Friday January 18, 2008
A bit more about ‘th’
THE “th” sounds are two of the most difficult sounds to put into words. Fadzilah Amin made it clear in her few words (Jan 10).
May I simply add that one is VOICED as in: The, This, Those, They, Them, and FaTHer.
The other “th” must NOT be VOICED but made by passing air THrough the teeTH with the tongue resting just behind the upper teeTH.
As in: THrough, TeeTH, THree, THought, THink, THirty, THirsty, THrifty, THistle.
We who learn these sounds as children don’t even think about them and that’s why it comes as a surprise when we hear words like: Dis and Dat for This and That or Tink and Tirty for Think and Thirty.
Keeping it simple is more difficult than it sounds as this is no simple teaching problem: we have to think as children do and remember we heard these sounds thousands of times before we got them right.
All children start by speaking this way so let’s not kid ourselves that we can make up for a lifetime of “hear and say” by giving a few symbols and examples: it takes time and patience on both sides of the classroom.
– David King, Penang
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