Teaching Urdu Speakers English: Phonology

As ELL teachers it is important to know that "Most problems with pronunciation in a second language are the result of interference from the first language". Therefore, it is helpful for teachers to understand the basics of a students' first language in order to help them better teach English as a second language.

In this blog post we will review the basics of the Phonology of Urdu and how it impacts the way that we teach ELLs. 

 

• Urdu has 28 consonants and 10 vowels compared to the 21 consonants and 5 vowels in English.
•  Urdu has a very different way of stressing syllables in words. Their emphasis is predicatble and consistent on each syllable where as English puts a stress on certain syllables in a word.
• However, in Urdu, emphasis is accomplished by higher pitch rather than by the heavier articulation that exists in English. Therefore, the pronunciation of words can be extremely challenging especially words that use irregular stress patterns for words ie. Photographer and Photograph
• Urdu is read and written from right to left, the opposite of English. 
•   Urdu has a tenser articulation than English, with vowels produced further forward, leading to the loss of some distinctions between vowels. (e.g. “sad” for “said”). 

• Remember that unlike languages like french that have corresponding letters and letter sounds, the Urdu alphabet does not translate exactly in sounds as there are many more in Urdu which could be hard when learning English. Make sure to take the process of learning the basic phonology of English slowly and give many opportunities for learning in context. 
• Make sure to teach vocabulary in context and with many examples as practice. This will help students to practice learning the way we stress syllables. 
• Be patient as there are many skills that will be difficult for students to get used to such as reading from left to right.