In some cases, a mispronounced word can mean an insult. Even when the emphasis on a syllable is shifted, the meaning can change and in the context of speaking, bring a lot of problems. Sometimes consistent mispronunciation is a sign of linguistic incompetence. Unfortunately these days, many of our youth are incompetent in any of the languages they claim to speak. You cannot discern a native speaker from someone who trying to learn the language as a 'foreigner'. Kudos, my brother.

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• Kofi 11 years ago

  obee10b@gmail.com

  obee10b@gmail.com

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• ' and Jesus wept ' 11 years ago

  Mr. Pacas, bear in mind also that we have different types of the English lingua of which the USA, Australia and New Zealand have different pronounciation of words. For instance, in the USA, the pronounciation of the words (Di ...
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  Mr. Pacas, bear in mind also that we have different types of the English lingua of which the USA, Australia and New Zealand have different pronounciation of words. For instance, in the USA, the pronounciation of the words (Divorce, Lieutenant, Schedule etc.) are different even though they are spelt the same.

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• USMAN. 11 years ago

  Kwame Nkrumah had the ability to speak the US slangs but because he wanted to create the African Identity, he rather preferred to speak English with the typical Pidgin English ascent. With this he identified himself with the ...
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  Kwame Nkrumah had the ability to speak the US slangs but because he wanted to create the African Identity, he rather preferred to speak English with the typical Pidgin English ascent. With this he identified himself with the people and got their collaboration to bring massive development to Ghana. Busia was always speaking Oxford English and he failed woefully. Everywhere you go across the globe you have different people speaking the English language in their own ascent.When citizens from countries like India, Israel, China, Japan,etc, speak English one will easily identify their country of origin. This is the psyche that is making these people initiate their own development. Unfortunately for Ghana, we rather strain our spleen trying to speak English more than the Queen of England. No wonder we are not developed. This is how far our useless university education has brought us.

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• The true stateman! 11 years ago

  Usman, your comment is interesting but I'll disagree with you. I don't think pronouncing words the right way has anything to do with development. It's rather attempting to change our culture to that of the British' and Americ ...
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  Usman, your comment is interesting but I'll disagree with you. I don't think pronouncing words the right way has anything to do with development. It's rather attempting to change our culture to that of the British' and America's is what's bringing us down. We actually have misplaced priorities in terms of studying, we need to study technology, learn to manufacture and learn to be independent. We need to learn investment and managing our resources, we need to be honest and play our roles well, these things will bring about development. Pacas as an educationist is playing his roles well to educate us, what will happen if 50% of us will follow his steps in our respective fields of work? Ghana will develop at a very fast rate.

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• The true stateman! 11 years ago

  Pacas, thanks for educating us, you are playing your teaching role well. If we all put this much effort in our respective fields of work, our country will see much progress. pronouncing words the right way matters but it'll b ...
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  Pacas, thanks for educating us, you are playing your teaching role well. If we all put this much effort in our respective fields of work, our country will see much progress. pronouncing words the right way matters but it'll be a difficult task change we the old timers. The change can only come with the young ones in school now. however, how many teachers are reading this well presented article? I suggest you make a proposal to GES so that they can forward hard copies to other teachers who can't get access to it. What I want to ask is that, why do we accept American's and Britain's pronunciations but can't accept ours. The fact is that, every country has its own way of pronouncing words. typical example is our Nigeria brothers, Liberia, Australia, New Zealand and many more. is it not the cause of the accent they talk about?

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• The true stateman! 11 years ago

  should have been 'ascent' not 'accent'

  should have been 'ascent' not 'accent'

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• IDRIS PACAS 11 years ago

  The aim of communication especially the commonest form which occurs orally is to convey message. If every group of persons decides to pronounce the same word in their own way, the danger is that the different forms may eventu ...
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  The aim of communication especially the commonest form which occurs orally is to convey message. If every group of persons decides to pronounce the same word in their own way, the danger is that the different forms may eventually appear to represent different things. Therefore, we will no longer understand one another.
  
  We are not Europeans; neither are we Americans. We certainly cannot pronounce words the way they do it. But let's strive to pronounce the words in a manner that facilitate easy understanding both within us and between them and us.
  
  Consider this word: DRAUGHT/draaft/ which is used to describe animals that provide power on the farm: draught animals include bullocks and donkeys. Attempt pronouncing it the way you want. You'll end in DROUGHT, confusing you listener who can't imagine how animals will prevent rains from falling.
  
  No extra energy is required to learn the right pronunciation of each word provided teachers teach the accepted pronunciation. However, being used to the wrong form and having to unlearn it and then relearn the 'correct' pronunciation is that which is demanding.
  
  Keep learning.

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• The true stateman! 11 years ago

  I wont challenge you on that because it really happened to me once when I was having a chat with an Australian friend, it took the fellow about six times to repeat the words MINT ARROW (pronounced by the fellow 'MINARO' as pe ...
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  I wont challenge you on that because it really happened to me once when I was having a chat with an Australian friend, it took the fellow about six times to repeat the words MINT ARROW (pronounced by the fellow 'MINARO' as per what I heard). some hours later, I pronounced the same words as per the spelling 'MINT ARROW' with the T in mint well pronounced, I was shocked it took at least 3 repetitions for him to understand me.

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• Alonte din 11 years ago

  I will call u

  I will call u

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• Sir Ali 11 years ago

  As long as English remains our official language, correct pronounciation can't be a choice. Well done, and thanks for sharing.

  As long as English remains our official language, correct pronounciation can't be a choice. Well done, and thanks for sharing.

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• Kwesi Atta Sakyi 11 years ago

  We used to have phonetics as part of teaching English in schools. In those days, we had English books showing the phonetics signs and diphthongs etc. Our radio and TV presenters are the people who must be at the forefront in ...
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  We used to have phonetics as part of teaching English in schools. In those days, we had English books showing the phonetics signs and diphthongs etc. Our radio and TV presenters are the people who must be at the forefront in giving us correct pronunciation through research. I am almost at a loss finding GBC presenters exaggerating themselves pronouncing words like committee, condition, etc. We need to abide by received pronunciation, the way we hear it from the native speakers or from the BBC. Your article is excellent and thought-provoking. Let us have a revival of that old programme, ' Everyday English' which used to air on GBC.

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• AHMED 11 years ago

  This is great. Give us more.

  This is great. Give us more.

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• Odada 11 years ago

  ALL IS BULL SHIT

  ALL IS BULL SHIT

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• MOON 11 years ago

  The shit of which bull, your bull or my bull?
  
  Anyway, that's your view. This's a perfect write-up.

  The shit of which bull, your bull or my bull?
  
  Anyway, that's your view. This's a perfect write-up.

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• kwasi 11 years ago

  Really necessary. ....very good writeup..

  Really necessary. ....very good writeup..

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• Eric Ansah(dellivista@gmail.com) 10 years ago

  The article has been of great help to me.
  i am currently a teacher-trainee researching on the use of the phonic method to improve pronunciation.
  it's quite interesting to know that this problem does start as early at basic ...
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  The article has been of great help to me.
  i am currently a teacher-trainee researching on the use of the phonic method to improve pronunciation.
  it's quite interesting to know that this problem does start as early at basic level of education. pronunciation in itself is one the hardest skills to learn in English and I'm quite optimistic that with many of such articles being written it will go a long way to improving pronunciation in general.
  i must say reading this article felt like a whole English lesson on its own.

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