Language barrier, likely a psychological barrier

I now avoid words with the letter ‘V’ – someone said to me. An error often heard in English spoken by native speakers of Chinese and other Asian languages that don’t have this sound: often the ‘V’s’ come out sounding like ‘W’s’. For words like vaccine, invite, valuable, vacuum, vital, and more, listeners still understand the speaker.

Unfortunately, mispronouncing 'veggies' this way gives 'I love to eat veggies' a very different meaning in North American slang - I witnessed this in during my graduate training. Deep thanks to that colleague for this example that neither I nor my connections can forget.

Someone once told me that when they wanted to use a word with the letter ‘v’ in it, they tried to replace it with another word that does not contain the letter ‘v’. This person was afraid to use this sound. They told me that before they were aware of their mispronunciation, they were not afraid to use it. After they knew that it might not come out right, and they were more afraid to use it.

They also told me that when they did use the letter ‘V’, people did understand them.

So for everyday purposes, their pronunciation did not get worse. In their mind, the gap between their pronunciation and correct pronunciation felt larger, because their understanding of correct pronunciation had changed. Without practice though, their pronunciation did not get better.

What are you good at? I asked. After practicing a musical instrument regularly for a few months, they were able to say “I got much better, but still not great.” But they got better because they did it.

Language is like that, but harder. We must do it to get better at it, but doing something when we’re not good at it is exposure. Speaking a language comes with a huge psychological load because language must be heard by others to fulfill its purpose as a social tool. Speakers expose their abilities, and they might experience shyness, shame, prejudice, sudden demands for speaking, fear of failure, and gender-based expectations, to name some examples from an online report published by students.

Herein lies the difference between coaching and instruction. Instruction gives techniques. Coaching lowers emotional barriers. I believe that with sensitivity, awareness, patience, and encouragement, any one of us can coach someone learning a language we know.

In case a detailed understanding of the mechanical differences between the ‘V’ and ‘W’ sounds may help you or someone in your life, check out minute 7:00 in this great video.