This paper examines through an empirical research whether Dutch students exhibited the pronunciation issues mentioned by sources in the field of applied phonetics such as Collins and Mees (2003),...Show moreThis paper examines through an empirical research whether Dutch students exhibited the pronunciation issues mentioned by sources in the field of applied phonetics such as Collins and Mees (2003), and Swan and Smith (2001). In addition, the students’ opinions were tested to see how they judged aesthetic appreciation for another speaker who exhibited the pronunciation features in an exaggerated way. After reviewing the literature, the ten most significant problems that could complicate mutual intelligence were collected, and a list of ten sentences with each five tokens of the same phenomena were used to test if 30 students in the South-West part of the Netherlands exhibited these ten specific pronunciation difficulties. The students read the ten sentences aloud and their speech was recorded and analysed. Additionally, the students filled in a questionnaire grading a native Dutch speaker who consciously exhibited these problems on a scale from 1 (ugly) to 5 (beautiful), and accounted for their reasoning. Only five out of these ten problems were distributed by the students, namely, final devoicing of [z], [d] to [s] and [t], [ae] realised as [a] or [e], the [ð] becomes [d], the voiced fricative [v] is realised as the voiceless counterpart [f] , and lastly, voiced [b], [d] and [g] for aspirated [pʰ], [tʰ] and [kʰ]. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study and suggestions for further study.Show less
The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of dubbing and subtitling on EFL competence in dubbing and subtitling countries in the EU. If significant differences exist in EFL competence...Show moreThe purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of dubbing and subtitling on EFL competence in dubbing and subtitling countries in the EU. If significant differences exist in EFL competence between dubbing and subtitling countries in the EU, this might have implications for dubbing countries, especially in the light of the 2002 Barcelona objective, which states that citizens of the EU should speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue. Since English is the most commonly learned foreign language in the EU, and because the majority of dubbed or subtitled material in the EU is anglophone in origin, this paper asks how dubbing and subtitling affect EFL competence in dubbing and subtitling countries in the EU. To answer this question, secondary data from a number of large-scale EU studies were analyzed. The results of the analysis showed a clear link between subtitling countries and relatively high EFL competence; EFL competence was found to be lower in dubbing countries. However, there were exceptions to this general trend, suggesting that other factors such as quality and quantity of exposure and issues related to formal education also play an important part in determining overall EFL competence.Show less
The increasing dominance of English has given rise to various language attitudes and government measures attempting to curb the influence of English on the first language. France is a paradigmatic...Show moreThe increasing dominance of English has given rise to various language attitudes and government measures attempting to curb the influence of English on the first language. France is a paradigmatic case of language planning and language policy, and even today many of the measures are still in place as to ensure that the usage of English is kept to a minimum. This thesis investigates the attempts by the French government to limit the use of English in the public domain, and asks the question whether these attempts have an impact on the acquisition of English as a second language in France. By examining not only the historical origins of France’s language management, but also the current dissemination of opinions and attitudes in the media, it can be concluded that many of the negative effects emanating from the government measures, such as relatively low English proficiency, are the result of France’s unchanged linguistic culture predating the French Revolution that continues to fuel France’s language policy today.Show less
