I noticed that Americans tend to correct me all the time, when other native speakers (from UK or Australia) don’t. For example I cannot pronounce “th” and “i” so I pronounce “three” as “free”, “the offspring” as “de offspreeng”.
I know that it may sound bad for native speakers but I don’t think it makes me that hard to understand. I lived for 3 years in the UK and noone ever told me that I should pronounce “th” or “i” different way
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> I lived for 3 years in the UK
Its because they pronounce the words wrong themselves.
Because that’s incorrect. When kids say free instead of three, we send them to speech therapy to learn it properly.
Edit: to be clear, if you’re a non native English speaker with an accent, that’s not quite the same. But we would still likely correct or confirm what you’re saying.
>when other native speakers (from UK or Australia) don’t
Lolololololol
I care, but it’s also rude to correct someone who hasn’t asked.
Meanwhile we all know what ‘Tree fiddy’ is,.. I think people who take time to pick apart how you pronounce words are either doing it to tease you or just to feel correct, it’s obvious you’d have a different accent and pronunciations if you’re from the UK.
Based on what you’re saying, I assume you have a pronounced accent. In that case, they may legitimately be trying to help you fit in, not understanding that you literally can’t make those phonemes.
For example, if I came across someone who pronounced segue as seg-yoo, I would correct them, native speaker or not. I wouldn’t think less of them for it, but I would be worried that others might. I know I would certainly rather be informed promptly that I’m doing it wrong so I can correct it rather than live in ignorance while making myself look bad, so I do the same for others.
Unfortunately, the above system falls apart if it’s a fundamental pronunciation problem, not a lack of knowledge.
Because if your pronunciation errors are severe enough, such as pronouncing three as free, people will be incapable of understanding what you are trying to say.
Many words sound similar to each other, so it can be confusing for the listener. It’s ok for them to ask “Do you mean *this*?” for clarity. How they’re “correcting” you, contextually, matters. It could be rude or it could be just trying to understand you.
I think americans just dont want you to sound silly for your own good. Which also means the person correcting you must think you sound silly. And also in america people who look or sound silly often get treated not so great. Dont catch you slippin.
But in my experience mexican people will passionately correct non- native speakers as a matter of pride, dignity, and reverence for their mother tongue.
Proper grammar and pronunciation are a significant class signifier. Many of us spend a lot of our childhoods being corrected on a wide variety of common and perfectly understandable “mistakes” which, I believe, becomes habit for many adults without much consideration as to why.
If I didn’t care I wouldn’t help.
It’s because someone doesn’t quite get that you just can’t learn it by hearing it once. Th – feels very easy for one to master quickly (unlike some sounds).
You are speaking English, and likely doing it quite well, someone is just helping you do it correctly.
If I am speaking Spanish in Mexico, I honestly appreciate someone correcting me. It’s a kind of nice thing to do.
Dont assume we think it sounds “bad”, just helping you be more understandable.
It’s like telling a stranger their fly is down. I do. I would want someone to tell me.
I’m curious about the number of people correcting you and the context of corrections.
The US has more non-native English speakers than the UK or Australia have speakers of any language. It isn’t like accents are strange to us.
I dare you to pronounce “herb” as “erb” in front of a British person. Fair warning, you might lose friendships.
I feel like this could be people just repeating what you said for clarity, not necessarily as a correction just wanting to make sure they understood what you said.
I don’t know if anyone’s upbringing is similar or different, but for me “talking right” was a big deal. That’s the general expectation, because incorrect pronunciation appears uneducated and ignorant
On the same token: pronouncing “three” as “tree” instead of “free” is going to significantly improve your ability to be understood. That’s the preferred incorrect
Fuck ALL THE WAY off lmao this is fucking bullshit
Clearly you haven’t been an American online and heard Australians or Brits talk about your dialect
Depends on what you mean for correction.
When. I was in Germany trying to learn German, I wanted native speakers to speak normal German back to me, not speak my bad pronunciation back to me. That’s generally what most people who are learning a language want. Of course with Germans, anyone under 30 is basically fluent in English, and most switched to it immediately because I’m very obviously not German, but so it goes.
So it depends on what you mean by people correcting you. Could be them trying to help, could be them trying to make sure they understood you correctly, it could be you notice more because you’re self conscious about it.
It could also be they’re assholes, but there’s a saying: if someone is an ass you, they’re probably an asshole, if everyone you meant is an ass, you’re the asshole.
It’s pretty rude to correct other people’s pronunciation, maybe you just had the bad fortune to interact with rude people
> Native speakers
This is the funniest part.
Pronunciation is the difference between “Use a sheet for your bed” and “Use a shit for your bed”.