u/showe12

Wo-men or we-men

Hi everyone,

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I’d like to ask something more specific about teaching English in a native English-speaking country.

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If someone is working as a primary school teacher or secondary school English teacher in a country like Australia, the UK, the US, Canada, or New Zealand, are they generally expected to sound like a native speaker?

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Or is it completely acceptable to teach English/literacy with a noticeable non-native accent, as long as the teacher speaks clearly and accurately?

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I’m asking because, as a teacher, you’re not just using English to communicate. You’re also modelling the language for native-speaking children, especially when it comes to reading aloud, pronunciation, spelling, phonics, vocabulary, grammar, and academic writing.

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So I’m wondering: if a teacher has a non-native accent, could that be seen as a problem in this kind of role? Or does it not really matter, as long as their English is fluent, clear, and professional?

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For context, I’m currently studying teaching, and in the future I may be teaching native English-speaking children. That’s why I’m thinking about whether I should actively try to sound as native-like as possible, or whether having a slight non-native accent is completely fine.

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I’ve also noticed that in many English-speaking countries, there are teachers from different linguistic backgrounds, including teachers with noticeable accents. So I’m curious how this is viewed in schools. Is a noticeable accent acceptable for an English/literacy teacher? Could it affect students’ pronunciation or language learning in any way, or is that concern exaggerated?

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I’d really appreciate honest answers, especially from teachers, school leaders, parents, or people who studied education.

Is it important for a non-native English learner to pursue a native accent in English?The more I studied English, the more I think it is like meaningful to pursue a native accent. I have learned english phonology By myself, But I still cannot say I can sound native. Now, I think it is worthwhile to learn and try to speak with a native accent, but don't try to presume be 100% native, cause it is nearly impossible for a non-native to be 100% native. And learning accents, like some technique, including connected speech, can actually help you speak fast. And as long as you speak clear, I don't think You really need to aim 100% native accent.

https://voca.ro/15wOZ8N9yM1u

https://voca.ro/1cIyM4iG8tYS

I’m kinda confused about flapping in non-rhotic accents like Australian or New Zealand English. They can flap the /t/ in words like water, but unlike American English, there’s no rhotic /r/ after it. In American English, the /r/ can be made either with a retroflex tongue shape or a bunched tongue shape, but if Aus/NZ English is non-rhotic, then when they say water with a flap, what’s actually going on with the tongue movement?

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If we compare American water with Australian/New Zealand water, the similarity is that they can both have a flapped /t/. The difference is that in American English, there is usually an /r/ at the end, with some kind of r-colouring/rhoticity, while in Aus/NZ English there isn’t. So from an articulatory point of view, what exactly makes the Aus/NZ version “non-rhotic”? Is it that the tongue is not retroflexed? Or that it is not bunched? Or could both be possible, depending on the speaker?

I'm not a native speaker and I'm an English learner. I'm just wondering, Do British people use glottal stop to change flap T and flap D all the time? Just to clarify, I know there are different accents and dialects in the UK, and I know lots of them don't really use the glottal stop. I'm talking about those that do use glottal stops.

Because I feel like everything with a flap T or flap D, it can always use a glottal stop in some British accent.

For example.water wo-ah city si’y getting

ge’ing

I'm a Non-native English learner. And this intrusive are confused me a lot.

From my understanding, it only exists in Non-Rotic accent.Which includes British(non-rhoticity).australian New Zealand accents

But I've listened some clips where it should be an intrusive R, but there's clearly no any R soud

I've searched them saying idea of It should be an intrusive R after idea. But I only hear it from some clips. More clips appeared to be no any Rs Do they use like glottal stop when they speak? So, it's kind of break the chain So, they don't need to use glottal stop? edit :Just to be clear, I've listened some clip from British and australians. And Clearly the sentences that expected to be pronounced with intrusive R. are not Pronounced with R for some speakers Like India and China. Idea of

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I got a Quest three have been using it for two months, and now I can't use VR Chat on Quest anymore.

Other apps works perfectly fine except VR Chat. Every time I log in VR Chat, it always load up to 5 minutes, and It went to establishing the World, Connecting, joining. Every time it just stuck in connecting for few minutes, and then The screen will be dark for a few seconds, and then repeat Internalizing, connecting, Joining.，And then still like this. Sometimes I can join. Um, It's repeat four or five times, then I joined. when I join, uh uh it works perfectly fine in the game. But every time I open the game, it still happened.

It is literally driving me crazy. I've tried everything. At first, I thought that was because my WiFi. I bought a new router, I changed my WiFi, nothing works.

I've also tried delete and redownload the APP, and I've also tried reset my headset. Nothing solves the problem.

I got a Quest three have been using it for two months, and now I can't use VR Chat on Quest anymore.

Other apps works perfectly fine except VR Chat. Every time I log in VR Chat, it always load up to 5 minutes, and It went to establishing the World, Connecting, joining. Every time it just stuck in connecting for few minutes, and then The screen will be dark for a few seconds, and then repeat Internalizing, connecting, Joining.，And then still like this. Sometimes I can join. Um, It's repeat four or five times, then I joined. when I join, uh uh it works perfectly fine in the game. But every time I open the game, it still happened.

It is literally driving me crazy. I've tried everything. At first, I thought that was because my WiFi. I bought a new router, I changed my WiFi, nothing works.

I've also tried delete and redownload the APP, and I've also tried reset my headset. Nothing solves the problem.

I’m a native Mandarin speaker, and I help Chinese speakers with English pronunciation and accent training.

In Chinese-language English pronunciation teaching, I often see the claim that English is pronounced “from the back of the throat” or uses “back resonance”, while Mandarin and some other Asian languages are pronounced more “from the front of the mouth”.

This claim is often used to explain why many Chinese speakers’ English does not sound native-like: Chinese speakers are said to place their voice too far forward, whereas native English speakers supposedly speak from the back of the throat.

I find this explanation highly questionable from a phonetic point of view. As far as I understand, different English sounds have different tongue positions and places of articulation. Some vowels are front, some are back, and consonants vary considerably as well.

Is there any recognised phonetic or phonological basis for this “back of the throat” explanation? Or is it better understood as a vague teaching metaphor rather than a scientifically accurate description?

How to get A+ in speaking? I've watched several videos of people demonstrate A mock test of people are getting score of 8 or 8+. And it is generally hard for me, I can't get an eight, even if I was using my native language to do the test. I'm just not academically with that. I can't think of like how to use big words and complex like reasoning skills. Like in this test, I just like I can only choose like normal like everyday conversation and ended up getting a 7 or 7.5

Hello, I'm a 20 year old Chinese male Seeking for an English native speaker to improve my English.

I can teach you Chinese in return.Especially pronunciation.

My English pronunciation is native level.But my vocabulary and grammar are relatively weaker.

I studied phonology myself, so I can teach you Chinese pronunciation.

As a non-native speaker. I have always been hesitate when I wanted to ask someone's gender.Because I don't know What is the polite way to ask without offending people. And how do you address someone if you don't know their gender? I mean, if they might be a transgender, what do you use to call he or she? do you say he wants to do, or like she wants to do something ?

And another thing, as an adult, can I use the term boys or girls? Like, are you a boy or girl? Is it offensive? Is it boys and girls are only for kids

Same question. So, if someone's adult, can I say like he's a boy? Or I have to say he's a male? I think a more colloquial term would be he's a dude.

I know the terms dude refers to male, chick refers to female, but is it offensive to call a female chick? Is it only acceptable if you are talking about girls with other males?

I've been studying English for ages, but still learning new words.

Here are some words I know so far. There might be more. Please feel free to teach me.

For boys private part：Penis. Dick. thing， willy Cock，Pee-pee Wee-wee. doodle (I think this is the most confusing one. Only australian people use it. I thought it was a small drawing, but turns out it means private part)

For females private parts:Vagina, (Some people call it Vova.Is it a British or australian term?)

And one more question. As an adult, what do I use to call my private part(for a male)? Like, in casual conversation, do I say penis? I feel like it's definitely very childish to say like, Willy, pee pee, something like that.

Please teach me if there's more terms.

I just finished my first trimester of university, and I didn’t make a single friend.

I know that probably sounds dramatic, but it’s honestly been bothering me a lot. I’ve always been introverted. Even growing up, in primary school and high school, I never really had many close friends. So I guess this isn’t completely new for me, but being in university and seeing everyone else slowly form their own little circles makes it feel worse.

The annoying thing is, I’m not even someone who can’t talk at all. If someone talks to me first, I can usually keep the conversation going. I can be friendly, I can joke around, and I can actually get along with people. But I’m just not the kind of person who naturally walks up to someone first and starts a conversation.

So what happens is: I don’t approach people, nobody approaches me, and then nothing happens.

This trimester I had a group assignment, so I added two of my group members on Instagram. We weren’t super close or anything, it was mostly just for the assignment. But after that, Instagram started recommending people from my classes because of mutuals.

And that somehow made me feel even worse.

I started noticing that a lot of people from my classes seem to already follow each other or know each other outside class. Meanwhile, I recognise them because we’ve been in the same lectures or tutorials, but we’ve never even said hi to each other. Not once.

It made me realise that other people have probably been talking, connecting, and becoming at least somewhat familiar with each other, while I’ve just been there the whole time, existing in the same room but not really part of anything.

I don’t want to force myself into people’s lives. I don’t want to act overly friendly just to please people. I don’t want to look desperate or like I’m begging for friendship. But at the same time, feeling this disconnected genuinely sucks.

I feel like I could make friends if someone gave me a little opening, but nobody does, and I’m too scared to be the one to make the first move.

Any advice for me? Thank you！

I’ve heard some Australians use “doodle” to mean a boy’s private part. Can “doodle” still be used with its original meaning, like a random little drawing?