Arabic English Speakers

One of the main reasons people have second-language accents is because of a misalignment in the sound systems of their first and second languages. If two languages have very similar sounds, like Spanish and Portuguese, speakers can sound native-like with relative ease. If two language have very different sound systems, speakers have to learn to produce and classify new sounds, which might result in problems. These problems cause accents!



Below is a simplified version of the Egyptian Arabic phonemic inventory (https://en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Egyptian_Arabic_phonology). Egyptian consonant phonemes are highlighted in blue. Discuss the questions below in your response. Base your response on the information provided below (downloadable here) and the information provided on the English phonemic inventory. You do not have to discuss every aspect of the question. If you have enough to say about just one or more aspects of it, that's fine. I am asking multiple related questions to provide you with enough options to answer 250 words of content, with no filler!

Question: Do you think Arabic speakers will have a hard time learning English pronunciation? Talk about which vowels and consonants they might have a hard time with. Be specific about your reasoning, and talk about natural classes whenever possible. Also, the same question but flipped: Do you think English speakers will have a hard time learning Arabic pronunciation? Talk about which vowels and consonants they might have a hard time with. Be specific about your reasoning, and talk about natural classes whenever possible.