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

whatdidyousay! said:
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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That guy at the gas station sure needs some lessons in customer service.

You're right--ignore the jerks. They just make themselves look stupid.
 
Let me tell you a story ... my ex father in law couldn't pronounce certain words ... he was 100% hearing but worked construction and had an accident with brain injury which left him somewhat like a kid and not able to speak certain things ... one of which was the name of a large flea market we used to go to called Shipshewana in Shipshewana, Indiana ... his family used to make fun of him because he could only say it as shitty wanna ... I got tired of them making fun of him over it and sit with him one day and helped him learn to say it ... starting slowly with sounds shhhh then ship ... then she ... then wana ... he then learned how and said it correctly Shipshewana ... and he was proud of himself for it and went to show the rest he could say it right ... they still started saying in wrong to him just to upset him ... and it did upset him then he went back to saying it the wrong way ....

Point being ... don't let people get to you ... sound the words out slowly 1 letter at a time till you get it ... when you get upset or flustered it makes it worse and sets you back ... you would do better pronouncing things just to ignore any comments and say the words and sound them out inside your head before speaking them ... I hope things work out for you it always made me mad when I see someone making fun of a person like they did him ...
 
I have an idea, maybe it can help.....Have someone record the words you're having trouble pronouncing on your phone/recorder. You could listen to these words over and over. Then you record yourself saying these words and have someone you trust listen to them for you.

I had my hubby record himself reading books, then plugged my CI into my IPad and followed along. Works great.

The Chinese waitress who made you upset, she probably gets upset when the American waitress does not understand her.
 
Angel1989 said:
I have an idea, maybe it can help.....Have someone record the words you're having trouble pronouncing on your phone/recorder. You could listen to these words over and over. Then you record yourself saying these words and have someone you trust listen to them for you.

I had my hubby record himself reading books, then plugged my CI into my IPad and followed along. Works great.

The Chinese waitress who made you upset, she probably gets upset when the American waitress does not understand her.
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I don't have any recorder with me, not even an iPhone. :(
 
I can't help wondering why some hearing-impaired people are embarrassed to use a paper and pen to communicate when they don't pronounce some words correctly.
 
Strong said:
I don't have any recorder with me, not even an iPhone. :(
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What are you using for a computer? My laptop has Windows Vista and it comes with a text to voice program. You could type things into something like that - the speech is slightly stilted, but the pronunciations are correct.
 
CrazyPaul said:
I can't help wondering why some hearing-impaired people are embarrassed to use a paper and pen to communicate when they don't pronounce some words correctly.
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Sometimes I don't feel just comfortable using a paper and pen to communicate. I'd rather speak orally.
 
Also (basically ohmylight's idea but without needing a smart phone) you could set up a google voice account and have it forward to whatever phone number you use. Then call it and leave a voicemail (you can have the voicemails transcribed into email) and see if they recognize what you're saying. I'm not sure if you would need to call from a different number to leave a voicemail or not.

Not as good as feedback from a real person, but you can do it more privately, maybe that's less stressful until you feel more sure of what you're doing?
 
Strong said:
Sometimes I don't feel just comfortable using a paper and pen to communicate. I'd rather speak orally.
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CrazyPaul said:
Why not? Deafies use them with no shame.
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Feeling comfortable or not is a tricky thing. So personal, depends on the individual. We each have to deal with what we feel ok doing and what we don't, and figure out the best way to live our lives within that context. No point comparing our feelings to someone else's. Doesn't change our internal wiring.
 
Reba said:
That guy at the gas station sure needs some lessons in customer service.

You're right--ignore the jerks. They just make themselves look stupid.
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When I told my daughter about this I said the same as you did, that guy needed to learn some lessons in customer service. It would very rude if he made fun of person that has an accent like my dad did. Whenever I met a man with a Russian accent I tried to talk to him as long as I can because he remind of my dad's accent.
 
What is the business of listening? You don't need to listen just because you have CI. So you don't want to use paper and pen to communicate with hearing people. Heck, you would rather be hearing than be deaf. Pffft. :(

What a waste! **SMH**
 
Bebonang said:
What is the business of listening? You don't need to listen just because you have CI. So you don't want to use paper and pen to communicate with hearing people. Heck, you would rather be hearing than be deaf. Pffft. :(

What a waste! **SMH**
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Um, excuse me? I did not ask for anyone's opinion about my choice to be "hearing" than be deaf. I am simply requesting for any tips or help on how I can improve my own speech. This has nothing to do with using a paper and pen to communicate. If one does not feel comfortable with ANYTHING, then we should respect that choice.
 
Strong said:
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.
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I know it can be a drag having people not understanding you , but if you let other people know you're getting upset about this will only made them feel uncomfortable and they may not want to talk to you.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I know it can be a drag having people not understanding you , but if you let other people know you're getting upset about this will only made them feel uncomfortable and they may not want to talk to you.
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I 100% agree with this. I realize that people feed off your reactions to them, so I should not be visibly upset in front of them. Thanks!
 
Strong said:
Um, excuse me? I did not ask for anyone's opinion about my choice to be "hearing" than be deaf. I am simply requesting for any tips or help on how I can improve my own speech. This has nothing to do with using a paper and pen to communicate. If one does not feel comfortable with ANYTHING, then we should respect that choice.
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True, that's your business. However, if your speech is not successful, what would you do?
 
whatdidyousay! said:
When I told my daughter about this I said the same as you did, that guy needed to learn some lessons in customer service. It would very rude if he made fun of person that has an accent like my dad did. Whenever I met a man with a Russian accent I tried to talk to him as long as I can because he remind of my dad's accent.
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Personally, I find accents and dialects fascinating. They are nothing to mock.

The funny thing is, most of the people who mock foreign accents are they themselves monolingual. At least someone who uses English as a second language does know at least two languages. The mockers usually do NOT know two languages. In fact, they're usually not such great English speakers themselves.

I think it was impressive for your dad to learn English; how many Americans know Russian fluently, without an accent, as a second language?
 
Reba said:
Personally, I find accents and dialects fascinating. They are nothing to mock.

The funny thing is, most of the people who mock foreign accents are they themselves monolingual. At least someone who uses English as a second language does know at least two languages. The mockers usually do NOT know two languages. In fact, they're usually not such great English speakers themselves.

I think it was impressive for your dad to learn English; how many Americans know Russian fluently, without an accent, as a second language?
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Thank you! And dad's mother learn English too , my dad whole family became American citizens . Dad dies in 1967 when I was 20 yo. . My dad could speak Spanish too from living in Mexico. He was very gifted this way. It was a shame he was not able to finish school because he was very intelligent. Maybe the mockers are trying making other people bad so they will like a big shot. If someone feel good about their self they do not need put other people down.
 
Before I go into some long discussion let me give you the short answer to your original question, "But the problem is, how do I know if I'm doing it correctly (I have a CI)."

You use software to see your speech. Check out:
Pronunciation Coach

I've used it and it works.

Also, check out dictionary.com because it uses respelling instead of IPA which might be easier for you.

OK. Now, I've been working on this for some time and I can tell you it's not easy to master, but you can greatly improve your pronunciation with practice.

The first thing you have to come to grips with is how you deal with getting things wrong. You can't take mistakes and how people respond to them personally. Yes, it sucks and it is hurtful, but if we all did that nothing would ever get done, right? So, a mistake is just a stop on the way to getting something right. You have to deal with it just like everyone else, brush it off and try again.

Having said that, you also need to know that pronunciation is not an exact science. Any replication of language is based on the semantics of the language, of the original speaker. So, something might be pronounced one way in one part of town and another way in another part of town. Correct pronunciation depends on location, language and culture.

If you, like me, have trouble pronouncing written words, this can help.
But, you have to understand, this is by no means an exact science.
 
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