(Thank you so much

@Sean

for this awesome translation!)

首先，英語(yǔ)也有很多不同地區(qū)的發(fā)音，盡管不同但它們都正確。大多數(shù)講英文的國(guó)家的發(fā)音都不盡相同。所以英語(yǔ)沒(méi)有一種官方的發(fā)音，不像普通話一樣。

我也注意到當(dāng)很多中國(guó)學(xué)生學(xué)英語(yǔ)的時(shí)候，他們?cè)噲D找到發(fā)音相近的漢語(yǔ)單詞。這樣確實(shí)能使記單詞容易些，但我還是覺(jué)得這些學(xué)生記住的那個(gè)單詞的發(fā)音是有些扭曲的，而并非是原本的發(fā)音。這樣的話你最后學(xué)到的是那個(gè)漢語(yǔ)的發(fā)音，而非原本的發(fā)音。例如，英文的"me"聽(tīng)起來(lái)很像漢語(yǔ)的“密”，但你如果真這么發(fā)音的話，聽(tīng)起來(lái)會(huì)有些奇怪（這個(gè)發(fā)音可能會(huì)聽(tīng)起來(lái)短一些）

再就是整個(gè)句子的語(yǔ)調(diào)。你如何通過(guò)控制重音節(jié)來(lái)表達(dá)你的語(yǔ)氣？這個(gè)更難學(xué)，因?yàn)楦揪蜎](méi)有系統(tǒng)地傳授這個(gè)的方法。所以做好模仿native speaker們進(jìn)行大量地練習(xí)發(fā)音的準(zhǔn)備吧！如果你還在糾結(jié)每個(gè)單詞的發(fā)音的時(shí)候，練這個(gè)就很困難了。

美國(guó)在講口語(yǔ)的時(shí)候還經(jīng)常簡(jiǎn)化發(fā)音。如果你一個(gè)詞一個(gè)詞地發(fā)音的話（基本沒(méi)有美國(guó)人這么干），你聽(tīng)起來(lái)就像機(jī)器人。美國(guó)人很喜歡省略/模糊掉一些發(fā)音。

大體來(lái)講，我不覺(jué)得你的英語(yǔ)發(fā)音要達(dá)到完美的地步才會(huì)聽(tīng)起來(lái)流利。英語(yǔ)不像漢語(yǔ)一樣是一門帶音調(diào)的語(yǔ)言，一點(diǎn)小的發(fā)音錯(cuò)誤并不會(huì)影響對(duì)整個(gè)句子的理解。另外，一些英語(yǔ)國(guó)家的大城市里有很多來(lái)自世界各地的移民，所以你會(huì)常常聽(tīng)到很多口音的英語(yǔ)。

發(fā)音像一個(gè)native speaker會(huì)幫你避免歧視。但我覺(jué)得更重要的是當(dāng)你問(wèn)候一個(gè)人的時(shí)候會(huì)給產(chǎn)生你是“我們中的一員”或“他們中的一員”的第一印象。比如，無(wú)論是什么口音，用"Hey, howve you been?" 而不是用"Hello, how are you?" 會(huì)讓你得到非常不同的回應(yīng)。

最后記得微笑！你笑得越多，就會(huì)有越少的人在乎你的發(fā)音。

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First, there are many regional styles of English pronunciation and all of them are correct, but different. Most of the countries that primarily speak English (

English-speaking world

) dont sound much like each other. So there isnt an official way to pronounce English words to same degree that there is in Mandarin.

Ive also noticed that when a lot of Chinese students learn English, they try to associate new words with similar sounding Chinese words. This does make remembering the word easier, but I also suspect that the student remembers a slightly warped version of the word, instead of the original. You end up learning the association, rather than the original content. For example, the word me sounds similar to 密 (mì), but if thats how you remember the pronunciation, then its going to sound slightly strange (in this case, probably too short).

And then theres the intonation of the entire sentence. Where do you emphasize certain syllables over others to communicate your tone? This is even harder to learn because theres not even a system for teaching this. So be ready for thousands of hours of trial and error by imitating native speakers. And its hard to concentrate on this if youre still consciously thinking about the pronunciation of individual words.

Americans also cut a lot of corners in colloquial English. If youre going by the pronunciation symbols (which hardly any Americans know how read) then youll end up with robotic-sounding speech. Americans are especially fond of dropping and slurring syllables.

In general, I dont think your English pronunciation has to be perfect to be considered fluent. English isnt a tonal language like Chinese, where a small pronunciation mistake could change the meaning of the sentence. Plus, big cities in English-speaking countries are full of immigrants from different places, so you get used to hearing a wide variety of accents.

Sounding like a native speaker could help you avoid discrimination. But I think its more about how you greet someone that creates the first impression of whether youre one of us or one of them. For example, instead of "Hello, how are you?" simply use "Hey, howve you been?" Youll get a very different response regardless of your accent.

And smile! The more you smile, the less people will care about your pronunciation.

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