Our catch phrase is on its way.
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
Some Jingles clients are practicing their Jingles mainly because they have to –- and this is not a good thing!! Overzealous parents, orders from company higher-ups, and the necessity to prepare for an upcoming English language presentation are some of the reasons why some Jingles clients are forced to be (for lack of a better term) "Jingles learners”.
A good case in point are two young ladies and one young man (all 14 years of age) who have been ordered by their parents to bring their pronunciations “up to the level of English native speaker pronunciation". These three young people are NOT making very good progress and explain that they not want to sound like native speakers of English.
In fact, it is not necessary to sound exactly like a native speaker of English. Dutch speakers usually don’t. Nor do native speakers of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, or Icelandic. But, for the most part, these people do speak English that is easy to understand for native speakers of English from England, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This is because the speech motor skills of people born in these countries are similar to those used by native speakers of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic.
Since native speakers of Japanese (and Chinese, Tibetan, Cambodian, Thai, and Vietnamese, just to name a few other languages only distantly related to English) employ speech motor skills quite different from those employed by native speakers of English, it is important to make their English more intelligible to native speakers of English by having them practice “The Jingles".
It is NOT necessary for learners of the above mentioned Asian languages to sound completely nativelike. They can be proud of having “accents” that reflect the beauty and vitality of their native languages. All they really need is to develop their English motor skills speech employment capabilities from their present 84, 85, 86 levels (the levels being determined by which language they speak) to at least the 87 (or“international communication") level-- with the options of aiming for the 88 (“European”) level, the 89 (“exemplary”) level, the 89.5 (“super-exemplary”) level, or 90 (“native”) level, if they should wish to do so.
In other words, these three students can be proud of their Japanese accents when speaking English – but they should also be able to gain the satisfaction of being able to communicate with people from all over the world in a smooth and efficient manner through employment of the improved pronunciation and listening comprehension skills they will have developed by moving from their present 84-86 levels into the 87-and-beyond levels if they wish to do so.
Also, I remind these students that I am proud of them for being proud of being Japanese – and sounding Japanese. These three clients are my newest heroes!
Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.