Our catch phrase is on its way.

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

Today I ran into a very high level client who just needed a slight nudge to get into “nativelike English speech motor skills application expertise” territory. Her score was 89.8 -- not far from the “90” score that marks the pronunciation of native speakers of U.S., England, and Australian English. There were only two tiny points that were preventing her from reaching a score of 90. I got to work on her situation immediately, measuring her Series A (Jingles A – J) and Series B (Jingles K –T) very carefully. I could see that merely by improving her speed control a bit, she would be able to reach the “90-level”, that is the “nativelike level” today. First of all, I brought out two “assistants” -- a toy mother elephant and her baby. I showed the client that when expressions such as “throughout the”, “let the”, and “think that the” are pronounced slowly and carefully, the word final “t” is unreleased and is next to – but does not really “touch” the “th” that follows it (See the upper photograph below.). However, when these same gestures are produced at normal speed, then they actually “embrace” each other or intertwine (See the lower photograph below.) Many thanks to the mother elephant and her cute little son for helping me demonstrate a very beautiful aspect of English phonology.

Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.