It was the summer of my sophomore year at my university,
And I had an opportunity to participate in an exchange with foreign guys.
I seem to remember that they were Filipinos. They were very active and friendly (some men were so handsome, haha).
Back to the main content - It was the first time I had the opportunity to use English, using everything I had learned since I was ten. Up to that time - it had been ten years since I started studying English. Wow, so exciting. As soon as I met them, I quickly approached and showed my level. Kaka. Just kidding. The truth is, I tried hard to come up with a question for them - such as: 'What kind of music do you like?'
Awesome! Kaka.
However, "mùa đông đến nghe yêu thương vụt tắt". She didn't understand what I asked. I thought I was speaking in a low voice. So she couldn't hear me, so I tried asking out loud a few more times. However, she still didn't understand what I meant. I was very disappointed and felt very humiliated at that time. Then, one of my classmates helped me ask her that question. Wait, the same question, those words, and in the same sequence. Why did I speak - she didn't understand, and my friend asked - she understood. At that time, I wondered why - but no one answered - they only smiled. I don't know if they didn't know why either or if they were making fun of me. Super hurt.
After that, information technology and the internet developed, and YouTube became more popular. Many native speakers were teaching English for free via their channels. I realized it was due to incorrect pronunciation. Yes, exactly. I spoke English without ending sounds, like speaking Vietnamese without diacritics. Vietnamese is a tonal language with six tones: level, acute-angry, grave-lowering, smooth-rising, chesty-raised, and chesty-heavy. After knowing this, I felt like I had found the true love of my life. I'm crazy about practicing pronunciation - the more I learn, the more fun I have. I use apps with speech recognition to check if I'm right. I say it wrong and correct it. There are days when I feel fatigued in my mouth because my mouth muscles have to work a lot, but I like it. I love to explore and research to learn how to pronounce correctly. When I pronounce correctly, maybe I remember more words, listen more simply, and have more fun studying English.
Learning English is so much fun - pronounce it correctly, and we will hear it. We study common words first and listen to simple talks first. Ah - in the beginning, and even now, I often listen to Thầy Bob talk. Because Thầy speaks clearly and directly, I understand more and am motivated to continue learning step by step. Do simple things every single day.
Hey guys, study English with me - let's make dreams come true together. ^^
