`There is no such thing as perfect English accent`

Yoko Matsuka, a veteran English instructor from Japan, specializes in phonics for younger learners. But she said it`s waste of time to pursue "perfect English pronunciation," a goal that has long distracted Korean parents.

Matsuka, who has been teaching English for the past 30 years, visited Seoul this week to promote her new English reference book "We Can!" and at a seminar for teachers and parents she received the same old question about pronunciation.

"I was again asked about what is perfect English pronunciation, or how can you teach perfect English pronunciation, or how can we speak like a native speaker, but that`s not important to me," she said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Tuesday.

Matsuka said Korean parents seemed to be very concerned about getting the accent right, but such efforts are misguided. Only a small number of people need such a native-like accent, and the majority of learners should aim for getting the meaning right, she said.

Matsuka said she sees a point in the movement called "Globlish," because it calls for learners not to spend so much time studying English and instead focus on the communicative aspect of English as a lingua franca.

"That kind of idea is healthier for Korean mothers," she said, referring to a large number of Korean parents obsessed about getting their kids to master an American accent.

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"There is no such thing as perfect English accent," she said. Even native speakers have a wide range of accents, making it virtually impossible to pinpoint the correct accent.

Koreans, for instance, may well have a Koreanized English accent, which is much more natural than those who try to imitate strictly an American accent.

English learners in Asia, therefore, should strive to achieve communicative proficiency rather than wasting their time on exams and accent, she said.

"That`s why I keep teaching English in English. I know my English isn`t perfect or anything like that, but I want to show a model that anybody can do that," she said.

Matsuka said Korea is ahead of Japan in English education for younger learners, especially the government`s decision to introduce English to elementary school students. She said the Japanese government only recently announced that it will introduce compulsory English education in public elementary schools from 2011, but there is still widespread skepticism about the need for such programs in Japan.

She said the outlook of English education in Korea remains optimistic, given that the current policies will help younger learners gain communicative competence, and the policy will produce tangible results in about ten years.

Matsuka, a former high school English teacher, earned her master`s degree at California State University and on returning home she set up Matsuka Phonics Institute in 1979, a company devoted to teaching English to Japanese children and publishing workbooks related to phonics. MPI currently holds more than 300 seminars per year, attracting around 5,000 people interested in English education.

Matsuka also worked as a consultant for more than 1,000 elementary schools and her key methodology can be summed up as goal-oriented English.

Her new elementary-level English workbook "We Can!" has come out in seven levels, and its Korean publisher Language World Co. markets English reference titles such as "Magic Tree House" and "Magic School Bus" for younger English learners here.

For further information about the book, call (02) 2643-0264, or visit www.lwbooks.co.kr

By Yang Sung-jin



(insight@heraldm.com)