Dear Rainlet,
Thank you especially for your kind words.
Dear others who replied, (or read, but didn't bother to try it.)
I was very sorry to see that the method I related has been dismissed so quickly by most who have written regarding my post about "This may help you to pronounce English well. Try it."
Once I had to learn some very difficult foreign names. One of them was "Khorshidcher"
I couldn't get my tongue around that name. The Kh must be said in the back of the throat almost like you are clearing your throat. The sh and the ch,so close together, were hard to get in the right order and quickly enough. The i in the shid part is said slightly like an e, and the e before the final r is said like an a, and the last r at the end is slightly rolled. Now these are all very difficult for an English speaker. Some of the sounds are not in our language and the rest is also difficult, for other reasons. It was a new thing for my throat and tongue and lip muscles to learn.
I understand that this example of learning one difficult name doesn't seem like much, but I *did* gave you the same example about learning new swimming strokes, which has everything to do with brain-muscle interaction, and nothing at all to do with language, meditation, or word-thought.
Once your know how a word should sound your problem is mostly a muscle-brain interaction problem. Once you know mentally *how* the word should be said, you must teach the fine muscles in lips, tongue and throat to do it at the brain's command. I have described an excellent way learn to do so. One that has worked for me, so it is tested. Please. Do not dismiss it so quickly. Try it for awhile. It will work for you so long as you know how the word should be said, but you still can't make your mouth do it well.
For instance, work on your R words. Work on your L words. Chinese people seem to mix them, using l for r. Say "Rrrrrrough" to yourself. Say Llllllike to yourself. Get those little muscles moving correctly everytime, for every word that contains these sounds. Say Rrrough Rrrrabbit Rrran to his Hoarrry RRRabbit Rrrun. "Rough rabbit ran to his hoary rabbit run." It doesn't have to make sense. All it has to do is to exercise your throat's ability to say r. Make up your own sentences using a lot of the sounds your find the hardest to say correctly.
I didn't just "think" or "meditate" about this name. I could, (and can still when I do it,) actually feel very tiny movements in my throat as I say it over and over inside. It wasn't like reading, because I have no throat movements when I read. It was an inner connecting between the fine muscles and the brain.
It is easy to intellectually dismiss an idea without even really trying it. Or perhaps you misunderstood what I described. You won't find out that this really does work, unless you try.
Mary
