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English publishers don’t use IPA? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5666 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 1 of 26 06 October 2012 at 9:05am | IP Logged | ||
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One thing that frustrates me in using a method written for English speakers is the way
they introduce phonetics! Even many good methods, such as the New Penguin Russian course suffers from this problem. Why don’t the methods provide IPA symbols (like in German and French methods) or show pictures that indicate how the tongue, mouth and lips be placed correctly (in Chinese methods)? Instead, they introduce this like “a as in father”, “a as in about”, “o as in law” which not only confuses , but also not correct since different English speakers may pronounce the English sound differently. The only time when I see the IPA used by an English publisher is in books that teach English as a foreign language. Does the publishers implies that non-English speakers can learn IPA and English speakers are too stupid to learn IPA and have to learn phonetics though “modified standard English”. I really do not get the logic as English is am un-phonetic language. Without the IPA, users may end up pronouncing wrongly in their target languages and it will be difficult to change later on. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5264 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 26 06 October 2012 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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The reason is possibly that the publishers and authors think that IPA would be too unfamiliar and scare buyers
away. I have seen IPA in a few foreign language courses published in the UK. Many dictionaries published in the UK use IPA as well. I don't like what you call "modified standard English" either. Different books use different transcription systems. There seems to be a different system for almost every course. I doubt that publishers assume that English speakers are stupid, but can you really expect people that are reluctant to use something as simple and logical as the metric system to use IPA..? Edited by tractor on 07 October 2012 at 8:35am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6720 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 26 06 October 2012 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've seen some really "creative" transcription systems in my collection of Teach Yourself and Assimil courses and always wondered what's wrong with the supposedly "international" phonetic alphabet.
On the other hand, I'm not sure that for instance French-based Assimil courses have IPA. Can anyone confirm? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4867 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 4 of 26 06 October 2012 at 3:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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The New Penguin Russian Course just shocked me. It does not provide any consistent
transcription at all: one and the same phoneme can be written in three different ways! The explanation of sounds is wrong, and it is said that that pronunciation is not important at all. But other textbooks could provide something more logical too. Metres are not better than feet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5073 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 5 of 26 06 October 2012 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with tractor. Asking Americans or other English-speakers, notorious for their monolingualism, to learn IPA, is akin to asking them to learn two foreign languages in one go. We here on the forum know that IPA is a useful standard for pronunciation and takes little time to learn. IPA is different enough that it would probably tip the balance toward someone choosing not to buy a product because of its presence. The market for language materials is not solely composed of HTLAL members.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5264 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 6 of 26 06 October 2012 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, they are. The length of a foot varied from country to country and even from city to city. Besides, metric units are based around the number 10. Edited by tractor on 06 October 2012 at 4:11pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5264 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 7 of 26 06 October 2012 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | ||
I have never seen an Assimil course, regardless of base language, that uses IPA. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4867 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 8 of 26 06 October 2012 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
But that again assumes that they are fools. Well, it might be something simple and regular, not necessarily IPA. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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