pronouncing a language is a skill. every normal person is expert with (1) __
the skill of pronouncing his own language; but few people are even
moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. now there many
reasons this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. but i suggest (2) __
that the fundamental reason which people in general do not speak (3) __
foreign languages very much better than they do are that they never (4) __
fail grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, (5) __
and consequently never set to tackling it in the right way. far (6) __
too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language
is a skill--- one needs careless training of a special kind, (7) __
and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of
itself. i think even teachers of language, while recognizing the
importance of a good accent, tend to neglect, in their practical
teaching, the branch of study concerning with (8) __
speaking the language. so the first point which i want to make is (9) __
that english pronunciation must be taught; the teacher
should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this,
and by his whole attitude to the subject should get the student
to feel that here is a matter worthy receiving his close attention. (10) __