Arabic is spoken in many countries so there are a wide variety of dialects, 4 in Saudi Arabia alone—Gulf, Hijazi, Najdi, and the Standard Arabian dialect.  English pronunciation problems can vary [...]

China and America have a few things in common in that they’re both large countries with a wide variety of dialects and a deep sense of patriotism.  The languages, however, are another story. The [...]

French ESL students have a leg up when it comes to learning English and proper English pronunciation, although there are some common mistakes that are made.  Many English language words are [...]

The linguistic roots of Japanese are debated to this day, some scholars say Altaic, others think it’s related to Turkish.  Wherever the truth may lie, it’s a long way from America. English isn’t [...]

The way sounds are organized in Korean is very different from that of English, technically this is called the “phonology” of a language.  These phonological differences affect Korean ESL [...]

Native Spanish speakers face several challenges when learning English as a second language, not the least of which is proper pronunciation. Meeting the pronunciation challenges of a language not [...]

Though many Turkish students study English beginning in primary school, the language teaching methods often rely on rote memorization; students are focused on drilling grammar rules at the [...]

Vietnamese ESL students share many of the same pronunciation errors that ESL students from elsewhere do—consonant clusters, long and short vowel sounds, and swapping one consonant sound for [...]

We all love rules.  Rules tell us how to do things.  When armed with rules we feel assured we won’t make mistakes. Spoken English is distinctive for its many exceptions to rules of pronunciation. [...]

Russian ESL students face many of the same obstacles to proper English pronunciation that students from other countries do, but there are some pronunciation mistakes more particular to Russian [...]