Should I use what or how? [closed]
Lately, I have asked a question in this way:
I would like to know how my pronunciation sounds like.
Can you tell me if this way of speaking may be considered right? In fact, I felt understood, but I'm still wondering whether I was right or not.
As a native anglophone I would, and regularly have to, ask "How's my pronunciation?" and leave it at that.
This is an interesting question — one I've thought about myself and often address in person.
I grew up in the Midwest, for reference. In my experience, it would be typical (and correct) to ask either "What ... like?" or "How...?" (in different circumstances, see last paragraph) but not "How ... like?". When I moved to university in upstate New York, I started to hear "How ... like?" a lot more frequently. I think this is due to the prevalence of international students who are not native speakers. The way I see it, the word "how" contains some of the meaning of the word "like," and so asking "how like" is redundant. To my ears, it sounds awkward and incorrect. When I hear someone say it, I immediately notice it.
It is important to note, too, that the questions "How?" and "What like?" are asking different things despite being similar. "How?" is a request for information regarding:
- The manner in which something occurs
- The degree or extent of something
- The state or condition of something
and similar, whereas the question "What like?" asks simply for a description of something.
P.S. For your specific example of pronunciation, the two questions can both be asked. They just carry different meanings:
"How does my pronunciation sound?" — You are wondering whether it is good, bad, understandable, and so forth. It sounds better than mine! or It sounds great! (For what it's worth, the most natural way to ask this in English would be, "How is my pronunciation?")
"What does my pronunciation sound like?" — You want a description of your pronunciation. It sounds like a native's! or It sounds like you've had many years of practice.