Where incorrect pronunciations misled us

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Whatever 11 years ago

Our mispronunciation of words is at the root of our underdevelopment. It has made it impossible for us to develop words on our own. Now if you cannot develop common language, what can you develop? Nkrumah develop new words li ...
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Our mispronunciation of words is at the root of our underdevelopment. It has made it impossible for us to develop words on our own. Now if you cannot develop common language, what can you develop? Nkrumah develop new words like neo-colonialism and others and what he did for us if there for all to see.
Mozato 11 years ago

What is Kwame Nkrumah Ghana

What is Kwame Nkrumah Ghana
G. K. Berko 11 years ago

How does calling the Author offensive names help your objection to his chosen appellation for Ghana?

When will folks like you ever learn to appreciate simple decorum?

Long Live Ghana!!!

How does calling the Author offensive names help your objection to his chosen appellation for Ghana?

When will folks like you ever learn to appreciate simple decorum?

Long Live Ghana!!!
Vodoo Xebieso 11 years ago

I think the fool needs to be addressed in similar language: HE IS A SONOFABITCH!!!!

I think the fool needs to be addressed in similar language: HE IS A SONOFABITCH!!!!
YAW 11 years ago

Kwame Nkrumah...is any self respecting patriot who fights with all his might against foreign occupation/domination in his/her own backyard.I suppose this is too much for knuckle-headed Mozato to understand.Your brain should b ...
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Kwame Nkrumah...is any self respecting patriot who fights with all his might against foreign occupation/domination in his/her own backyard.I suppose this is too much for knuckle-headed Mozato to understand.Your brain should be encased in your head not under your sole.You have been stepping on it for far too long.Change your Mozato to Idioto!!1
Kweku Donsuro 11 years ago

This is very educative. I love it. Keep it up Idris. Why don't you teach English but Integrated Science?

This is very educative. I love it. Keep it up Idris. Why don't you teach English but Integrated Science?
Loggu-Naa M. Ba-Nana 11 years ago

well done

well done
sam. 11 years ago

well done bro.we need more of this as our pronouciations are really bad especially when one travel to english speaking countries such as England.Any time i go back to Ghana for holidays and i speak, some of my friends try to ...
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well done bro.we need more of this as our pronouciations are really bad especially when one travel to english speaking countries such as England.Any time i go back to Ghana for holidays and i speak, some of my friends try to tell me i am too known as we always say just because i have began to learn from the english how to correctly pronounce certain words.I am not surprise people have not commented on your article.If it was other articles,they would be insulting each other in commenting on it.Keep it up.
azindoo 11 years ago

Most Ghanaians are so bad in pronunciation including our English teachers ,which one wonder how they become teachers of English.
Eg. We pronounce (mongo) as Mongeu which is wrong. It should be mAnggeu.the o is changed to A i ...
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Most Ghanaians are so bad in pronunciation including our English teachers ,which one wonder how they become teachers of English.
Eg. We pronounce (mongo) as Mongeu which is wrong. It should be mAnggeu.the o is changed to A in phonetics. This is known as schwa.
Another word commonly mispronounced is- (but) some say - bet. What a mistake. The U in the middle is pronounced as A. So we say it as Bas.
Another word which is often use by our politicians which is so disgraceful hearing them spewing it is the word (Rumor) or (rumours) they say- romos which is a blunder. It is pronounced as Ru: me.both british and American eng.
Even our Media people make mockery of themselves too. I heard one guy and the whole of Ghana pronouncing the name of a bird miserably. The bird is -Dove.many say it as ( deuv) it is pronounced as(DAV)
The problems are uncountable which I can't mention all, let's do sth abt it
GHANABA 11 years ago

What an excellent article.The worst offenders are newsreaders on television. Dreadful! can"t they give them a bit of elocution lessons before they start reading news? Can you tell MAHAMA and Rawlings how to pronounce country ...
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What an excellent article.The worst offenders are newsreaders on television. Dreadful! can"t they give them a bit of elocution lessons before they start reading news? Can you tell MAHAMA and Rawlings how to pronounce country properly? The most annoying of all is DEBT without the silent B.The vast majority of our educated politicians cannot pronounce "Debt,Castle,December,August,Exhibition,Mexico etc properly". You are a beacon of hope.I wish i had a teacher like you when i went to sec.school.

AssinMamp Unionv 11 years ago

Maybe you should try attending my seminars of yours truly; Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe. Take make a significant impact on correcting Ghanaian

Maybe you should try attending my seminars of yours truly; Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe. Take make a significant impact on correcting Ghanaian
AssinMamp Union of Elders 11 years ago

Maybe you should try attending my seminars of yours truly; Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe. Take make a significant impact on correcting Ghanaian pronounciation

Maybe you should try attending my seminars of yours truly; Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe. Take make a significant impact on correcting Ghanaian pronounciation
Bonsu 11 years ago

Even in the UK where one would assume that their English pronunciation is standard, their various accent affect their word pronunciation.We have Scottish accent,Walsh accent and Irish accent and English accent.You can tell fr ...
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Even in the UK where one would assume that their English pronunciation is standard, their various accent affect their word pronunciation.We have Scottish accent,Walsh accent and Irish accent and English accent.You can tell from their word pronunciation where they come from.Likewise in Ghana our tribal accents influence our word pronunciation.There is nothing wrong wrong if it is understood.
Densu 11 years ago

The American Yankees "create" their own "pronunciations" of English, and yet they are LEADERS in "development"!

Whole issue is "OVERHYPE"!

The American Yankees "create" their own "pronunciations" of English, and yet they are LEADERS in "development"!

Whole issue is "OVERHYPE"!
GHANABA 11 years ago

Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language.especially one associated with a particular area.No Welsh,Scot,Irish,American or Australian says CASTLE,DEBT, as they are spelled.We all have a distinctive accents,but mis ...
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Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language.especially one associated with a particular area.No Welsh,Scot,Irish,American or Australian says CASTLE,DEBT, as they are spelled.We all have a distinctive accents,but mis-pronouncing CASTLE,DEBT,etc in Ghana is plain wrong.For example,Arabs cannot pronounce B..so the vast majority of Arabs will say BASSBORT instead of passport.That is a phonetic imprint of Arabic.They find it hard to pronounce the letter P.Indians have a problem with the letter V.Ours is the simple fact that we were taught wrongly.Our Akan imprint occurs when we pronounce MATCH and MARCH.
Bonsu 11 years ago

That is the more reason why you can not standardize words especially when influenced by accent.What is important is the context.I hear outlandish pronunciation of English words by the French, Dutch and Italians but it is unde ...
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That is the more reason why you can not standardize words especially when influenced by accent.What is important is the context.I hear outlandish pronunciation of English words by the French, Dutch and Italians but it is understood within context and that is what is important.You can not standardize word pronunciation because of the influence of other factors.
GHANABA 11 years ago

You can...and it is called Received Pronunciation or Standard English.I was taught in Ghana to say PRONOUNCIATION...which is wrong,instead of PRO-NUN-CIA-TION.Another example is SUB-VISOR..instead of SOO PER VAI SOR.Anyway, ...
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You can...and it is called Received Pronunciation or Standard English.I was taught in Ghana to say PRONOUNCIATION...which is wrong,instead of PRO-NUN-CIA-TION.Another example is SUB-VISOR..instead of SOO PER VAI SOR.Anyway, Idris Pacas, is addressing the problem and he must be applauded. French speaking countries in Africa do not mis-pronounce French words as we do because they are taught properly.Thanks for your lively discourse.
IDRIS PACAS 11 years ago

In case you hurriedly read this write-up or didn't before jumping to comment, I refer you to Sentence 1 of Paragraph 2 which reads this way:

Whichever form it [the pronunciation] takes, the better way of pronouncing a word ...
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In case you hurriedly read this write-up or didn't before jumping to comment, I refer you to Sentence 1 of Paragraph 2 which reads this way:

Whichever form it [the pronunciation] takes, the better way of pronouncing a word is to sound it such that it is understood same—acceptable pronunciation.

The paragraph places emphasis on the word being understood by the listener(s). Whether in the UK, US, Arabia, China or Ghana, pronunciation of words must lead to understanding.

Based on experience as a teacher,I wrote this article focusing on instances where mispronunciation might have led to or has led to or has been leading to mishearing or misspelling of the words. Logically, I cannot provide all examples here. Using common sense, no one expects the over millions of English speakers to pronounce every word the same.
Bonsu 11 years ago

I did not see your salutations especially on Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana.Kwame Nkrumah never dies long live Ghana.

I did not see your salutations especially on Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana.Kwame Nkrumah never dies long live Ghana.

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Where incorrect pronunciations misled us

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