I happen to be a hard nose, I was watching a youtube video of a class taught here and I wanted to scream. If I am teaching a history class, and I do not pronounce the topics correctly is that a good thing?
I find it important to the topic, what about you?

Good pronunciation is important, indeed, but it may be a quite complicated issue.

I see two ways to define “good pronunciation”.
One is theoretical: “good pronunciation” is based on traditional standards, but there are so many traditions to choose from that I get lost …. which is the right one?
The other is pragmatical: “good pronunciation” is that which is understood by the largest number of people. This depends on whom you will be talking to.

Globalization is here to stay …. we get to choose our own flavor (or flavour).

If I were to teach a class about Latino/Latina Americans, would you want me to pronounce Espanol correctly? Lets say I was speaking about Latino/Latina Americans, should I refer to this group of Americans correctly or refer to Latino/Latina Americans as Mexicans, or any other colorful term one can put on this group; that may or may not be insulting? If one is teaching about a specific region or ethnic group one should be able to pronounce the areas and use the terminology of this ethnic group or area correctly. Would you not say that is key?

I think we agree.
Let me put it this way:
We must do our best to (a) use the right names and pronunciation for our and other cultures, and (b) understand that cultural issues are just too complex and accept that errors may be made in good faith.

I appreciate people trying to speak good clear Spanish, and I try to use the best English I can.

Pronunciation is ABSOLUTELY important. I’d give an example, but I’d probably vent my indignation in here as well, therefore I should not.

Fabulous Francisco !

To acquire the best ( near native )utterance ,you MUST be tutored by either a native instructor or travel to where you can listen to native speakers and keep repeating , which , I’m afraid , WILL cost you ( an arm and a leg )…..

In my opinion pronunciation is important. not obligatory to speak just like natives, but it is obligatory to pronounce the terms used by the ethnic groups or lets say “religious terms” the way people from the same area and religion say it, because it can lead to offending them even when it is not intended.

If I am talking to someone who is not a native English speaker I am very appreciative of their efforts to acquire my language and think the least I can do is not be offended if they happen to mis-pronunciate something. That would be churlish.

@Fadi – EXACTLY. You put it beautifully.

I agree wholeheartedly, pronunciation is extremely important. I have been watching a lot of teaching videos these last few weeks and I have to say that I cringe sometimes when I hear how certain words are mispronounced. I’m talking about English language courses given by speakers of other languages.

However, I know from experience that learning a foreign language isn’t easy. I have been living in France for several years and am learning French by living with and talking to French people. I have an awful problem with pronunciation but I find that if I try, the person with whom I am speaking appreciates my efforts and will generally correct me politely.
Obviously we cannot correct a person speaking in a video recording, much as we’d like to!

As an English tutor, I feel it my duty to teach correct pronunciation but in my personal life outside of teaching I agree with Jacquie, I appreciate the efforts of others who try to communicate with me in English and I applaud those who are brave enough try….whatever the language.

I agree with Zoe at some points. However, I’d like to say that what determines pronunciation is whether the word pronounced is clear and not confused with other words or not. I agree that it is important for an English teacher to pronounce English words quite perfectly so that students can make closer pronunciation to that word for example. This can be visualized as a xeroxing machine. I mean, When you copy from the original paper, you get very clear copy. However, if you copy from a copy, you don’t get a copy that is as clear…. and the process continues until you get an entirely black copy, in which you can’t see anything…. that’s exactly what happens with pronunciation.

Yes, Fadi you are perfectly right.

I had another thought on the subject while I was cooking dinner…..

Accents; local accents can also effect a learners pronunciation. Again talking about learning English, a teacher from the north of England may not pronounce certain words in the same way as a teacher from the south for example. An American English teacher may pronounce words a little differently from an English one too; it doesn’t mean that the word is pronounced incorrectly.

There is also another facture which may effect our ability to pronounce words correctly in another language…..our own native tongue. As we grow up, we learn to speak our own native language, our brains learn how to control our mouth, tongue etc. to make the sounds which come out of our mouths in the form of words. When learning another language we often need our mouth, tongue etc. to perform a little differently to produce different sounds. A classic example is the “r” pronounced in French. How many English people can pronounce the “r” correctly in French? I know I can’t! (it’s a big laughing point in my house!)

I can think of many other things which may have an effect on the way we pronounce words, in any language but I’d like to hear if anyone else can think of any…..??

hi zoe,
i’m unsure what you mean by other things which may have an effect (apart from vocal control and dialect). do you mean things like deliberate distortion for parody? sorry, i may be missing the obvious!
on the main topic, i found the arabic ‘ghreen’ and the ‘ayn’ stop (i don’t know the correct transliteration for these letters) very hard but if your pronunciation difficulties fall below a certain threshold, you listeners can guess from context. what this means i think, is that especially as a beginner, perfect pronunciation comes second to fluency and coherence. as you develop your skills, pronunciation should of course become more of a priority.
perhaps this is fighting-talk to the hard nosed, Alysia? of course the teacher/presenter/coach should be accurate. i’ve heard of people meeting rural chinese english teachers who were incomprehensible! bless them!