Ambassador Language Course Audio Blog #1

Transcript:

Hi Folks, my name is Jason, and I’m the proprietor of Ambassador Language Course, and Today, as my first audio blog entry, or podcast, whatever, I will be sharing with you how I got my Pronunciation.

Some of the questions that I’d get asked a lot – especially in the first few meetings with a new class - include, ‘Are you really Indonesian?’, ‘Did you ever live overseas?’, and ‘Why are you so unbelievably hip and wonderful?’, to which I would answer, ‘Yes, I’m an Indonesian’, ‘No, I’ve never lived overseas’, and ‘Yes, thank you, I was born hip and wonderful’.

What usually caused these people to ask these nice questions was my English pronunciation, which – I have to boast a little – is pretty damn spot on. So, yeah, I’m an Indonesian, born and bred. I was born in Jogjakarta, this wonderful little city in the center of Java where I’m currently living. I moved to Pekanbaru at the age of 4 to live with my grandma, and then moved to Batam, before moving back to Jogja to pursue my bachelor’s degree in English Education.

And no, I’ve never really lived overseas. The longest I’ve spent overseas was the 3 months in Singapore when I had to take care of my sick Grandpa – who’s in heaven now, bless him. However, that one doesn’t really contribute to my pronunciation, if I’m to be honest, since, well, have you heard Singaporeans speak Singlish?

So how did I achieve my pronunciation?

Well the one thing that really helped was the fact that I’ve always loved repeating new words, and they don’t necessarily have to be English. I remember when I was about 9, my cousin, Hengdry and I loved watching this Japanese superhero show called Kamen Rider. Every time the heroes showed up, the villains would yell “BAKYAROO!” in exasperation perhaps because their evil plan was about to be foiled again. And so we would follow these villains and yell “BAKYAROO!” at each other during play fight constantly, and by the end of the day, our pronunciation of the word would be more or less like how the villains would say it.

Rider Ichigo, Nigo, and V-SERIAAA!!!!

Years later I learned that the word was “BAKA Yarou!”, or “Bak(ayea)Roou!” when spoken really quickly which would literally mean “Stupid Person!”. I still don’t quite get why that’s offensive, or why villains would say that everytime the heroes show up, but I do have the sense that you should never EVER say that to a Japanese person EVER.

Anyways, so obviously I picked up quite a bit of Japanese words other that “Baka Yarou”, but what I learned from that experience was that REPETITION was key.

When I moved to Batam at around the age of 10, I found out the TVs there could intercept broadcasts from Singapore and Malaysia – which was extremely cool. And there was this Singaporean channel called Channel 5, and it was an English channel that actually showed a lot of American cartoons and TV series. My English was still really horrible back then, so I wouldn’t be able to completely understand what I was watching, but I was still able to say a few words right because I kept repeating them. Then, my mom, the English teacher, decided enough was enough, and began properly teaching me English, which would go on for a couple of years or so. People, that really boosted my cartoon watching experience.

By the time I was halfway through junior high school, that is, grade 8-ish, my English capabilities had shot through the roof. I was speaking in accurate American accent and in accurate grammar it mystified everybody, including, surprisingly, even my mother. I would actually have to point out from time to time that it was her who taught me. What, she couldn’t believe she’d done such a good job? She was an excellent teacher who, by the way, had helped so many of my friends achieve similar excellence in English proficiency.

So all in all, how did I hone my pronunciation? Repetition, people. REPETITION. I’d watch 30-minute cartoons like “Captain Simian and The Space Monkeys”, or “Captain Planet”, and, as I got older, TV series like “Buffy the vampire slayer” or “Friends” and I would repeat whatever sentences I could hear to DEATH.

Buffy and Mr.Pointy

Now, I have to say, it’s actually MUCH easier nowadays to improve your pronunciation. I had to move to Batam to be able to get English shows but people can now just search YouTube to get SO MUCH MORE. And with SUBTITLES! Oh I would have killed to get some subtitles for my Sunday morning cartoons. See, if you really want to improve your English, why not stop your Pewdipie-watching marathon for a minute or two and watch something that you could use to practice your pronunciation? (I like Pewds but he yells too much) If you’re too old for cartoons, why not watch some documentaries like the excellent Begin Japanology series by NHK on YouTube? The English is excellent, and you get to learn a lot about Japan! Turn on the CC while you’re watching, or the Closed Caption button, and start narrating the show along with the narrator?

And just in case you’re worried that your pronunciation isn’t up to scratch, which, no offense, it's hard, why not CHECK the word’s pronunciation online on www.oxforddictionaries.com/? Heck, you could even check it on Google by simply typing a word in the search bar. For example, if you typed M-E-N-A-G-E-R-I-E, you'll be taken to a page where you can even hear how the word is pronounced! I would have NEVER been able to do that when I was still learning English.

I think what we have right now is an abundance of resources all over the internet which has made learning a language so much easier that we’d be a fool not to use it.

So guys, if you want to improve your pronunciation, start scouring the Internet for materials and pronounce-away! Be consistent, and in no time, you’ll improve so much YOU’ll get asked if you’d lived overseas.

Okay then people, Jason out.

Peace!