1.0 VOWELS
The vowels in English language are different from vowels in Portuguese. In Portuguese we have 5(five) vowels: a, e, i, o, u that can make only 7(seven) different sounds:
/i/ - ali /ali/
/ê/ - ele /êli/
/é/ - pé /pé/
/a/ - lá /la/
/ó/ - pó /pó/
/ô/ - ovo /ôvu/
/u/ - uva /uva
In English we also have 5(five) vowels but them can make 11(eleven) different sounds:
/iy/ - beat /biyt/
In English we also have 5(five) vowels but them can make 11(eleven) different sounds:
/iy/ - beat /biyt/
/I/ - bit /bIt/
/êy/ - bait /bêyt/
/e/ - bet /bet/
/æ/ - bat /bæt/
/a/ - father /'faðer/
/ə/ - but /bət/
/o/ - bought /bot/
/ôw/ - boat /bôwt/
/U/ - book /bUk/
/uw/ - boot /buwt/
SCHÜTZ (2008) says that there are authors as Mazurkiewicz that counted at least 15(fifteen) vowels whereas D’Eugenio found even more, he counted twenty vocalic phonemes: twelve pure vowels and eight diphthongs.
Because the higher number of vowels is difficult for a person who is learning English to maintain a clear distinction between phonemes in such an “enriched inventory” of phonemic units as in English and its becomes particularly harder for the foreign language learner when the native language has a smaller number of phonemes in such than the target language, as in Portuguese.
On the other hand a person who is learning Portuguese as second language, probably will not have many problems with vowels.
The problem in Portuguese is that sometimes some vowels, especially o and e sounds like another. For example, tombo. This word is spelt as t,o,m,b,o but if we were represent it phonetically it would be / t o m b u / The vowel o in the end sounds like u.
The similar problem occur with the vowel e in words like pele, dele, cadete, the vowel e in the end sounds like i.
In general this change occurs in the end of the word, but can also occur in other position, as desespero or derrubar. Despite it be spelt with e in the beginning is pronounced as it was spelt with i / disespero / and /dirrubar/.
In case of students that are learning English as second language the problems with vowels are bigger.
One of the problems is the nasality. In Portuguese language there are vowels and nasal consonants, while in English not. Then is common for a Portuguese speaker nasalizes some words, and it becomes very difficult to them spoken without accent.
Other commons mistakes that are committed are with long and short vowels. It is difficult to a Portuguese speaker differ the pronunciation of words with /i/ from /I/ and /u/ from /U/ thus neutralizing the contrast between words like:
LONG SHORT
beach /biytsh/ bitch /bItsh/
SCHÜTZ (2008) says that there are authors as Mazurkiewicz that counted at least 15(fifteen) vowels whereas D’Eugenio found even more, he counted twenty vocalic phonemes: twelve pure vowels and eight diphthongs.
Because the higher number of vowels is difficult for a person who is learning English to maintain a clear distinction between phonemes in such an “enriched inventory” of phonemic units as in English and its becomes particularly harder for the foreign language learner when the native language has a smaller number of phonemes in such than the target language, as in Portuguese.
On the other hand a person who is learning Portuguese as second language, probably will not have many problems with vowels.
The problem in Portuguese is that sometimes some vowels, especially o and e sounds like another. For example, tombo. This word is spelt as t,o,m,b,o but if we were represent it phonetically it would be / t o m b u / The vowel o in the end sounds like u.
The similar problem occur with the vowel e in words like pele, dele, cadete, the vowel e in the end sounds like i.
In general this change occurs in the end of the word, but can also occur in other position, as desespero or derrubar. Despite it be spelt with e in the beginning is pronounced as it was spelt with i / disespero / and /dirrubar/.
In case of students that are learning English as second language the problems with vowels are bigger.
One of the problems is the nasality. In Portuguese language there are vowels and nasal consonants, while in English not. Then is common for a Portuguese speaker nasalizes some words, and it becomes very difficult to them spoken without accent.
Other commons mistakes that are committed are with long and short vowels. It is difficult to a Portuguese speaker differ the pronunciation of words with /i/ from /I/ and /u/ from /U/ thus neutralizing the contrast between words like:
LONG SHORT
beach /biytsh/ bitch /bItsh/
bead /biyd/ bid /bId/
beat /biyt/ bit /bIt/
cheap /tshiyp/ chip /tshIp/
eat /iyt/ it /It/
fool /fuwl/ full /fUl/
Luke /luwk/ look /lUk/
fool /fuwl/ full /fUl/
Luke /luwk/ look /lUk/
pool /puwl/ pull /pUl/
stewed /stuwd/ stood /stUd/
Beyond short and long vowels, Portuguese speakers have problems with English phonemes /e/ and /æ/ that will be perceived as Portuguese /é/. This mistake make difficult to pronounce correctly words like:
bed /bed/ - bad /bæd/
beg /beg/ - bag /bæg/
dead /ded/ - dad /dæd/
end /end/ - and /ænd/
Portuguese speakers will also experience difficulty to distinguishing between English /a/ and /o/. This problem occurs because many times the vowel /a/ is pronounced as /o/ as in law, and this sound corresponding in Portuguese to /ó/ as in dó .
And finally, Portuguese speakers would make confusion with the pronunciation about the English mid-central /ə/ that can be stressed / ^ / or unstressed /ə/. In this case there is probability that the speakers be influenced by spelling, as in words like but, rubber, photographer, that can be pronounced as /bət/, /rəbər/ and /fô'tógrafêr/ instead of, /b ^ t/, /r^ b ə r / and /fə'tagrəfər/.
As we saw to know the correct pronunciation of the vowels in English is extremely important and the only way to learn is practicing. But, for help us during this process we can memorize some phrases with the correct pronunciation of the vowels, as the examples below.
Lee bit Ray's best hat. - O Lee mordeu o melhor chapéu do Ray.
/iy//I//êy/ /e//æ/
Stew pushed Joe off the cot. - O Stew empurrou o Joe para fora da cama de campanha.
/uw//U/ /ôw//o/ /ə//a/
She is acing ten classes using the books and notes always honestly.
/iy//I//êy/ /e/ /æ/ /uw/ /ə//U/ /ôw/ /o/ /a/
Ela está fazendo com perfeição dez matérias usando os livros e as anotações sempre honestamente.
2.0 INTONATION
Intonation is a very important subject for a good communication; according to intonation we will have a meaning.
We can say that intonation is the combination of musical tones that we use to speak. It is specifically the tune we speak.
Each person has a kind of tune, personally and regionally. In Brazil we say that “cariocas” speak as it was singing, but in fact, everybody sings while speaks, if not we would speak as a robot.
Expressive speakers can use as many as twenty five different notes when are speaking, and each different note give a meaning what they say. In fact, our voice is the most complete musical instrument that exists.
Intonation is so important that journalists and radio workers have to learn it to do your job. They called it as verbal inflection.
For English speakers intonation is an essential knowledge and is closely related to sentence-stress. Of course each speaker has your own range of notes, but most native speakers of English rise and fall your voices at approximately the same place.
The tones of intonation are marked for a simplified system that is divided into four types: normal, high, low and extra-high.
To show the types of intonation we draw a line under, above or in the base of the word, as these examples:
How old are you?
The line drawn in the base of the word represents the normal tone, as in how. The line drawn above the word indicates a high tone, as in are and the line drawn some distance the word indicates a low tone, as you.
The following example represents, beyond the normal, high and low a extra-high tone too.
I love you much than he loves me
The line drawn some distance above the word indicates the extra-high tone, as in I.
To indicate the change of tones between syllables we use a straight vertical line called shift, as in the examples above. But when the change occurs in the same syllable we use a slide a line curving up or down.
The coffee is hot
There are some rules to use shift and slide and it is very important because the meaning of the word can be totally changed when we use shift or slide. As the examples below:
I live in a WhiteHouse (I am a president of USA)
I live in a white house (I live in a house which color is white)
There are rules to use rising-falling intonation, but in general it is used at the end of the sentence (declarative sentences, commands and questions with interrogative words).
The rising intonation is normally used in the opposite situation of rising-falling: At the end of questions which do not begin with an interrogative word.
Are you fine? It is different from How are you feeling?
Rising Intonation Rising-Following Intonation
Questions that we can use rising intonation, in general, can be answered by yes or no. Normally they begin with auxiliary verbs, as can, am, does, has, may, etc.
It is important to know that rising intonation suggest an incomplete idea. But we also use rising intonation when we want create suspense or emphasizing the idea of contrast. In this case to mark the differences we use extra-high note.
Robert drives better than I do
It is also important to know that, despite the rules, intonation is used basically to communicate, thus the speaker will decide in which tone he or she will speak. On the other hand, there are some situations that we have to pay attention to correct tune as: series with and, alternatives with or, direct address and tag questions.
In phrases like these, the correct use of the rising or falling intonations will give the correct idea about what we want to say and will make the comprehension of the listener easier, especially if we were talking with a native person.
To summarize, intonation is very important for English speakers, because indicates emotions, feelings, options, focus, etc. Intonations patterns are considered “as part of grammatical system of English, essential to the structure of the language as are other grammatical signals such as word order, inflectional endings and function words.”
3.0 COMMONEST MISTAKES MADE BY BRAZILIAN STUDENTS
Brazilians students make many mistakes when are learning to speak in English.
The pronunciation of English words is totally different from Portuguese words. In English the same letter can be pronounces by different ways.
It happens with the vowels, for example. In Portuguese language there is less variety of sounds in vowels. But in English the vowels have different sounds, as was mentioned in the text about this specific subject: vowels.
This variety of sounds of vowels makes the Portuguese speaker to pronounce as the word is spelt.
The commonest mistakes are with long and short vowel: leave / l I y v / and live / l I v /, stood /stUd/ and stewed /stuwd /. Another problems are the phonemes /e/ and /æ and /a/ e /o/. Normally is difficult to a Portuguese speaker to indentify what is the correct phoneme for some word, as in these cases below:
flesh /flesh/ and flash /flæsh/ or pen /pen/ and pan /pæn/
collar /'kalər/ and caller /'kolər/ or cot /kat/ and caught /kot/
The Portuguese speaker has problem of pronunciation with plural too, because in English, the letter /s/ sounds like /z/ when the last sound is voiced (our vocal cords vibrate when the word is pronounced). Thus is common a Portuguese speaker pronounce incorrectly some words in plural. Normally they pronounce with /s/ sound instead of the correct /z/ sound, as in the examples below.
SINGULAR PLURAL
girl girls /z/
boy boys /z/
pen pens /z/
When the final sound is voiceless (There is no vibration in our vocal cords when we pronounce) we pronounce /s/ as /s/, like in books /s/, lamps /s/ and dates /s/.
Plural in English has another particularity: when the word in singular has one syllable but in plural has two syllables, though the final letter to be /s/, the sound will change to /IZ/.
SINGULAR PLURAL
Bus buses /IZ/
Kiss kisses /IZ/
Buzz buzzes /IZ/
Verbs in English also cause confusion in the pronunciation of non-natives, specifically in the past and third person.
Regular verbs in the third person have the similar rules of plural; the pronunciation depends on the last sound, if it is voiced or unvoiced and the number of the syllables. When the last sound is voiced we pronounce as /z/, when it is unvoiced we pronounce as /s/. We pronounce as /IZ/ when in the third person the verb change the number of syllables.
INFINITIVE THIRD PERSON
To write writes /s/
To play plays /z/
To dress dresses /IZ/
In the past we have three possibilities of sounds at the end of the verb: d, t and id. If the last sound was voiced, then we will pronounce it as /d/. If it was unvoiced we will pronounce as /t/.
INFINITIVE PAST
To train trained /d/
To love loved /d/
To pick picked /t/
To talk talked /t/
We pronounce the word with id when the ending is pronounced as a separate syllable, as in protected /id/, intended /id/ , created /id/, completed /id/, etc.
There are other mistakes that are made by Brazilian students. These are some of them, but it is common make mistakes when we are learning a new language, especially when we are adults, because we have difficult to think in the new idiom, and it is essential to a good communication.
Often we try to translate expressions to our mother tongue and these “translation” will be incomprehensible to a native person. For a good communication in a second language we have to be in touch with songs, books and movies that will help us to identify e memorize the correct pronounce and to know better the expressions and structures of the language and will avoid to consolidate mistakes resulting from direct translation.
Portuguese speakers will also experience difficulty to distinguishing between English /a/ and /o/. This problem occurs because many times the vowel /a/ is pronounced as /o/ as in law, and this sound corresponding in Portuguese to /ó/ as in dó .
And finally, Portuguese speakers would make confusion with the pronunciation about the English mid-central /ə/ that can be stressed / ^ / or unstressed /ə/. In this case there is probability that the speakers be influenced by spelling, as in words like but, rubber, photographer, that can be pronounced as /bət/, /rəbər/ and /fô'tógrafêr/ instead of, /b ^ t/, /r^ b ə r / and /fə'tagrəfər/.
As we saw to know the correct pronunciation of the vowels in English is extremely important and the only way to learn is practicing. But, for help us during this process we can memorize some phrases with the correct pronunciation of the vowels, as the examples below.
Lee bit Ray's best hat. - O Lee mordeu o melhor chapéu do Ray.
/iy//I//êy/ /e//æ/
Stew pushed Joe off the cot. - O Stew empurrou o Joe para fora da cama de campanha.
/uw//U/ /ôw//o/ /ə//a/
She is acing ten classes using the books and notes always honestly.
/iy//I//êy/ /e/ /æ/ /uw/ /ə//U/ /ôw/ /o/ /a/
Ela está fazendo com perfeição dez matérias usando os livros e as anotações sempre honestamente.
2.0 INTONATION
Intonation is a very important subject for a good communication; according to intonation we will have a meaning.
We can say that intonation is the combination of musical tones that we use to speak. It is specifically the tune we speak.
Each person has a kind of tune, personally and regionally. In Brazil we say that “cariocas” speak as it was singing, but in fact, everybody sings while speaks, if not we would speak as a robot.
Expressive speakers can use as many as twenty five different notes when are speaking, and each different note give a meaning what they say. In fact, our voice is the most complete musical instrument that exists.
Intonation is so important that journalists and radio workers have to learn it to do your job. They called it as verbal inflection.
For English speakers intonation is an essential knowledge and is closely related to sentence-stress. Of course each speaker has your own range of notes, but most native speakers of English rise and fall your voices at approximately the same place.
The tones of intonation are marked for a simplified system that is divided into four types: normal, high, low and extra-high.
To show the types of intonation we draw a line under, above or in the base of the word, as these examples:
How old are you?
The line drawn in the base of the word represents the normal tone, as in how. The line drawn above the word indicates a high tone, as in are and the line drawn some distance the word indicates a low tone, as you.
The following example represents, beyond the normal, high and low a extra-high tone too.
I love you much than he loves me
The line drawn some distance above the word indicates the extra-high tone, as in I.
To indicate the change of tones between syllables we use a straight vertical line called shift, as in the examples above. But when the change occurs in the same syllable we use a slide a line curving up or down.
The coffee is hot
There are some rules to use shift and slide and it is very important because the meaning of the word can be totally changed when we use shift or slide. As the examples below:
I live in a WhiteHouse (I am a president of USA)
I live in a white house (I live in a house which color is white)
There are rules to use rising-falling intonation, but in general it is used at the end of the sentence (declarative sentences, commands and questions with interrogative words).
The rising intonation is normally used in the opposite situation of rising-falling: At the end of questions which do not begin with an interrogative word.
Are you fine? It is different from How are you feeling?
Rising Intonation Rising-Following Intonation
Questions that we can use rising intonation, in general, can be answered by yes or no. Normally they begin with auxiliary verbs, as can, am, does, has, may, etc.
It is important to know that rising intonation suggest an incomplete idea. But we also use rising intonation when we want create suspense or emphasizing the idea of contrast. In this case to mark the differences we use extra-high note.
Robert drives better than I do
It is also important to know that, despite the rules, intonation is used basically to communicate, thus the speaker will decide in which tone he or she will speak. On the other hand, there are some situations that we have to pay attention to correct tune as: series with and, alternatives with or, direct address and tag questions.
In phrases like these, the correct use of the rising or falling intonations will give the correct idea about what we want to say and will make the comprehension of the listener easier, especially if we were talking with a native person.
To summarize, intonation is very important for English speakers, because indicates emotions, feelings, options, focus, etc. Intonations patterns are considered “as part of grammatical system of English, essential to the structure of the language as are other grammatical signals such as word order, inflectional endings and function words.”
3.0 COMMONEST MISTAKES MADE BY BRAZILIAN STUDENTS
Brazilians students make many mistakes when are learning to speak in English.
The pronunciation of English words is totally different from Portuguese words. In English the same letter can be pronounces by different ways.
It happens with the vowels, for example. In Portuguese language there is less variety of sounds in vowels. But in English the vowels have different sounds, as was mentioned in the text about this specific subject: vowels.
This variety of sounds of vowels makes the Portuguese speaker to pronounce as the word is spelt.
The commonest mistakes are with long and short vowel: leave / l I y v / and live / l I v /, stood /stUd/ and stewed /stuwd /. Another problems are the phonemes /e/ and /æ and /a/ e /o/. Normally is difficult to a Portuguese speaker to indentify what is the correct phoneme for some word, as in these cases below:
flesh /flesh/ and flash /flæsh/ or pen /pen/ and pan /pæn/
collar /'kalər/ and caller /'kolər/ or cot /kat/ and caught /kot/
The Portuguese speaker has problem of pronunciation with plural too, because in English, the letter /s/ sounds like /z/ when the last sound is voiced (our vocal cords vibrate when the word is pronounced). Thus is common a Portuguese speaker pronounce incorrectly some words in plural. Normally they pronounce with /s/ sound instead of the correct /z/ sound, as in the examples below.
SINGULAR PLURAL
girl girls /z/
boy boys /z/
pen pens /z/
When the final sound is voiceless (There is no vibration in our vocal cords when we pronounce) we pronounce /s/ as /s/, like in books /s/, lamps /s/ and dates /s/.
Plural in English has another particularity: when the word in singular has one syllable but in plural has two syllables, though the final letter to be /s/, the sound will change to /IZ/.
SINGULAR PLURAL
Bus buses /IZ/
Kiss kisses /IZ/
Buzz buzzes /IZ/
Verbs in English also cause confusion in the pronunciation of non-natives, specifically in the past and third person.
Regular verbs in the third person have the similar rules of plural; the pronunciation depends on the last sound, if it is voiced or unvoiced and the number of the syllables. When the last sound is voiced we pronounce as /z/, when it is unvoiced we pronounce as /s/. We pronounce as /IZ/ when in the third person the verb change the number of syllables.
INFINITIVE THIRD PERSON
To write writes /s/
To play plays /z/
To dress dresses /IZ/
In the past we have three possibilities of sounds at the end of the verb: d, t and id. If the last sound was voiced, then we will pronounce it as /d/. If it was unvoiced we will pronounce as /t/.
INFINITIVE PAST
To train trained /d/
To love loved /d/
To pick picked /t/
To talk talked /t/
We pronounce the word with id when the ending is pronounced as a separate syllable, as in protected /id/, intended /id/ , created /id/, completed /id/, etc.
There are other mistakes that are made by Brazilian students. These are some of them, but it is common make mistakes when we are learning a new language, especially when we are adults, because we have difficult to think in the new idiom, and it is essential to a good communication.
Often we try to translate expressions to our mother tongue and these “translation” will be incomprehensible to a native person. For a good communication in a second language we have to be in touch with songs, books and movies that will help us to identify e memorize the correct pronounce and to know better the expressions and structures of the language and will avoid to consolidate mistakes resulting from direct translation.
4.0 CONSONANTS
There are twenty two consonants in English that are divided in two groups: Voiced consonants and voiceless consonants. There are thirteen voiced consonants: b, l, ŋ, v, z, d, m, r, zh, g, n, ð and dzh. (Despite of w and y appear in the list of the voiced consonant, they are considered as semivowels.) The voiceless consonants are nine: f, k, s, t, h, p, sh, sh and tsh. In this list appears hw, but it is considered as combination of sounds.
Below we have the complete list of the English and Portuguese consonants with examples:
English consonants
There are twenty two consonants in English that are divided in two groups: Voiced consonants and voiceless consonants. There are thirteen voiced consonants: b, l, ŋ, v, z, d, m, r, zh, g, n, ð and dzh. (Despite of w and y appear in the list of the voiced consonant, they are considered as semivowels.) The voiceless consonants are nine: f, k, s, t, h, p, sh, sh and tsh. In this list appears hw, but it is considered as combination of sounds.
Below we have the complete list of the English and Portuguese consonants with examples:
English consonants
/p/ - pill [phIl]
/b/ - bill [bIl]
/t/ - till [thIl]
/d/ - day [dey]
/k/ - kill [khIl]
/g/ - goal [gowl]
/tsh/ - cheap [tshiyp]
/dzh/ - Joe [dzhow]
/f/ - fan [fæn]
/v/ - van [væn]
/Ø/ - think [ØIŋk]
/ð/ - this [ðIs]
/s/ - sink [sIŋk]
/z/ - zinc [zIŋk]
/sh/ - ship [shIp]
/zh/ - casual ['khæzhwəl]
/h/ - house [hawz]
/m/ - make [meyk]
/n/ - night [nayt]
/ŋ/ - long [loŋ]
/r/ - red [red]
/l/ - late [leyt]
/w/ - wine [wayn]
/y/ - yes [yes]
/y/ - yes [yes]
Portuguese consonants
/p/ - para ['paÐa]
/b/ - bala ['bala]
/t/ - tatu [ta'tu]
/d/ - dado ['dadu]
/k/ - coco ['kôku]
/g/ - gato ['gatu]
/f/ - faca ['faka]
/v/ - vaca ['vaka]
/s/ - sapo ['sapu]
/z/ - zelo ['zelu]
/sh/ - chave ['shavi]
/zh/ - jato ['zhatu]
/m/ - mala ['mala]
/n/ - nenê [nê'nê]
/ñ/ - ninho ['niñu]
/l/ - lado ['ladu]
/lh/ - olho ['ôlhu]
/Ð/ - para ['paÐa]
/R/ ou /x/ - rato ['Ratu] ou ['xatu]
As we can confirm in the list above there are more English sounds consonants than Portuguese. Despite of Portuguese language uses 34 phonemes, only nineteen are consonants.
Observing the list we can notice that there are similarities between English and Portuguese consonants. The consonants bellow, are some examples of sounds equal in both languages in some situations:
CONSONANT ENGLISH PORTUGUESE
/m/ Make Mala
/n/ Night Nervo
/k/ Kill Kuanto
/b/ Bill Bala
/d/ Day Data
/g/ Goal Gato
/s/ Sink Seta
/z/ Zinc Zelo
On the other hand there are many differences between some sounds. The sound of /p/ and /t/ in English has a similar sound in Portuguese, as in pill and pato or till and telha, but in English these sounds in the begging of the word or before vowel are aspirated, while not in Portuguese. The same occurs with /k/, as in cucumber.
In English there are sounds totally different as /r/, /Ø/ that does not have similar sound in Portuguese. The /r/ for example, is retroflex. Because of this, is very difficult for a Portuguese speaker pronounce it correctly, especially, when this sound is in the beginning of the word. Then, a native speaker certainly will make confusion to distinguish hat from rat if these words will not pronounced correctly.
The case of /Ø/, the famous “th” of English, is also difficult and the speakers have difficult to pronounce words like theater, bath, teeth, etc. In generally these words are pronounced with /f/ that is the closer sound in Portuguese.
Other difference is the sound of the / ŋ / as in sing. In English it is always pronounced and never nasalized, then is common the person who is learning to speak English, to nasalize this sound as in canga.
Portuguese speakers also tend to nasalize the sound of /m/ as in tambor but in English it does not have happen.
Other different consonants is /h/, in English it is aspirated as in hot, hospital and horse while in Portuguese does not exists similar sound, normally it is a deaf sound.
To know how the words are transcribed is very important to improve our pronunciation, especially about words that we were listening for the first time.
We can not forget that in English the pronunciation is totaling different from spelling which cause problems even for native people.
As we can confirm in the list above there are more English sounds consonants than Portuguese. Despite of Portuguese language uses 34 phonemes, only nineteen are consonants.
Observing the list we can notice that there are similarities between English and Portuguese consonants. The consonants bellow, are some examples of sounds equal in both languages in some situations:
CONSONANT ENGLISH PORTUGUESE
/m/ Make Mala
/n/ Night Nervo
/k/ Kill Kuanto
/b/ Bill Bala
/d/ Day Data
/g/ Goal Gato
/s/ Sink Seta
/z/ Zinc Zelo
On the other hand there are many differences between some sounds. The sound of /p/ and /t/ in English has a similar sound in Portuguese, as in pill and pato or till and telha, but in English these sounds in the begging of the word or before vowel are aspirated, while not in Portuguese. The same occurs with /k/, as in cucumber.
In English there are sounds totally different as /r/, /Ø/ that does not have similar sound in Portuguese. The /r/ for example, is retroflex. Because of this, is very difficult for a Portuguese speaker pronounce it correctly, especially, when this sound is in the beginning of the word. Then, a native speaker certainly will make confusion to distinguish hat from rat if these words will not pronounced correctly.
The case of /Ø/, the famous “th” of English, is also difficult and the speakers have difficult to pronounce words like theater, bath, teeth, etc. In generally these words are pronounced with /f/ that is the closer sound in Portuguese.
Other difference is the sound of the / ŋ / as in sing. In English it is always pronounced and never nasalized, then is common the person who is learning to speak English, to nasalize this sound as in canga.
Portuguese speakers also tend to nasalize the sound of /m/ as in tambor but in English it does not have happen.
Other different consonants is /h/, in English it is aspirated as in hot, hospital and horse while in Portuguese does not exists similar sound, normally it is a deaf sound.
To know how the words are transcribed is very important to improve our pronunciation, especially about words that we were listening for the first time.
We can not forget that in English the pronunciation is totaling different from spelling which cause problems even for native people.
