How do I know if I'm pronouncing it correctly?

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Strong

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I'm absolutely motivated and determined to get rid of my speech impediment…I know some of you may say that it would not be possible to make our speech perfect or get rid of our "deaf" accent. I just want to be clear in producing my speech.

I have most trouble with pronouncing /r/, and /th/ (both voiced and voiceless). A speech-language pathologist came to my house and showed me how to produce these letters, and left me to work on my own. But the problem is, how do I know if I'm doing it correctly (I have a CI). I live alone (I'm on a co-op placement) so I have no one to talk to. Please help!

Thanks!
 
You have to ask someone in order to tell you if you are doing it correctly. How else? You can only practice what they tell you to do but you need feedback from someone. I would pick a person you trust or confide in and do it with that person before you do it with other people. Maybe someone will come along and give you suggestions. I've taken speech therapy for years and I know it isn't easy.
 
MangaReader said:
You have to ask someone in order to tell you if you are doing it correctly. How else? You can only practice what they tell you to do but you need feedback from someone. I would pick a person you trust or confide in and do it with that person before you do it with other people. Maybe someone will come along and give you suggestions. I've taken speech therapy for years and I know it isn't easy.
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Okay I'll tell the truth. I've tried using my friends and they were not very supportive of me actually. Even with my family, they would mock my speech or even laugh at me. I was absolutely devastated and so upset after that shit happened to me. I gave up on trying to look for someone whom I can trust for giving me feedback on my speech. So I have no one, and plus I'm a broke student, so there is no way I can afford a speech-language pathologist.
 
I don't blame you. I had that happen to me too. It sucks.

Maybe someone here can Skype/VP with you and help you? There are some helpful people here that would be willing to go online with you.

Good luck. Hope it works out for you. Think positive and you shall thrive!
 
Furthermore, I'm in my first year of university and got a "reality check". Whenever I talk to people, they would be like, "huh…" and just turn their heads away, pretending they could hear me when in reality, they were just ignoring me. Also, at a chinese restaurant, I asked the cashier about what I would like to order, that bitch humiliated me by asking me, "WHAT DO YOU WANT? I KNOW YOU WANT RICE BUT DO YOU WANT FRIED RICE?" in a raised voice that startled everyone in line behind me. Even the student next to me in the line kept glancing at me to see my reaction. It was such a humiliating moment. This first term so far has been the worst of all in my entire life, I think it could be because in high school, I was NEVER bullied because of my speech and my fellow classmates were actually very kind to me. So I don't know. I'm just sick of this bullshit and I just want to hide from the world.
 
Strong said:
Okay I'll tell the truth. I've tried using my friends and they were not very supportive of me actually. Even with my family, they would mock my speech or even laugh at me. I was absolutely devastated and so upset after that shit happened to me. I gave up on trying to look for someone whom I can trust for giving me feedback on my speech. So I have no one, and plus I'm a broke student, so there is no way I can afford a speech-language pathologist.
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I guess you're stuck with family but it might be time to trade in those friends. What kind of a real friend would mock someone who is asking for help?

Since you're a student, can you get some help from your school?
 
Reba said:
I guess you're stuck with family but it might be time to trade in those friends. What kind of a real friend would mock someone who is asking for help?

Since you're a student, can you get some help from your school?
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Unfortunately, I'm over 18 (I live in canada) and therefore no longer eligible to receive free speech therapy.
 
Strong said:
Furthermore, I'm in my first year of university and got a "reality check". Whenever I talk to people, they would be like, "huh…" and just turn their heads away, pretending they could hear me when in reality, they were just ignoring me. Also, at a chinese restaurant, I asked the cashier about what I would like to order, that bitch humiliated me by asking me, "WHAT DO YOU WANT? I KNOW YOU WANT RICE BUT DO YOU WANT FRIED RICE?" in a raised voice that startled everyone in line behind me. Even the student next to me in the line kept glancing at me to see my reaction. It was such a humiliating moment. This first term so far has been the worst of all in my entire life, I think it could be because in high school, I was NEVER bullied because of my speech and my fellow classmates were actually very kind to me. So I don't know. I'm just sick of this bullshit and I just want to hide from the world.
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Where do you live? (Not your actual address.) It seems like the most rude place.
 
Strong said:
Okay I'll tell the truth. I've tried using my friends and they were not very supportive of me actually. Even with my family, they would mock my speech or even laugh at me. I was absolutely devastated and so upset after that shit happened to me. I gave up on trying to look for someone whom I can trust for giving me feedback on my speech. So I have no one, and plus I'm a broke student, so there is no way I can afford a speech-language pathologist.
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Listen here. Don't be afraid what other people think when you are mispronouncing a word or sentence. I spoke mispronounce when my family member, usually my mother, would laugh at my speech mispronounce. I knew I had and still have problem with mispronouncement. That is part of being deaf whether you are deaf or hard of hearing. You can not make the speech correct what you have tried so hard. You are just afraid that you are not going to be one of the hearing people that you tried to be in the hearing world. So just accept your deafness and just ask someone to help you make some words that you can pronounce the best you can. Just go easy on yourself. Enjoy and smell the flowers and let it go. :cool2:
 
Bebonang said:
Listen here. Don't be afraid what other people think when you are mispronouncing a word or sentence. I spoke mispronounce when my family member, usually my mother, would laugh at my speech mispronounce. I knew I had and still have problem with mispronouncement. That is part of being deaf whether you are deaf or hard of hearing. You can not make the speech correct what you have tried so hard. You are just afraid that you are not going to be one of the hearing people that you tried to be in the hearing world. So just accept your deafness and just ask someone to help you make some words that you can pronounce the best you can. Just go easy on yourself. Enjoy and smell the flowers and let it go. :cool2:
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I know I'm "beating a dead horse" but my speech used to be so good and I never had a problem with my speech. However I became quieter over the past years and that accounted for the deterioration in my speech, so I'm "relearning" my old skills. I know I can never make my speech perfect but I want to be at least clear.
 
Strong said:
Unfortunately, I'm over 18 (I live in canada) and therefore no longer eligible to receive free speech therapy.
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Can you at least get one of your instructors, or disabilities staff members to spend a little time with you to give you constructive feedback on your speech?
 
Reba said:
Can you at least get one of your instructors, or disabilities staff members to spend a little time with you to give you constructive feedback on your speech?
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That's what I am thinking of. I actually spoke to my disability service staff and she knows of an instructor who specializes in linguistics, so when she gets hold of her, I might receive assistance.
 
Strong said:
That's what I am thinking of. I actually spoke to my disability service staff and she knows of an instructor who specializes in linguistics, so when she gets hold of her, I might receive assistance.
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I hope that you get the help that you need.

However, like others have posted, try not to have your inner peace and well-being depend on your speech.

I know many people with less than perfect speech, for a variety of reasons, and I don't think any less of them, and they seem to live rich, full lives.

Don't give so much power to the jerks who mock you.
 
Do you have an iPhone? Maybe see if Siri (or Dragon or another speech recognition software) can understand you when you try to annunciate?
 
I don't know, but would self confidence be an issue here?

I'm sure there are other CI users in the same boat as you. I'm sure there is a CI event or 2 where you are. Can you go to one of them and go from there?
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. To explain the situation, I could say that I'm "traumatized" by experiences of how people treated me based on my speech. I underwent speech therapy for 6 years and since then, my speech was really good that people could not tell that I'm deaf. But I did not continue or practice on my own after the speech therapy ended, so I could hear a deterioration in my speech. For example, during the time of speech therapy, I could pronounce these words just perfectly:

-doctor
-beautiful
-perfect
-orange
-car
-road

et ceterra, but now I cannot pronounce these words at all. Whenever I attempt to say these words, I just panic because I realize that I can't say these words anymore. People would say, "Huh? what did you say?" whereas if I had said these words during the time of speech therapy, people would have understood me just fine.

I really don't know why I can't say the words just as fine when I used to…that's why I'm in despair to discover the reason. Someone pointed out that I have become a quiet person and not as talkative as I used to be, so I did not put my skills to use. That could be why, so that's why I sound "desperate". In truth, I'm not. I'm just relearning how to say these words correctly.
 
Furthermore, will listening help? I have a Cochlear Implant so I can obviously hear, but I'm a very quiet and reserved person. So will listening to audiobooks be beneficial? Thanks!
 
Strong said:
Furthermore, I'm in my first year of university and got a "reality check". Whenever I talk to people, they would be like, "huh…" and just turn their heads away, pretending they could hear me when in reality, they were just ignoring me. Also, at a chinese restaurant, I asked the cashier about what I would like to order, that bitch humiliated me by asking me, "WHAT DO YOU WANT? I KNOW YOU WANT RICE BUT DO YOU WANT FRIED RICE?" in a raised voice that startled everyone in line behind me. Even the student next to me in the line kept glancing at me to see my reaction. It was such a humiliating moment. This first term so far has been the worst of all in my entire life, I think it could be because in high school, I was NEVER bullied because of my speech and my fellow classmates were actually very kind to me. So I don't know. I'm just sick of this bullshit and I just want to hide from the world.
Click to expand...

I went to buy gas and when inside to prepaid and told the guy I was in "pump
three " and the guy said "pump tree?" And I answered back "yeah pump tree"
I thought the guy was a jerk but he was not worth my time getting upset about. There is always going to jerks that have nothing better to and fun of other people . I think the best thing to do is try not to let it get to you as that is what the jerk is trying to. Don't give them any satisfaction and that will made the jerk feel stupid .
 
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