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So, you think English is easy? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5013 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 9 of 18 23 September 2011 at 10:35am | IP Logged | ||
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And by common stereotypes, a British guy should definitely know the word to describe himself :-)
The link is great, there are a few things where I am unsure with the pronunciation (like the two meanings of "tear" (and third in R.Jordan's books) but despite it I had a good laugh. There such exemples in many languages, perhaps all of them, but truth is that probable not in such amount and variety. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ember Triglot Groupie CyprusRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5407 days ago 63 posts - 101 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, German Studies: Spanish, French, Greek, Polish | Message 10 of 18 23 September 2011 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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There's a poem we actually studied in our English proficiency class, which I believe
would fit in this thread perfectly: The Chaos (Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité, 1870-1946) Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it's written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. And your pronunciation's OK When you correctly say croquet, Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhyme with hammer. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger, Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer. Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late. Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed. Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover; Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice; Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label. Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor. Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver. Heron, granary, canary. Crevice and device and aerie. Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. Pronunciation -- think of Psyche! Is a paling stout and spikey? Won't it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? It's a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Finally, which rhymes with enough -- Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough? Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!! PS: Youtube is playing tricks with me today, but you can find readings of this poems there. Edited by ember on 23 September 2011 at 4:35pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| MarcusOdim Groupie Brazil Joined 4851 days ago 91 posts - 142 votes | Message 11 of 18 30 September 2011 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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English is the best language in the world hahahahahahaha it's freaking "senseless",
there are two words for everything We say "dentist" but the usual word that defines what we have in our mouths is "tooth" (whoever uses "dent")? If your mother tongue is Portuguese/Spanish/italian.. you can just guess words like DENT and we are nearly always correct but what about Slavs and Asians? Could they guess the Dentist is the guy who treats our teeth? haahahahahahah English: Dentist PT: Dentista SPNH: Dentista ITA: Dentista Edited by MarcusOdim on 30 September 2011 at 9:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| RMM Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5231 days ago 91 posts - 215 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Swedish, Japanese | Message 12 of 18 03 October 2011 at 1:31am | IP Logged | ||
One rhymes with "air" and "hair" (like a quick "eh-er" sound for the vowels) and the other with "beer" and "fear" (with an English long "e" sound). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Remster Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4809 days ago 120 posts - 134 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, French | Message 13 of 18 03 October 2011 at 10:37am | IP Logged | ||
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Some examples of different pronounciation for the same words are just the differences between Uk and Us or CD etc English.
It has it's tricky things, but it's not that bad, every language has it's strange ''habits''. On the other hand, those in Europe usually acquire some English during their childhood. So some europeans are almost automatically Diglot's, when grown up. The same can't be said for native English speakers. ;) English vocabulary is for atleast 40% foreign, mostly french and other Romance languages. Edited by Remster on 03 October 2011 at 10:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4869 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 18 08 October 2011 at 11:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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English isn't the only language that can confuse a newbie with the same words meaning different things. Consider this Spanish example: "¿Cómo como? ¿Que cómo como? Como como como."
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| lindseylbb Bilingual Triglot Groupie ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4936 days ago 92 posts - 126 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Cantonese*, English Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 15 of 18 10 October 2011 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I tried to read the poem but give up on half way and wanna kill myself......I still think it's easy. I never bother remember them, they are here when needed...Never understand why some chinese struggle it and hate it. I'm more grateful having chinese as my first language. But problems exist. When I am doing practice of medical terms, the first unit, easy stuff it should be, I just wanna scream : How should I know it's -ment -ance -ion -cy -al -ness -ship -ure ot what ? or -ish -ary -ial -ed -ful -ant -ese -ite -ive and so?---what the hell is the difference between ab- ub- dis- in- non- ? Whats you guys' problem ?!!! But that only happened to medical terms, which you don't usually use in practice. Edited by lindseylbb on 10 October 2011 at 3:14pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Envinyatar Diglot Senior Member Guatemala Joined 5540 days ago 147 posts - 240 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 16 of 18 11 October 2011 at 5:30am | IP Logged | ||
Or this Finnish example (not exactly the same word but very close): "Kokko, kokoo koko kokko kokoon! Koko kokkoko? Koko kokko." 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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