The BIGGEST Pronunciation Challenges in English For Arabic Speakers

In this episode, you’ll learn 5 of the most common pronunciation challenges Arabic speakers face when speaking English. You’ll also learn how to pronounce the sounds, and how to practice your American accent effectively. Mispronunciations happen when a sound in the target language, in this case English, doesn’t exist in the speaker’s native tongue (Arabic). When this happens, speakers tend to pronounce a different (but somewhat similar) sound that does exist in their language. Scroll down to read about each challenge and download the FREE English Pronunciation guide for Arabic speakers. In the pronunciation guide you’ll also find 5 more pronunciation challenges that Arabic speakers might face so you could practice those as well.

Here are the challenges of English for Arabic Speakers that are discussed in the video:

Challenge #1: Replacing P with B

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) lacks the P sound so there is no distinction between P and B. Therefore, many Arabic speakers might pronounce a word like ‘pay’ as ‘bay’.

to practice these challenges with our lists of words and audio recordings.

Challenge #2: Breaking consonant clusters

Consonant clusters are sequences of consonants without a vowel between them. In MSA, clusters are less common than in English, especially at the beginning of words. Therefore, many Arabic speakers tend to eliminate such clusters, usually by adding a vowel before the cluster or in between its consonants. For example, a word like ‘spring’ (with the cluster ‘spr’) might be pronounced as ‘sipring’, with two vowels instead of one.
Such insertions are common in words in the past form that carry the -ed suffix (pronounced as D or T). Although the ‘e’ in the spelling is silent, some speakers may perceive it as “permission” to add a vowel and break the cluster: wi-shed, bar-ked, ma-na-ged, etc.

Challenge #3: Replacing CH with SH

In MSA there is no distinction between SH and CH as in English. The CH sound might appear at the end of words, for example when verbs that end with a T sound receive the SH suffix of negation. Since the CH is not a distinct sound in MSA, speakers tend to change it to SH. So a word like ‘chip’ might sound like ‘ship’.

Challenge #4: Merging different vowels

In MSA, neither /ɛ/ nor /ɪ/ exists as a distinct sound in Arabic. Therefore, MSA speakers might confuse them with /i/ that exists in MSA and say ‘beat’ instead of ‘bit’ or ‘bet.

Challenge #5: Mispronouncing the STIR sound

There is no STIR vowel sound in MSA and speakers of MSA tend to replace this sound with a neutral vowel sound according to the vowel letter in the spelling. For example, a word like ‘bird’ might sound like ‘beard’.

And since the R in MSA is a trill sound, where the tip of your tongue touches the roof of the mouth, speakers of MSA also tend to use it in English instead of the English R. The English R is produced with no contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, while the sides of the tongue touch the sides of the teeth. In the workbook you’ll also be able to practice the English R sound.

Watch the episode English for Arabic Speakers: 5 Pronunciation Challenges, to understand the challenges and practice with me.

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