Posted: Apr 30, 2015 11:38 am
Observation, not intended as antagonism: most of these aren't exactly words that foreigners CAN'T pronounce correctly.
Some require the generation of sounds or phonemes that are not in the lexicon of the non-native speaker.
Others are unlikely to be pronounced correctly if the speaker is trying to read them out, without hearing a native say them first.
My favorites along these lines, are words with what might be called "idiomatic pronunciations." That is, words which one just has to learn through living in the local dialects, how to say out loud, in spite of the fact that there aren't even any hints in the printed version as to how to say them. Words with silent letters come to mind first, but I have seen a few words (none of which I can recall now) whose printed spelling bear no relation at all to their pronunciation.
Here in the US, we have so many sources of culture and thus pronunciation, that one can go from one neighborhood to another, say the same words the same way in each neighborhood, and be told that they are saying them correctly in one area, and incorrectly in the other.
"Houston" is a case of that. Some areas pronounce that city name as "Hew-stun," while some others say "Yew-stun."
One of the things I liked about German, so far as I managed to learn it, is that I never came across a German sourced word which was not spelled in print, based on how it was to be said out loud. One had to learn the correct phonemes to attach to each set of letters, but that's almost entirely just discipline.
Last minor note: one small but interesting thing about word pronunciation, is that there are pockets of people here and there who have all inherited genetic "quirks" of a certain small kind, which affect how they are ABLE to say things. It seems that at least some aspects of accents, actually derived from these physiological originations, rather than from the intermingling of cultures alone.
A possible example of this, are the people who are unable to say the letter R, without including a bit of the pronunciation of the letter W as well. I am aware that there is an area in London where this WR sound is very common, but I have also found the occasional American, NOT of English descent, who was born with this as an officially recognized speech impediment, which no amount of therapy or practice can reverse.
All lots of fun, really.
Some require the generation of sounds or phonemes that are not in the lexicon of the non-native speaker.
Others are unlikely to be pronounced correctly if the speaker is trying to read them out, without hearing a native say them first.
My favorites along these lines, are words with what might be called "idiomatic pronunciations." That is, words which one just has to learn through living in the local dialects, how to say out loud, in spite of the fact that there aren't even any hints in the printed version as to how to say them. Words with silent letters come to mind first, but I have seen a few words (none of which I can recall now) whose printed spelling bear no relation at all to their pronunciation.
Here in the US, we have so many sources of culture and thus pronunciation, that one can go from one neighborhood to another, say the same words the same way in each neighborhood, and be told that they are saying them correctly in one area, and incorrectly in the other.
"Houston" is a case of that. Some areas pronounce that city name as "Hew-stun," while some others say "Yew-stun."
One of the things I liked about German, so far as I managed to learn it, is that I never came across a German sourced word which was not spelled in print, based on how it was to be said out loud. One had to learn the correct phonemes to attach to each set of letters, but that's almost entirely just discipline.
Last minor note: one small but interesting thing about word pronunciation, is that there are pockets of people here and there who have all inherited genetic "quirks" of a certain small kind, which affect how they are ABLE to say things. It seems that at least some aspects of accents, actually derived from these physiological originations, rather than from the intermingling of cultures alone.
A possible example of this, are the people who are unable to say the letter R, without including a bit of the pronunciation of the letter W as well. I am aware that there is an area in London where this WR sound is very common, but I have also found the occasional American, NOT of English descent, who was born with this as an officially recognized speech impediment, which no amount of therapy or practice can reverse.
All lots of fun, really.