Laziness or lack of knowledge?
I've often heard people use the word lazy when talking about people who, when they speak, do one or more of the following.
- Leave off the final consonant
- Leave out the middle consonants
- Say a 'f' or 'd' sound instead of the 'th' sound
- Finish the 'ing' sound too soon so that it becomes an 'in' sound
I've heard a lot of people who, when they speak are guilty of one or more of the above, are described as being lazy with their speech. But are they being lazy or are they just misinformed.
Only last week I was teaching a mature student who was guilty of leaving the final consonant off the ends of words. At the end of his first lesson he could easily read a passage and converse with me putting these final consonants on the words, however he commented that in ordinary conversation people don't do this and in fact shouldn't do this because it would sound artificial. I explained that they should and he then admitted that, having listened carefully to my response he could hear that I did say the final consonants and that it didn't sound false. He wasn't being lazy, he just didn't know.
I have been teaching children and adults for over 25 years and about 80% of students have been guilty of at least one of the above faults during their first lesson but I am struggling to think of any of those who I would say was guilty of approaching the way they spoke in a lazy way.
If you think that you are guilty of any of the above you can improve the first two by making sure that your tongue touches the roof of your mouth for every 'd' and 't' sound. For the 'th' sound your tongue must go between your teeth before you say the sound and for the final fault make sure that you do not end the 'ing' sound with your tongue touching the roof of your mouth.
I may be a bit biased but if you want to correct and improve your speech my online course is a bargain if you use this link!