Letters: Mispronouncing English book

Each week, I spend an afternoon teaching English to my driver’s children. Last week, we tackled the difficult, but not insurmountable task of pronouncing both “th” as in “this”, “that”, “they” and “the”, and “sh” as in “she”.

Yesterday, I bought a book containing examples of English conversation for Indonesian children, which was published only last year.  At first glance it is bright and breezy and colorful and, I thought, ideal for elementary grade children starting to learn English.

Or so I thought.  However, on page one, the first sentence - Ini tas (This is a bag) is rendered for pronunciation “Dhis is e beg”.

Dhis!  No - it’s “this”, not “dis”, and not “dhe” for “the”, and not “dhat” for “that”.  But, according to this book, it is. Every “this”, “that”, “there” and “the” is “dis”, “dhat”, “dhere” and “dhe”.  

Well, “th” is not pronounced that way.

Needless to say, Dia ibu saya is rendered “Si is mai madder”, not “She is my mother”.

I guess some readers will say, “Who cares?” Well, I do. I was privileged to work under a great headmaster whose motto was, “Get it right!’  Besides, try learning French and getting away with that attitude.

I find it astounding that a new book has been published with such fundamental errors on nearly every page, which only serve to hold children back from speaking English correctly.

The author, editors and publishers need to be aware of this and correct further editions.    

Indonesians can learn how to pronounce “th”. It requires putting your tongue between your teeth and opening your mouth and making the sound “tha”.

You can practice this by pointing your tongue in the direction of a fair number of politicians and elite and saying “They are thieves.”

Phillip Turnbull
South Tangerang, Banten