Why is English Pronunciation so Difficult

Why is English Pronunciation so Difficult Why is English pronunciation so difficult? One of the most confusing things about English is pronunciation. English has a total of 17tk spoken vowel sounds. This makes English  unusual, as most languages have 5-6. Spanish, for instance, has 5 vowel sounds, Mandarin 6, and Portuguese 9.English Pronunciation GuideAnother odd thing is that we  only use 5 letters  a,e,i,o and u to write all 17 sounds. Other languages, like Spanish or French, have 5 written vowels and 5 sounds.But what really makes English pronunciation difficult  is when your native language does not contain one of our vowel sounds. If youre language is like most, you have fewer vowel sounds than English has, which means there are going to be several sounds that youre going to have to learn how to make, but hear as well.A few years ago I did a language exchange with an Argentine friend. Wed speak for 45 minutes in English, then 45 in Spanish. At one point we started talking about pronunciation, and I explained that boo t and foot should have completely different sounds. My friend could not hear the difference between these two sounds, even when I said them one after the other. To an English speaker, there is a very clear difference.How do you learn how to produce a sound that you cant hear? Practice. Youll want to listen to how the sounds are made repeatedly, and get help making them. One of the most important parts of practicing English pronunciation is  learning  what you need to do  emphysically/em to make the sound. Learning exactly where your tongue and lips should be, and how wide open your mouth should be, can help produce that moment in which you suddenly find yourself making a sound you never knew existed. Its an exciting moment in learning!