Friday, November 23, 2007 Speak out: Correct English By Philip Bergenstock Tayud, Liloan, Cebu
I HAVE watched, sometimes with amusement, the English issue being debated from time to time in the news media.
My exposure to the local culture has led me to believe that the educational system has done a superb job teaching English vocabulary and composition. But there remains a definite problem with pronunciation.
On one occasion, speaking to a customer service representative at a telephone company ultimately required my wife to take over the conversation.
The employee was obviously well educated, as there was never a hesitation in dialogue but the accent was so heavy and spoken so rapidly I had to have nearly everything repeated.
The tragedy of it all is that it does not take a minute longer to teach correct pronunciation that is free of accent. Of course, that first requires teacher proficiency. Perhaps there in lies the problem.
My Philippine stepdaughter spent most of her developmental years in the US and was often complimented on her English proficiency. In fact, her English was so good people could not believe that she was not born in the United States.
When I retired and brought her back to the Philippines to finish her schooling, her teacher had an entirely different opinion. She said her English was “slang” and neither she nor the class could understand her so she would have to relearn it.
I believe this is known as “dumbing down” to the level of your peers.
I am told that 95 percent of call center applicants are rejected for lack of English proficiency. Since a high school graduate has received 10 years of English, I find this surprising but I think it is obvious that accent or pronunciation is the real issue.
One applicant told me they wanted people with an “American” accent. Rest assured there is no such thing as an American accent. There are several accents across America.
What they want is pure distinct English with NO accent, which will be easily understood by any person from any English speaking country. An elementary school principal admitted the problem to me but contended that “people can still understand us.”
I challenged that assessment. I have experienced several situations dealing with educated people that required my wife to intercede for lack of their ability to effectively communicate.
The Philippines receives many international travelers and their opinion of this nation largely depends on what they see and hear.
When they see a television commercial advertising an international product with calcium added and it is pronounced “calshum,” what will they think?
Assuming that the advertising agency and product manufacturers had their executives review and approve this commercial before it aired, it’s essentially telling the viewing audience “buy our product” and “we are stupid.”
The problem has been self perpetuating for generations. Until the Department of Education draws a line in the sand and makes the commitment to educate the educators, this will go on forever.
Again I say it does not take a minute longer to teach correct pronunciation. But it does require an educational system that believes that being close, is not good enough.
