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Pronunciation mistakes that irritate you | ||
Tags: Error | Pronunciation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Flarv Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4512 days ago 3 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian | Message 57 of 106 14 January 2012 at 2:14am | IP Logged | |||||
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When I was first learning German, the guttural "R" sound drove me nuts. I've since gotten
much better with the sound, but it tormented me for some time. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Camundonguinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4559 days ago 273 posts - 500 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish Studies: Swedish | Message 58 of 106 14 January 2012 at 2:21am | IP Logged | |||||
In newer Oxford Dictionaries, there is no [æ] for/æ/ anymore, only [a]. It's called Upton system ;) See here for yourself: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cat?rskey=XH2bu7&re sult=2#m_en_gb0128530 So, it's okay to pronounce CAT as [kat] in Standard British English, but it is NOT okay to pronounce CUT in the same way: as [kat] :) Edited by Camundonguinho on 14 January 2012 at 2:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5036 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 59 of 106 14 January 2012 at 4:00am | IP Logged | |||||
That's mispronunciation, which is a different issue. What sounds can be confused with what others when pronounced properly is obviously a highly impressionistic and subjective matter, and I was just commenting on why some candidates seem better than others. I thought that everyone would agree that it's easier / more likely to confuse /ae/ and /e/ than it is to confuse /a/ and /e/, for the reasons I gave. For consonants, pairs differing in only one feature (f.ex. voiced vs. unvoiced) are obviously more prone to confusion than pairs not sharing that and another one. However, because of their complexity, I don't think speakers of many languages will agree in what specific sounds are 'easier' to confuse, i.e. I'll probably find the n different 't' and 'd' sounds of Hindi easier to confuse than 'l' and 'r', while f.e. Japanese speakers may see it the other way around. Too many objective variables, plus some very subjective ones. Edited by mrwarper on 14 January 2012 at 4:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6247 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 60 of 106 14 January 2012 at 4:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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Antartica instead of Antarctica.
Artic instead of arctic. Ath-uh-lete instead of athlete (2 syllables). Axe instead of ask. Ayg (long A vowel) instead of Egg Baggle instead of bagel. Beggle instead of bagel. Febuary instead of February. Heighth instead of height. Layg instead of leg. Melk instead of milk (I think this may be a midwestern American thing) Orientate instead of orient (to set a direction, not referring to part of Asia) Punkin instead of pumpkin. Pronouncing the "s" at the end of Illinois. Not pronunciation exactly, but it also annoys me when people say: "I says" instead of "I said." "I seen" instead of "I saw." Some "mistakes" I make: I pronounce "clothes" as "close." I often shorten "probably" to "prolly" both in speech and in informal writing (emails, text messages, etc.). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| July Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 5083 days ago 113 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishB2 Studies: French | Message 61 of 106 14 January 2012 at 3:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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You do know that the verb orientate is perfectly acceptable in British English,
right? Although it's clearly not okay in the US. Here it is, for example: orientate [ˈɔːrɪɛnˌteɪt] vb a variant of orient (Taken from the Collins English Dictionary) 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6247 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 62 of 106 14 January 2012 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Acrossed instead of across.
A-rab instead of Arab. Expresso instead of espresso I-talian instead of Italian. Supposibly instead of supposedly. Vokka instead of vodka. Warsh instead of wash (although I believe this is a regional dialect and not a mispronunciation) I worked with a woman once who said "posed" (rhymes with "hosed," as in "we got hosed") instead of "supposed." Like she would say "you are posed to do this" instead of "you are supposed to do this." It drove me nuts. Note that these only bug me if it's a native English speaker. I am almost infinitely forgiving with people who learned English as a second/third/etc. language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6247 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 63 of 106 14 January 2012 at 5:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I've always heard that "orientate" is not a word. "Orientation" is a word. I think "orientate" was backformed(?) from "orientation." I don't know :) Here's another discussion about it: http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=6986 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| July Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 5083 days ago 113 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishB2 Studies: French | Message 64 of 106 14 January 2012 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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That link pretty much agrees with me. It is a real English word, and it's used and
considered correct just about everywhere in the world except the US. It's just more 'you say potato' stuff. ;) Edited by July on 14 January 2012 at 6:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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