Schools determined to correct lisping and mispronunciation of L and N

Hung Yen Department of Education and Training requested educational institutions to make correcting L and N errors a key task of the 2025-2026 school year and the following years.

The Department of Education and Training of Hung Yen has just issued a document to launch a movement to overcome the situation of mispronouncing the two initial consonants L and N for cadres and teachers, and the situation of mispronouncing and misspelled these two consonants for students in educational institutions.

Hung Yen Department of Education and Training requested educational institutions to make correcting L and N errors a key task of the 2025-2026 school year and the following years.

Practice sentence "sticky rice is village sticky rice..."

At the same time, units need to strengthen propaganda work, encourage cadres, teachers and students to practice on their own, contributing to building a standard Vietnamese communication environment in schools and in society.

The plan to launch the movement must be suitable to practical conditions. The Department of Education and Training of Hung Yen province requires that this be organized through collective activities, flag-raising ceremonies at the beginning of the week, implemented from September and completed before October 15.

After launching, the school proactively organized appropriate training activities that did not affect regular study time.

This is considered a meaningful activity, contributing to improving the quality of language education, forming the habit of using Vietnamese accurately and clearly for teachers and students.

The implementation is applied to all levels of education from preschool, primary, secondary, high school, vocational education centers, and continuing education. The local education management agency also assigned specific contacts for continuing education facilities to regularly report and summarize implementation results.

As a primary school teacher in Khoai Chau area (Hung Yen), since childhood, teacher L. has lisped L-N like many other fellow countrymen.

"It was only when I decided to pursue education that I became seriously aware of the need to correct myself," she said, adding that it was also a way to help future students avoid falling into her situation. At that time, Ms. L. always practiced pronunciation by bending and straightening her tongue. Practice sentences were also frequently applied, such as "Sticky rice is sticky rice from the village. The rice grows layer upon layer, making her heart flutter...". At first, it was difficult, but she persevered and spoke slowly, then
gradually increase speed

Realizing that she is a teacher directly teaching the class, Ms. L. does not only maintain standards in speaking and pronunciation when at work, but always "skillfully" reminds people around her when they encounter situations of speech impediment. Because she believes that a person with a speech impediment can create an environment that affects many people around them.

During reading lessons, when a student makes a mistake, the first thing she does is to guide the student to read correctly and analyze the context of the word. The whole class is then asked to read it again in unison to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Ms. L. also confirmed that the school she teaches at has received a document from the provincial Department of Education and Training.

"The school's board of directors and teachers are calculating how to effectively standardize the children's language, avoiding increasing learning pressure and affecting official study time," she shared.

Meanwhile, in Hung's hometown (29 years old, in Nam Dinh - now Ninh Binh), most of the villagers lisp L - N. He himself also lisps, but when he writes, he never makes mistakes.

The man explained that the reason why it is difficult for many people like him to correct their accent is because their relatives and villagers all speak the same language and consider it the regional dialect.

In the countryside it has become a habit, but he also admits that on important occasions or when communicating with partners, this sometimes creates a lack of standards.

"I am aware of that, but communication over many years has become a habit, so the children in the family are now facing the same situation," Mr. Hung shared.

How to fix lisp

Also speaking with Tuoi Tre , teacher Bui Thi Nhai, a literature teacher at Hong Tien Secondary School (Hung Yen), said that not only students but many teachers she knows still maintain the habit of pronouncing in local dialects, which are not really standardized.

At the same time, the lack of attention to training the skill of distinguishing N - L has led teachers to stutter like students. Ms. Nhai said that she herself sometimes stutters when saying "rice plant" as "rice plant" or "classroom" as "classroom"...

"Therefore, the correction of N-L pronunciation that the Department of Education and Training has proposed is not only for students but also for teachers to study and correct with them," Ms. Nhai shared.

According to Ms. Nhai, after the request of the Department of Education and Training, many schools are planning to implement the correction of N - L lisp. Some teachers in the old district have also developed an implementation plan and shared it on the group for teachers to implement together. The implementation solution is proposed for both teachers and students.

Specifically, it is necessary to foster standard pronunciation skills for teachers through training courses and seminars. Strengthen the role of teachers as role models who must be people who pronounce and write standard spelling for students to follow.

Teachers are also encouraged to apply technology such as using tapes, discs, clips, and software to practice standard pronunciation. Along with that, integrating it into teaching, such as in each Vietnamese lesson, paying attention to instructions for distinguishing and practicing.
N - L pronunciation.

For students, it is necessary to require daily pronunciation practice for them to pronounce N - L correctly. It is possible to organize language games such as the hot seat, fast reading - correct contest, fast spelling contest, spelling quiz... With the hot seat game, there will be a teacher sitting in the hot seat, taking turns quickly reading 5 pairs of similar words that are easily confused such as Lá - Ná, Làng - Nàng, Luc - Núc...

Other teachers will listen and raise the "true - false" board according to their assessment. The person in the hot seat will receive feedback and correct mistakes immediately if their pronunciation is not correct... Or with the game Listen quickly - Write correctly, the organizers will quickly read 10 words containing the consonants L - N such as lua, nep, lan, non, long, nang... The teacher will listen and write on the board or paper. The team that writes more words correctly will win...

For students, we will also organize conscious spelling practice by incorporating paragraphs and sentences containing many words with the initial sounds L - N. Organize a movement to speak correctly and write correctly throughout the school, and score competitions by class and group. Assign friends to help friends, good students to help weaker students in correcting pronunciation errors. Another solution is to connect with life by encouraging students to practice with family and relatives.

Must overcome psychological factors

Since 2001, realizing that pronunciation errors L - N are common among officials and employees of agencies, departments and branches, especially among officials, teachers, students and pupils of schools, the Hai Phong Association of Educational Psychology has published a handbook on self-correction of pronunciation errors of the two initial consonants L - N.

The handbook is more than 40 pages thick, compiled by Mr. Tran Huu Do. Along with the birth of the handbook, many seminars and competitions on correcting L - N pronunciation errors were organized by the locality and received good effects from this movement.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, education expert Tran Huu Do said that Hung Yen province's launching of a movement to overcome confusion between L and N is a positive signal, demonstrating the local education sector's initiative in correcting language standards from the smallest levels.

He said that through his incomplete statistics and research when making the handbook, out of 100% of people, about 85% of people speak correctly, the remaining about 15% speak incorrectly. The reason for this pronunciation error is the influence of local dialect or the incomplete structure of the pronunciation apparatus...

To correct L-N pronunciation, according to Mr. Do, the most important thing is that the person making the mistake and the person pronouncing correctly need to overcome the psychological barrier to correct themselves and help the person making the mistake to correct it successfully.

Regarding people who make mistakes, Mr. Do said the psychological barrier is not knowing that they have a lisp, so they carelessly speak loudly, talk a lot and talk at length in meetings and other places. This person often has a vague feeling that he has a lisp but considers it as no big deal and thinks that many people are like him.

The majority of people have standard pronunciation but are afraid to give advice to people who lisp, considering it a sensitive issue, especially for leaders and bosses who lisp.

"Therefore, first you have to overcome this psychological factor. Then take the right measures, practice the exercises, practice speaking according to the mouth shape drawn in the notebook to be able to cure lisping," Mr. Do said.

According to Mr. Do, the content of the handbook he compiled is very simple, concise, ensures phonetic accuracy, is easy to understand, easy to implement, and covers a wide range of words with initial consonants L - N in Vietnamese.

In particular, in the 245 words and phrases in the pronunciation exercises, 146 Kieu verses and many other literary works, many good poems of famous poets in the country are quoted. Along with that, there are drawings of mouth shapes so that everyone can learn and pronounce correctly.

In which, with the sound N, the tip of the tongue will touch the upper hard palate, close to the base of the upper teeth. The mouth is slightly open, the tongue is slack and lightly popped down. The air flow from the throat through the two nostrils creates the characteristic vibration of N. Or with the sound L, the tip of the tongue will be curved up, touching the gum near the upper teeth. The mouth is slightly open, the tip of the tongue pops strongly and falls freely. The air flow escapes through the two sides of the tongue and mouth...

5 solutions to cure lisping L - N

The handbook on self-correcting pronunciation of the two initial consonants L and N compiled by the Hai Phong Association of Psychology and Education - Photo: TRAN HUU DO

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Associate Professor Dr. Bui Hoai Son (member of the Culture and Social Committee) stated that in many rural and urban areas of Vietnam, the phenomenon of L-N lisping is quite common.

This is not only a language problem, but also affects confidence in communication, even limiting young people's educational and career opportunities.

Therefore, finding solutions to cure lisping needs to be taken seriously as part of building a standard communication culture.

From reality, Mr. Son proposed 5 solutions to cure L-N lisp.

- Firstly, it is necessary to start from preschool and primary education. Children in the early stages of life have the ability to imitate sounds very quickly, so it is extremely important for teachers to train them in correct pronunciation.

If from kindergarten, children are guided to distinguish L - N through pictures, games and simple mouth exercises, the rate of lisping later will be significantly reduced.

- Second, the role of the family is indispensable. Parents in many regions have the habit of pronouncing words incorrectly, so children listen and repeat. To overcome this, parents must be role models, proactively correct their own pronunciation, and at the same time create a standard communication environment in the family.

- Third, support from media and technology is needed. Radio, television, and social media programs can open a section to teach pronunciation, using short, lively, and accessible videos. Mobile applications or AI can help learners record themselves, compare with standard pronunciation, thereby creating motivation to self-correct.

- Fourth, this must be considered a cultural task. Correcting lisping is not only to "speak beautifully", but also to preserve the purity and unity of the Vietnamese language - a spiritual symbol of the nation.

The movements to build "Elegant and civilized Hanoians" and "Cultured Vietnamese in communication" can completely incorporate this content, turning practicing standard pronunciation into a community habit.

- Finally, perseverance is needed. Correcting L-N lisping is not difficult, but it requires the speaker to be aware and practice daily. When each individual considers correct pronunciation as a show of respect for the listener and also a pride in their mother tongue, then the lisping phenomenon will gradually recede so that Vietnamese will become more and more standard, beautiful and full of life.

* Prof. Dr. Do Viet Hung (senior lecturer of Hanoi National University of Education):

Very commendable determination

Hung Yen's determination to correct L-N lisping for students in the province is a very welcome determination. It is a must to ensure the purity of Vietnamese. Vietnam has many regions that speak local languages, but these incorrect pronunciations do not affect phoneme perception (which has the function of distinguishing meaning), so it is okay. As for N-L lisping, it changes the meaning, is not expressed accurately, and affects communication, so it is very necessary to correct it.

Of course, this will not be easy to fix, it will take many years, even several generations. But it will require the determination and perseverance of all the people and the local education system for many years.

Adults like parents and teachers must be conscious of setting an example, must be patient in correcting their own mistakes and then guide their children and students to correct them. When students are corrected locally, when they grow up, go to school, go to work, leave their hometown, they will continue to learn and correct themselves. If they persevere like that over the years, they will gradually get results.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/truong-hoc-quyet-sua-ngong-khac-phuc-phat-am-nham-lan-l-va-n-20250922230036443.htm