Investigating the phonetic errors of Malay speakers in learning and using Persian language

In the process of language learning, error is an inevitable phenomenon. One way to identify educational needs to improve the quality of teaching materials and teaching methods is error analysis. Since one of the goals of the language training program is the correct teaching of language sounds, this article intends to investigate and analyze the phonetic errors of Malay-speaking Persian speakers at both beginner and intermediate levels. The sample of the present study consists of 12 Malay language students of Al-Mustafa Society Persian Language Training Center in Qom province who have been selected based on a simple random method. The data of this research have been collected using field and descriptive methods and through sound recording and direct observation. Identifying and analyzing the errors of these learners as well as the results extracted from the interviews show that the phonetic errors of Malay speakers are influenced by their mother tongue, Persian language and teaching methods. These errors are generally divided into three categories: 1) errors due to interlinguistic transmission, which are the most frequent errors in this study, 2) errors due to interlinguistic transmission, which are the least frequent, and 3) errors due to educational materials. Findings and results of the research show that the more the learner masters the target language (Persian), the number of his mistakes decreases.