Funny Language School Commercial
Posted by: Mark Stoneman on: April 25, 2008
- In: humor| pronunciation| video
- Comment!
This commercial made the rounds a year or two ago, but I thought it would be fun to dig it up again. I’m not trying to advertise the school that made it though. I’ve worked for them in the past, and they’re okay, but this is just for laughs.
7 Responses to "Funny Language School Commercial"
May 13, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Loved the video…and it is so true!! Miscomunication due to mispronunciation is so common in a foreign language. Too bad students often don`t value this aspect of the language as they should…:S
May 14, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I lived in Germany for 9 months helping out at a church. I had the chance to sit in English conversation classes and some of the Germans said sink instead of think. They don’t use the th sound in their language because they “sink” it sounds childish. We love them though and can’t wait to go back.
May 14, 2008 at 3:45 pm
When I teach the “th” sound to non-native speakers, I become aware of just how awkward the sound can be for many. By emphasizing the sound, I feel like I might end up spitting on them by accident, or maybe they will on me. It really is a curious way to form the mouth.
May 17, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Actually, I think the “th” sound is sort of characteristic to English. I remember a lot of Brazilians used to say “sink” instead of “think”. In Italy, instead, people preferred to say “fink”. Also, for Americans it’s not so easy to get this sound right at the beginning: both my host-kids substitute the “th” sound with “s”, “f” or even “sh”.
I believe the only real way to get students understand how important it is to get the sound right is by showing them how they could incur into miscomunication issues. Just the way the video shows us 
June 12, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Oh wow, that was funnier than I thought it was going to be. I guess native English speakers must understand that not everyone in the world can speak or even understand our entire language. I have similar miscommunication issues with accents in my area, Massachusetts, USA. The Massachusetts people tend to not pronounce their R’s and then instead put them in places where they do not belong. For instance, “cah” instead of car and “sawr” instead of “saw.”
Comments are closed.
My Language Twitter
- mstoneman_esl: @kalinagoenglish The existence of class and the use of the word say nothing about social mobility. Maybe you're conflating class and caste?
- mstoneman_esl: @kalinagoenglish Most countries, I'd say, though I've found Europeans to be more up front with the language of class than Americans are.
- mstoneman_esl: @Ente81 Schwierig, weil es immer noch so viele Vorurteile darüber gibt, auch unter mutmasslichen aufgekärten, akademischen Kreisen.
- mstoneman_esl: RT @chronicle: English prof writes of the imaginary golden age when all students wrote beautifully and loved doing it. http://bit.ly/4mkKKf
- mstoneman_esl: Interesting article about language and US-China relations. http://bit.ly/1ZUGNf (Washington Post)
April 28, 2008 at 11:03 am
What an effective video. It really took me by surprise.