#1 THINK SOUNDS, NOT LETTERS
Probably the biggest impediment to goodpronunciation is picturing how a word is writtenwhile saying it. The written letters are associatedin our minds with English sounds. Consequently,these English sounds rise automatically to ourlips instead of the foreign ones, and we mustspend part of our energy in combatting thistendency. There is nothing hard about sayingthe French word for “son,” which is pronounced“feess”—until you see it written down: fils.
Probably the biggest impediment to goodpronunciation is picturing how a word is writtenwhile saying it. The written letters are associatedin our minds with English sounds. Consequently,these English sounds rise automatically to ourlips instead of the foreign ones, and we mustspend part of our energy in combatting thistendency. There is nothing hard about sayingthe French word for “son,” which is pronounced“feess”—until you see it written down: fils.
