Were you taught any kind of phonetic symbols at class in your primary school?

[TaiwanPofLee]

Were you taught any kind of English phonetic symbols at class in your primary school?
If not, do you consider it a pity?

 

[Mrfatso]

Not A Teacher

I have never been taught English phonetic symbols at any level of my education.
It is not something that I regret as I have learned to pronounce English in the way that is normal for my part of the UK.

 

[MikeNewYork]

The only phonetic symbols I was taught were the dash over long vowels and a U over short vowels. Occasionally a short A had two dots over it, That was enough for me. In most cases, people learn pronunciation by hearing, not from phonetic symbols.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Were you taught any kind of English phonetic symbols at class in your primary school? No.

If not, do you consider it a pity? No.

I can't think of many American sounds that can't be spelled using the 26 letters.

There's a central Connecticut hiccup way of saying words with T in the middle, like button (BUH'in) and Britain (BRIH'in), that defies phonetic spelling, and there's the quick, sharp Maine inhale (>YUH!<), and there are probably a few others. But not many. Certainly not enough to warrant learning a whole phonetic system.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The only phonetic symbols I was taught were the dash over long vowels and a U over short vowels. Occasionally a short A had two dots over it, That was enough for me. In most cases, people learn pronunciation by hearing, not from phonetic symbols.

Good point. I wasn't thinking of umlauts and tildes and whatnot.

But, Taiwan, those sounds can also be spelled out with letters.

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

Sounds vs words,
Pronunciation vs spelling,
My concern is:
Whether English phonetic symbols should be included in the curriculum of primary school?

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

British Council, UK:Teaching pronunciation with phonemic symbols
●Phonemic symbols represent the sounds of the English language.
●Using them can be a valuable tool to improving your students' pronunciation.
●It is important for teachers to know the phonemic symbols.
●It is not difficult to learn phonemic symbols.
(From https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teaching-pronunciation-phonemic-symbols)

 

[Esredux]

I was taught IPA as a compulsory part of the national English teachers training curriculum but ironically have hardly ever used it apart from in various professional interviews.

Strictly speaking, "reading" phonemc symbols have nothing to do with decent pronunciation, but the accent of the teacher does! (as well as anything that children can hear - class CDs, nursery rhymes, etc.) It's through hearing that we learn how to pronounce sounds and sound words, not through reading. Besides, children are generally so good at parroting!

On the other hand, doing phonemic symbols can vary the process like colouring or writing/copying, so why not? (particulary with a not very academic class)

ps. It might help to know your personal reasoning as well. ;-)

 

[Tdol]

Were you taught any kind of English phonetic symbols at class in your primary school?
If not, do you consider it a pity?

I wasn't. I started studying second languages in secondary school, but we didn't use them there either. It was only at university that I started using them at all. I'm not sure whether it's a pity as it's hard to say whether I lost out because of this.

 

[Roman55]

I wasn't taught phonetic symbols in any primary school I attended, and I went to primary school in three different countries.

I do think they're very useful for non-natives when encountering an English word for the first time, though.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Is it more helpful than hearing the word pronounced? How did so many of us learn pronunciation without these symbols?

 

[emsr2d2]

I have never been taught phonetic symbols. I have never taught myself either. I don't use them or understand them. ;-)

 

[probus]

The only phonetic symbols I was taught were the dash over long vowels and a U over short vowels. Occasionally a short A had two dots over it, That was enough for me. In most cases, people learn pronunciation by hearing, not from phonetic symbols.

I officially declare you an old guy, just like me.

 

[Raymott]

I was never taught them in Australia in school between the 60s and 70s. No, it wasn't a pity. We could easily hear what the teacher and what our classmates were saying without symbols.
As I recall, I don't think we learned any phonetic symbols for French at junior level either. But I've found it very useful later in life learning foreign languages without so much native aural feedback.

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

Is it more helpful than hearing the word pronounced? How did so many of us learn pronunciation without these symbols?

Why pupils in Taiwan and China are taught Zhuyin and Pinyin respectively in their Mandarin Chinese class?

 

[Roman55]

Is it more helpful than hearing the word pronounced?

No, of course not. Nothing is better for learning pronunciation than to hear a native speaker pronounce the words. But, since English spelling is notoriously unhelpful for pronunciation, if you are a non-native and encounter new words while reading, I think knowledge of phonetic symbols can be useful.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Probus, I prefer "dinosaur". :lol:

 

[Tdol]

Why pupils in Taiwan and China are taught Zhuyin and Pinyin respectively in their Mandarin Chinese class?

Different languages present different problems.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Sounds vs words,
Pronunciation vs spelling,
My concern is:
Whether English phonetic symbols should be included in the curriculum of primary school?

I can't think of a reason for most Engish-speaking students to know about phonetic symbols. I'd never seen one until I discovered UsingEnglish.com.

You might be right that it could be useful to people who teach English as a second language. But I'm not quite convinced. My Spanish teachers never used phonetic symbols to teach us Spanish.

There are a lot of people and several organizations with ideas about simplifying and standardizing written and spoken English. But that seems meddlesome and misbegotten to me.

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

Hey Charlie!

1. Spanish is a phonetic language while English isn't.
2. Understanding that Chinese is not a phonetic language, the governments both in Taiwan and China make it compulsory to teach primary-school pupils Zhuyin and Pinyin respectively.
3. The British Council advocates teaching of English phonetic symbols.