So today in one of my classes my teacher was talking about words. It came up that most of the time we read a lot of words, but we don’t know how to pronounce them because we’ve never had to say them out loud so we have to figure out how they’re pronounced. That stuck with me because in my experience it’s completely the opposite. Since I spend most of my time reading by listening to books (because it’s very hard for me to read actual text) I tend to know how to pronounce words I have no idea how to spell. It does lead to some bad spelling and me struggling with certain words. That’s not to say I’ve never seen a word written and not known how it’s pronounced, but my main experience is the opposite to others.
How very interesting & insightful! Something we sighted folks would never really think about beyond our young days… You are a smart young lady!
Philippa, I have an idea: could you reach out to the department of English, or Communications, at your school, and ask to have a student help you with this — for credit, as an Independent Study. This is a very specific term, because it would hopefully link you with a student with a passion for your specific communication needs. They would work with their major professor and with you to identify the best process to achieve your goals of correct pronunciation. I know that today, we also have software that can pronounce the words and phrases you need help with. Please ask your advisor, and/or your liaison, to further this goal. And this is important: be assertive — explain that this is important to your educational performance, and ask for them to arrange this by a specific time frame — which seriously should be in the next two to three weeks so it will start to benefit you. This is important — and just ask your Mom — she will agree! Please keep us posted — hugs and much good karma from Phyllis!