Ask-A-Linguist Message Details
| Subject: | Speech Therapy for Multilingual Child |
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| Question: |
Our daughter has been taken speechtherapy to learn to say the ''R'' instead of the ''L'', as she went to the German school they did teach her to say the R correctly, however, as they do in German, the sound coming from the back of the throat. However, she also speaks Spanish and Swiss German and English, where the ''R'' is pronounced in the front of the mouth (with the tongue by the front teeth). Problem is, she now can say High German words correctly with the ''R'' from the back, but when she speaks in Spanish and Swiss German she can't and still uses the ''L'' instead. Question: can a speech therapist teach the ''R'' to be used in any language or do we have to get someone for each language? I am frustrated with our current speech therapist who doesn't care that my daughter says it wrong in other languages, as long as she did her job with High German... Any advice and or pointing me in the right direction is greatly appreciated! (P.S. My daughter is 6 years old.) Thank you in advance! |
| Reply: |
As you have correctly noted, the articulation of the /r/ sound differs between English, Spanish and German. It is also one of the more difficult sounds to acquire in both Spanish and English, even in monolingual chrildren, for various reasons. I agree with Dr Cruz's suggestion to find someone who understands how to articulate the English /r/ and the Spanish /r/. If you are interested in doing your own research, I would recommend finding pronunciation books, preferably with images showing the placement of the tongue. |
| Reply From: | Elizabeth J Pyatt click here to access email |
| Date: | 17-Sep-2012 |
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