Dr. Nanhee Byrnes

Much like you, English is my second language. I commenced my journey of learning this language as a middle school student in Korea. Despite this late start, I earned a PhD in philosophy from an American university and taught philosophy at universities in the United States. Philosophizing is inherently intertwined with the English language, and thus perfecting my English skills has been my passion. Here, I offer my advice on how to sharpen your English skills. Learning another language as an adult, which means over the age of 10 in linguistic nomenclature, entails acquiring skills necessary for reading, writing, listening, and speaking, separately. Of course, you can get by even if you don’t study them separately, but if you want to be competitive in your field, academically or professionally, you need to master each field separately since each requires different skills. For reading, you need to acquire vocabulary. For writing, you need to refine grammar and acquire the style of well-constructed English sentences. For listening, you need to recognize the correct sounds of words and their various modified sounds used in casual speech. And for speaking, you need to pronounce words correctly, and if you aspire to sound native, you need to practice speaking with the rhythm and melody of the English language. None of these areas required for achieving proficiency in the language come naturally for an adult learner of English, necessitating the need to 'study' the language. Unless the native is a linguist, most English natives do not have sufficient knowledge of English to teach the necessary foundations such as grammar, pronunciation, and prosody (the musical aspect of a language). This is not surprising since they do not need this knowledge, just as we do not have in-depth knowledge of our own native languages yet are excellent communicators in the realm of our own native languages. My books on pronunciation and prosody were born out of necessity for me to speak clearly and to learn the music of English. As an adult English learner, neglecting the study of English pronunciation and prosody means you will not only perpetually sound foreign but will also struggle to be fully understood, regardless of the duration of your stay in the United States. Therefore, I urge you to delve into my pronunciation and prosody books, paving the way to fluency in English.