There are many challenging parts of learning the English language; spelling and pronunciation are just two.
Spelling a word you hear is easy if it’s in Japanese; how it sounds can be only written one way in hiragana (almost one way; は/わ or お/を when writing particles) or in katakana.
Different spellings
In English, though, you can spell the same sounding word differently, each meaning different things: to, two, too.
Speak and Spell
Another challenge is the spelling of the same word can be pronounced differently; bow (~おう sound) or bow (~あう sound).
Also, the same group of letters can be pronounced differently, too; tough, cough, though, ought, bough. All of these words sound different. This last point shows that hearing a word doesn’t mean you can spell the word. Tough, cough, though, ought, bough can be spelt incorrectly as; tuff, coff, tho, awt, bow (which one?!), however, they sound correct.
Japlish?
A common solution some of my students use is to write the sound of a word in katakana. Doing this is useful but not perfect. How do you write the word long in katakana? How do you write the word wrong in katakana? ロング and ロング? Which one is wrong?
Japanese people may think it’s impossible to remember these different pronunciations with their spellings, however, it is possible as native English speakers do it!
As easy as kanji
How do Japanese people learn kanji? Through study and practise, it’s the same with English spelling. Once you have heard the different ways a word or group of letters sounds, practise it. Compare it to other words that sound the same or are written the same.
Etymology – the history of a word
You can study further and look at the origin of the word to understand why it’s spelt that way. I find this very interesting; by the sound and spelling of a word you can guess which language it came from. Latin, Greek, French, Old English, German, and many more languages have influenced English over the centuries!
Having a good memory helps, having “good ears” helps but study and practise are the way to achieve this goal.
【あなたの心が伝わるあなただけの英語】
英語でのコミュニケーションをあなたらしい英語で。一人一人のレベル、能力、
興味に合った教材や方法を用いた英語レッスンプログラムをオンラインで学べます。
”あなたの英語”でコミュニケートしたい方は、まずは無料カウンセリングをご予約ください。
