Error Analysis in Chinese Initials Made by Bangladeshi Learners at Elementary Level

Abstract

Chinese initials play an inevitable role in learning Chinese as a second language. Without the proper knowledge of Chinese initials, learners fail to communicate with people smoothly. Therefore, learners from different countries face different difficulties in learning Chinese initials. The pronunciation of Chinese consonants is not easy for foreigners, especially for Bangladeshi learners. Therefore, errors occur in the Chinese initials of Bangladeshi learners.

Although Bangladeshi students often encounter difficulties learning Chinese initials, no comprehensive research done in this area. This research aims to investigate the pronunciation errors of Chinese initials made by Bangladeshi learners. To know the types of initials errors and the reason behind these errors, the error analysis hypothesis, and the contrastive analysis hypothesis was used to analyze the data. However, 20 Bangladeshi students at the elementary level were chosen as the research participants. In this research, a questionnaire survey, interview and comparative analysis were used as research methods.

The common finding is that the initials error of Bangladeshi learners occurs in labial, alveolar, velar, retroflex, dental, and palatal consonants. Among them, the highest rate of error has been found in the pronunciation of retroflex, dental, palato-alveolar consonants. The research found that the reason for initials errors of Bangladeshi Chinese learners is the negative transfer of mother tongue, similar phonetic symbols, lack of learning motivation and strategy etc. Finally, the researcher provides some suggestions to correct the pronunciation of initials errors of Bangladeshi Chinese learners.