Korean speakers most often lose OPIc and TOEIC Speaking marks on r and l, f and p, final consonants that are not released, extra vowels inside consonant clusters, flat intonation and missing articles. Japanese speakers lose them on r and l, vowels added after consonants, katakana pronunciation, katakana English words and th. Mandarin speakers from Taiwan tend to merge final n and ng and drop tense endings; Vietnamese speakers drop final consonants and the -s and -ed endings; Thai speakers turn final l into n and final s into t. Every habit below is a tendency, not a rule. It comes from how your first language builds sounds and sentences, and it is TalkDrill's judgement, not a finding from ETS or ACTFL, neither of which publishes results by first language that we could find. Each habit has a fix and a one-minute drill. Record yourself first and skip anything your recording does not show.
- TOEIC Speaking scores pronunciation and intonation directly in questions 1 and 2, and describes each as High, Medium or Low, separately from the 0 to 200 score.
- OPIc rates you holistically; a sound habit costs you when it makes you hard to follow or hides an ending.
- The rubric allows "other language influence". The target is clear English, not a native accent.
- Fix in this order: endings and final consonants, then the vowels you add, then r and l, then intonation, then articles and tense.
How your first language shows up in the score
TOEIC Speaking scores pronunciation directly. Per the ETS TOEIC Speaking and Writing examinee handbook, each of the two read-aloud answers receives two ratings from 0 to 3: one for pronunciation and one for intonation and stress. The handbook then describes a Pronunciation level and an Intonation and stress level for your reading, each High, Medium or Low, separately from the 0 to 200 score. The rubric is explicit that an accent is allowed. A 3 for pronunciation is "highly intelligible, though the response may include minor lapses and/or other language influence". A 1 is when "significant other language influence interferes with appropriate delivery of the text". So the job is not to sound American or British. It is to remove the habits that make a listener work.
From question 3, grammar, vocabulary and cohesion join pronunciation in the criteria; from question 5, relevance and completeness of content join too, per the handbook and the IIBC format page. That is where grammar habits from your first language start to cost marks: a dropped article, a missing past tense, a plural that is not there. In question 11, the scoring guide's score 2 describes "consistent difficulties with pronunciation, stress, and intonation" and "long pauses and frequent hesitations", and score 1 includes "mixtures of the first language and English".
OPIc works differently. Per the opic.or.kr 시험소개 page, it is rated holistically against the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines on four areas: Function, Accuracy, Content/Context and Text Type. Pronunciation has no score of its own; the page places it inside Accuracy, with vocabulary, grammar and fluency ("어휘, 문법, 발음, 유창성"). A sound habit costs you in OPIc when it makes you hard to follow over a long answer, or when it hides grammar: if your final -ed is never released, a rater listening for control of the past tense cannot hear it. A grammar habit costs you directly, because moving from IM to IH depends on connected narration in the right time frame.
| Kind of habit | Where it costs you in TOEIC Speaking | How it costs you in OPIc |
|---|---|---|
| Single sounds: r and l, f and p, th, final consonants | The pronunciation rating in questions 1 and 2; intelligibility in every later task | Inside Accuracy, mostly when it blocks understanding or hides an ending |
| Rhythm and intonation | The intonation and stress rating in questions 1 and 2; delivery in question 11 | Listener effort across one- and two-minute answers |
| Endings, articles, tense | The grammar criterion from question 3 onwards | Accuracy and control of time frames, which separate IM from IH |
| Fillers and long pauses | Lost seconds in every task; named in the question 11 guide | Fewer words of evidence in every answer |
Korean speakers
This section goes deepest because the OPIc covered on this site is the Korean OPIc run by Multicampus, and TOEIC Speaking runs every Saturday and Sunday in Korea, per YBM. The habits below come from three facts about Korean: it has one liquid sound where English has r and l, it has no f, v, z or th, and its syllables rarely end in two consonants. Grammar habits come from Korean having no articles and no verb agreement with the subject.
| Habit | What it sounds like | Why it happens | Fix | One-minute drill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| r and l | "right" as "light", "correct" as "collect", "pray" as "play" | Korean ㄹ is one sound: a quick tap between vowels, an l at the end of a syllable | For r, pull the tongue tip back and let it touch nothing; round the lips a little. For l, press the tip on the ridge behind the top teeth and hold it | right, light; road, load; pray, play; grass, glass; correct, collect. Then: "The light on the right road turned red." |
| f and p, v and b | "coffee" as "copy", "file" as "pile", "very" as "berry", "van" as "ban" | Korean has no f or v; loanwords use ㅍ and ㅂ instead | Rest the top teeth on the lower lip, then push air through (f) or add voice (v) | fan, pan; fast, past; full, pull; vest, best; van, ban. Then: "I prefer fresh coffee at five." |
| z as j | "zoo" as "joo", "zero" as "jero", "busy" with a j in the middle | Korean has no z sound | Put the tongue where it is for s and add voice; it should buzz, not stop | zoo, zero, zone, busy, lazy, size. Then: "Zero is the easy size." |
| Final consonants not released | "bag" and "back" sound the same; "need" as "neat"; "worked" as "work" | Korean final ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ are held, not released, and there is no voiced final | Let the last sound out lightly. Before a voiced ending, lengthen the vowel: "bag" is longer than "back" | bag, back; bed, bet; need, neat; cab, cap. Then: "I worked late and missed the last bus." |
| Extra vowels in clusters | "desk" as "de-seu-keu", "strike" as "seu-teu-ra-i-keu", "change" as "chein-ji" | Korean loanwords break consonant clusters with the vowel ㅡ | Count beats. "desk" is one beat, "strike" is one beat. Whisper the cluster with no vowel, then say it | desk, text, script, street, months, asked. Then: "She asked for the script and the text." |
| Flat, even intonation | Every syllable the same length; a small rise at the end of every phrase; no clear fall at the end of a statement | Korean does not use word stress the way English does | Stress the content words and shrink "to", "of", "and", "the". Fall at the end of a statement, rise on a yes or no question, and in a list rise, rise, fall | "We offer free parking, a fitness room and a rooftop restaurant." Three times, with a big fall on "restaurant". |
| Missing a, an, the | "I live in apartment", "There is big window", "I went to bank" | Korean has no articles | One speaking rule: a single countable noun needs a, the, my or this in front. First mention a, after that the | Describe your room for 60 seconds, record it, and count the nouns without an article. |
| Plural and third-person -s | "two friend", "my father work in Seoul" | Korean marks plural lightly and the verb does not change with the subject | Make the s hiss. After every number word (two, three, many, a lot of), check the plural | "My two brothers work in Busan and my sister lives in Seoul." |
Drill pages for these: p, f, b and v, past tense -ed endings, final consonant clusters, s and plural endings, English intonation patterns and a, an and the rules.
Konglish words that confuse a rater
These are Korean words built from English that mean something else, or nothing, to an English listener. They appear most in OPIc survey topics (home, gym, shopping, school) and in TOEIC Speaking questions 5 to 7 and 11, where vocabulary is scored.
| Konglish | Say instead |
|---|---|
| hand phone (핸드폰) | phone, mobile phone |
| notebook (노트북) | laptop |
| apart (아파트) | apartment, flat |
| one-room (원룸) | studio flat |
| health (헬스), "I do health" | "I go to the gym", "I work out" |
| eye shopping (아이쇼핑) | window shopping |
| service (서비스), meaning free | "it was free", "on the house" |
| cunning (커닝) | cheating |
| sharp (샤프) | mechanical pencil |
| SNS | social media |
| fighting (화이팅) | good luck, you can do it |
Worked example, written by TalkDrill (not a real candidate's answer)
OPIc-style question: "Tell me about your home. What does it look like, and which room do you like most?"
With the habits: "My house is apart in Suwon. It is not big but comfortable. There is living room and three room. I like my room most because there is big window, so I can see mountain. Every weekend I go to health and after that I relax in my room with my notebook."
Fixed: "I live in an apartment in Suwon. It isn't big, but it's comfortable. There's a living room, a small kitchen and three bedrooms. My favourite room is my own, because it has a big window and I can see a mountain from my desk. Most weekends I go to the gym in the morning, and in the afternoon I relax in my room with my laptop."
What changed: six articles added, two plurals fixed, three Konglish words replaced (apart, health, notebook), and two sentences joined with "because" and "and". Sounds to mark before you say it: live and living (l), comfortable and favourite (f, v), desk (one beat), relax (r then l). The fixed answer is still IM-style content. To push it towards IH, add a short past story in the past tense: "Last winter the heating broke for a week, so we all slept in the living room, which was actually fun."
Japanese speakers
Japanese builds speech from short units that end in a vowel or in n, has one liquid where English has two, and learns many English words first in katakana. Those three facts explain most of the habits below. In TOEIC Speaking they show first in questions 1 and 2; in OPIc they show in long answers, where an added vowel on every word slows the whole answer down.
| Habit | What it sounds like | Why it happens | Fix | One-minute drill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| r and l | "rice" as "lice", "grass" as "glass", "collect" as "correct" | Japanese has one quick tap sound (ら行) for both | For r, the tongue pulls back and touches nothing; for l, the tip touches the ridge behind the teeth and holds | road, load; rock, lock; fry, fly; grass, glass; arrive, alive. |
| Added vowels after consonants | "street" as "su-to-ri-to", "milk" as "mi-ru-ku", "desk" as "de-su-ku", "and" as "ando" | Japanese units end in a vowel or n | End on the consonant. Whisper the last consonant with no vowel after it, then join it to the next word: "desk_and_chair" | milk, desk, street, test, friend. Then: "I asked a friend at the front desk." |
| Katakana pronunciation of loanwords | "energy" as "e-ne-ru-gī", "theme" as "tēma", "label" as "raberu", "virus" as "uirusu" | The word was learnt in katakana first, with katakana sounds and rhythm | For each loanword you use at work, learn the English stress and vowels: EN-er-gy, THEME, LA-bel, VI-rus, ca-REER, AL-ler-gy | Read the six words above, then put each in a sentence about your job. |
| th | "think" as "sink", "three" as "su-ree", "this" as "zis" | Japanese has no th | Put the tongue tip lightly between the teeth; blow for "think", buzz for "this" | think, sink; thick, sick; mouth, mouse; then, zen. |
| si and shi, hu and fu | "seat" as "sheet", "see" as "she", "who" and "food" with a soft f | Japanese し is shi, and ふ sits between h and f | For s, keep the tongue forward and the lips spread. For h, just breathe out with the lips open | seat, sheet; sea, she; sip, ship; who, hood, food. |
| Even rhythm | Every syllable a similar length; no stress on content words; weak fall at the end | Japanese timing counts equal units and uses pitch, not stress | Make stressed syllables longer and louder and squash the rest | "I'd like to book a table for two at seven." Stress like, book, ta-, two, se-. |
| Articles, plurals, missing subjects | "I bought new bag", "Went to Kyoto last year" | Japanese has no articles, no obligatory plural, and drops subjects freely | In stories, start every sentence with a subject; give every single countable noun an article | Tell a weekend story in 60 seconds, then check each sentence has a subject. |
Katakana English words that mean something else
| Katakana English | Say instead |
|---|---|
| mansion (マンション) | apartment, flat (a "mansion" is a very large house) |
| consent (コンセント) | socket, power point |
| claim (クレーム), meaning a complaint | complaint |
| smart (スマート), meaning slim | slim |
| Viking (バイキング) | buffet |
| cunning (カンニング) | cheating |
| handle (ハンドル), in a car | steering wheel |
| note PC (ノートパソコン) | laptop |
| baby car (ベビーカー) | pushchair or buggy (UK), stroller (US) |
| after service (アフターサービス) | after-sales service, customer support |
| paper driver (ペーパードライバー) | "I have a licence but I rarely drive" |
Worked example, written by TalkDrill (not a real candidate's answer)
TOEIC Speaking question 3 style, 30 seconds: a photo of an office meeting. Four people sit at a long table with laptops and papers; a woman stands at the front pointing at a graph on a screen; behind them a large window shows tall buildings.
With the habits: "This is meeting room. There are four person. One woman is standing and she is pointing screen. On the table, there are some note PC and paper. Behind them, there is big window and we can see building."
Fixed: "This picture shows a meeting in an office. Four people are sitting around a long table, and a woman is standing at the front, pointing at a graph on a screen. There are laptops and a few papers on the table. Behind them, through a large window, I can see tall buildings, so the office is probably in a city centre."
What changed: articles and plurals (a meeting, people, laptops, buildings), "pointing at", note PC replaced, and a reasonable guess at the end that ties the picture together. The ETS scoring guide's top score for this task "describes the main features of the picture" with vocabulary and structures that allow "coherent expression of ideas". Sounds to mark: front and graph (no added vowel), through (th, then r), probably (r and b).
Mandarin speakers (Taiwan)
TOEIC Speaking and Writing runs monthly in seven Taiwanese cities, per the toeic.com.tw test dates page. Mandarin syllables end only in a vowel, n or ng, every syllable carries a tone, and verbs do not change for time or person. The habits follow from that.
| Habit | What it sounds like | Why it happens | Fix | One-minute drill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final n and ng merged | "thin" and "thing", "win" and "wing", "ran" and "rang" sound alike | Many Taiwan Mandarin speakers merge -in and -ing, -en and -eng | For n, the tongue tip rises to the ridge. For ng, the tip stays down and the back of the tongue rises | thin, thing; win, wing; ran, rang; sin, sing; ban, bang. |
| Final consonants dropped or followed by a vowel | "good" as "goo", "bag" as "bag-uh", "book" as "boo" | Mandarin syllables do not end in stops | Release the final consonant lightly, with no vowel after it | bag, good, cat, book. Then: "We booked a cab and a good hotel." |
| Tense and -s endings missing | "Yesterday I go to the office", "He work in Taipei" | Mandarin verbs do not change; time words carry the meaning | Choose the time frame before you speak; in a past-experience question, put the first verb in the past and hold it | Five sentences about last weekend, all in the past, recorded and checked. |
| he and she mixed | "My manager said he would call me" about a woman | Spoken Mandarin uses the same sound, tā, for he and she | Name the person first, then fix the pronoun in your head before the story starts | Re-tell a story about a woman colleague and count the pronouns on playback. |
| th, v and w | "think" as "sink" or "fink", "very" as "wery" | Mandarin has no th or v | th with the tongue between the teeth; v with the top teeth on the lower lip | vest, west; vine, wine; think, sink; three, free. |
| Every syllable full | "comfortable" in four full syllables; no weak vowels | Each Mandarin syllable has a full vowel and a tone | Weaken unstressed syllables to a short "uh": COMF-tuh-bl | comfortable, chocolate, vegetable, interesting, different. |
Three word choices that come straight from Mandarin: "open the light" (開燈) for turn on the light; "I very like it" (我很喜歡) for I really like it; "borrow me your pen" (借我) for lend me your pen. Drills: v and w and word stress shifts.
Vietnamese speakers
IIG Vietnam runs TOEIC Speaking and Writing; its TOEIC SW page describes the Speaking test as 11 questions in 20 minutes, scored from 0 to 200, with a certificate valid for 2 years from the test date. Vietnamese is tonal, its final p, t and c are not released, it has no final consonant clusters and its verbs do not change.
| Habit | What it sounds like | Why it happens | Fix | One-minute drill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final consonants and clusters dropped | "desk" as "des", "fixed" as "fit", "nice", "night" and "nine" close together | Vietnamese final stops are not released and final clusters do not exist | Release single final consonants; for clusters, say each consonant slowly, then speed up | desk, fixed, asked, months, test, nice, night, nine. |
| -s and -ed endings missing | "two book", "She like it", "I work there last year" | Vietnamese has no final s and does not mark tense on the verb | Treat -s and -ed as sounds you must say. In the 45 seconds of preparation for questions 1 and 2, underline every one | Underline the endings in a read-aloud text, then read it at half speed. |
| Tone on English words | Pitch jumps on single words; choppy rhythm; every word stressed | In Vietnamese, pitch changes the word | Let pitch move across the whole sentence, with one main stress per thought group | Say "I didn't say she took it" five times, stressing a different word each time. |
| th and initial p | "think" as "tink", "this" as "dis"; "pen" close to "ben" for some speakers | Vietnamese has no th, and native words rarely start with p | th as above; for p, let a small puff of air out | think, tink; three, tree; pen, Ben; pack, back. |
| r as z (northern speakers) | "red" as "zed", "rice" as "zice" | In Hanoi speech, the letter r is said like z | Curl the tongue back with no buzz | red, rice, road, right, ready. |
Drills: final consonant clusters and voiceless th.
Thai speakers
CPA Thailand runs a public TOEIC Speaking and Writing sitting once a month and lets you choose Speaking Only, Writing Only or both, per its TOEIC S&W Testing Program page. Thai allows only a few sounds at the end of a syllable, has no v, sh or z, and its loanwords tend to carry weight on the last syllable.
| Habit | What it sounds like | Why it happens | Fix | One-minute drill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final l as n, final s as t | "school" as "schoon", "bill" as "bin", "bus" as "but", "nice" as "night" | Thai final sounds are limited; l and s are not among them | For final l, keep the tip on the ridge and let the sound run on. For final s, keep the hiss going | bill, bin; fill, fin; bus, but; nice, night. Then: "The school bus is full." |
| Clusters cut down | "friend" as "fen", "street" as "sa-treet", "spring" as "sa-pring" | Thai has fewer consonant clusters than English and none at the end of a syllable | Count beats and keep the cluster together, with no vowel inside it | friend, street, spring, script, asked. |
| r as l | "right" as "light", "rice" as "lice" | Many Thai speakers use l for r in everyday speech | For r, pull the tongue back and let it touch nothing | right, light; road, load; rock, lock. |
| v as w, sh as ch, z as s | "very" as "wery", "she" as "chee", "shop" as "chop", "zoo" as "Sue" | Thai has no v, sh or z | v with teeth on lip; sh with the lips pushed forward and a long hiss; z with a buzz | vest, west; ship, chip; shoe, chew; zoo, Sue. |
| Stress on the last syllable | "coffee" as cof-FEE, "computer" as com-pu-TER | Thai words, and loanwords in Thai, often carry weight at the end | Learn the stress with the word: COF-fee, com-PU-ter, PHO-to-graph, de-VE-lop | coffee, computer, photograph, develop, chocolate. |
| Tense and plurals missing | "Yesterday I go", "many customer" | Thai verbs and nouns do not change; time words carry it | As for Mandarin: pick the time frame first and hold it | Five past-tense sentences about your last holiday, recorded. |
Habits every group shares: fillers, scripts, short answers
First-language fillers
Korean 어 and 그, Japanese えーと and あの, Mandarin 那個, Vietnamese ờ, Thai คือ. Any filler costs seconds on a clock that is already short. A first-language filler also puts your first language into an English answer, and the lowest bands of the question 11 guide name "mixtures of the first language and English" and "long pauses and frequent hesitations". Replace it with an English phrase that holds your turn and starts your answer: "The main reason is...", "It depends on...", "Let me give you an example." Use one, then go. More in filler words to stop using.
Memorised scripts
The ETS handbook reserves the right to cancel scores when a speaking response includes "text or ideas that are substantially similar to that found in other TOEIC responses". From question 5, answers are also scored on relevance and completeness, so a learnt paragraph that does not answer the question loses there too. For OPIc, ACTFL's tips for test takers are just as direct: "An abundance of rehearsed language or memorized speech may prevent a rating beyond the Novice proficiency level." And the questions come from your own survey, so someone else's script rarely fits. Learn structures (answer, reason, example, close) and fill them with your own life.
Repeating the question and stopping early
The handbook's score 1 for questions 5 to 10 includes vocabulary that may "rely on repetition of the prompt", and its general advice is "It is to your advantage to say as much as you can in the time allowed." Start with the answer, not the question. OPIc is different but the lesson is the same: per opic.or.kr each question can be heard twice and there is no time limit per answer, and ACTFL's tip is to "produce as much language as you can!" A two-sentence answer gives the rater very little to judge; in our view, short answers are one of the easiest ways for an accurate speaker to stay at IM.
Find your own habits in one recording
Read this TalkDrill-written paragraph as if it were questions 1 and 2: 45 seconds to look at it, 45 seconds to read it aloud. Record it on read-aloud practice, which marks each word, and once into your phone.
Diagnostic text, written by TalkDrill
"Last Friday, I asked my friend Ryan to help me move three heavy boxes to my new flat. We rented a van, drove along the river road and finally arrived at a small building near the station. The living room was full of light, and the kitchen had a long glass window. Ryan thinks it is the best place I have ever lived, so we celebrated with fresh coffee and a slice of cake."
| Words to check | What to listen for | Most likely to slip for |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, friend, full, fresh, coffee | A real f, not p and not a soft h | Korean, Japanese |
| Ryan, rented, river, road, arrived; light, glass, living, lived | r and l kept apart | Korean, Japanese, Thai |
| van, river, lived, have | v, not b and not w | Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Thai |
| three, thinks | th, not s, t or f | Japanese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai |
| asked, boxes, rented, arrived, celebrated | Every ending said: -sked, -xes, -ed | Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai |
| best, place, slice, station | Final s and st with no vowel added | Japanese, Korean, Thai |
| small, full, cake | Final l kept as l; final k released | Thai, Vietnamese |
| living, building, station, long | Final n and ng kept apart | Mandarin (Taiwan) |
| The whole paragraph | A clear fall at each full stop; "and", "of", "to" short | Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese |
Count the rows where you missed a word. Your top two rows are your plan for the next two weeks; ignore the rest for now. Then do the same with one free answer, because grammar habits only show when you build the sentence yourself. The TOEIC Speaking practice bank and the OPIc practice bank have TalkDrill-written questions for that.
The ten-minute daily drill
- Minutes 0 to 2. Ten minimal pairs for your top habit, slowly, then fast. The minimal pairs page has sets for most of the sounds above.
- Minutes 2 to 4. One read-aloud text with 45 seconds of preparation and 45 seconds of reading. In the preparation time, mark the stressed words and underline every ending.
- Minutes 4 to 7. One free answer, recorded: an OPIc-style question on one of your survey topics, or a TOEIC question 11 prompt with 45 seconds to prepare and 60 to speak. Role-play practice can ask it and follow up.
- Minutes 7 to 9. Listen back twice: once for your sound habit, once for articles, tense and plurals. Write down the two sentences that went wrong.
- Minutes 9 to 10. Say the two corrected sentences three times each, at normal speed.
No study we could find measures how long a first-language habit takes to change for these tests, so we give no figure. What we can say is that ten minutes every day beats an hour once a week, because each day's recording shows whether yesterday's fix held. For the full month, follow the 30-day roadmap, or the plans in Korean and Japanese. For how these habits map onto levels and scores, see OPIc levels and TOEIC Speaking scores, and for the official pages behind every rule quoted here, the official resources list.