is it true that if you spend aLOT of time reading you may have some problem with pronounciation when speaking?

Answer 1

For those who learn English as ESL students in a non-English speaking country, and are not exposed enough to the spoken language, that's a common complaint.

English is not always pronounced as written, and it has incorporated plenty of words from other cultures, so the pronunciation is modified, thus compounding the problem, but exposure to audio helps overcome this little hitch.

Answer 2

oh yes, I am not embarrassed to say, English is my second language but I read a lot of books and magazines in English, sometimes I will know the meaning of a word (I look up in the dictionary) but I will not know the correct pronunciation. It is not easy to figure out the correct pronounciation just by looking at the little symbols in the dictionary. On one ocassion at work someone was asking the meaning of the word 'ubiquitous' , I knew the meaning of the word and told the person, it was then that I learned how to pronounce it correctly.

Answer 3

Reading a lot does not create language problems. However, if you are sight reading rather than phonetically reading you aren't really learning how to SAY the words you know. (I had that problem. Read on a high school level in the third grade but didn't learn phonetics until I was 13). Also, there is a condition called Asperger's, which is a form of Autism, which causes social problem. A lot of Aspies would rather read than talk to other people and find internet communication easier than face to face communication.

Answer 4

I learned English as a second language. Indeed, only reading words can be misleading, because it's hard to tell how they're pronounced just with their spelling or even with the help of their phonetic transcription. And even despite teachers, it even caused my ears to deny a few sounds. For instance, I was baffled when, after several years of English teaching, I was told that the vowel sound in "love" was that of "cup" and not the one of "got" (I mean the British sound). It took me a lot of time to really be convinced.

But about French (my mother tongue), over a few years I had had only scarce occasions to speak with others (some management techniques can be pretty harmful) and I mostly practiced my language through reading. My speech did evolve indeed and became more compliant to word spelling, denying usage.

Still, the opposite has been true to me in English. I was quite accurate in terms of spelling, and the more my ear has become skilled with English phonetics, the more English spelling has started having pitfalls to me.

By the way: thanks to Goddess of Grammar, I know now that I wrongly pronounce "pear".

Answer 5

If you mean reading in (especially a second) language which isn't phonetic, I suppose it's possible. You may be familar with the spellings of words, but not know how they're pronounced. I have heard of this happening with "misled" (looks like it could be myzuld rather than miss-led) and "epitome" (apparently Cindy Crawford dumped Richard Gere because he made fun of her for saying "ep-i-toam, it's like epit-o-me"), for example. And my daughter's teacher assumed "pear" was pronounced "peer" until my daughter told her it was like "pare".

Answer 6

It could be My delight to obtain,and or provide You a well night time HUG!! This is most likely now not a large number!! But an excessively satisfying learn!! I learn it greater than as soon as,rationale I loved it a host!!

Answer 7

I have never heard that before and I would, in any case, think it to be absolute rubbish.

Reading can only serve to enhance someone's language skills.

Answer 8

Oh my yes...and if you jump too high you will bang your head on the sky.

Answer 9

That ith juth a rumor. there ith no truth innith.

Answer 10

never heard that before