Think English pronunciation is hard?

Question

This is a fun link, posted here for everyone who's ever been frustrated with the inconsistencies of English spelling.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/02/what-cities-and-towns-are-most-often-mispronounced/

Answer 1

English is a mess. That's what happens when you take 4 different languages, French, Latin, German and Celtic and mash them together. French and Latin work pretty well together, but the other two are completely different.

The only way to make sense of any of it is to understand the history of the language. Very interensting, if you like that sort of thing, but a bit much for most people.

Answer 2

English isn't totally hard. Only a few words are hard to pronounce. If you're a native speaker it's really easy.

Answer 3

I agree

lazarus1907 said:

Tracy Frazier said:

One time he wrote a story about pirates and kept spelling "sea" as "see" it was kinda funny, but a little difficult to explain to a kindergartner why he was spelling it wrong.

Well, the problem is that there is not a good reason to explain why; it just is. Both words have exactly the same pronunciation, so using the same spelling only proves that he is using his brain. The only reason why the spelling is like that is because most speakers agree on spelling it like that, not because it is logical.

>

Answer 4

Tracy Frazier said:

One time he wrote a story about pirates and kept spelling "sea" as "see" it was kinda funny, but a little difficult to explain to a kindergartner why he was spelling it wrong.

Well, the problem is that there is not a good reason to explain why; it just is. Both words have exactly the same pronunciation, so using the same spelling only proves that he is using his brain. The only reason why the spelling is like that is because most speakers agree on spelling it like that, not because it is logical.

Answer 5

I think it's very hard for foreigners to learn our language, i never really thought about it until my son started school and i would often help him with his lessons. One time he wrote a story about pirates and kept spelling "sea" as "see" it was kinda funny, but a little difficult to explain to a kindergartner why he was spelling it wrong.

Answer 6

I meant the latter.

lazarus1907 said:

When you say pronunciation, do you mean "how to reproduce English sounds with your mouth", or "how to read written English aloud"? The former is quite hard if your native language is Spanish; the latter is almost impossible, no matter where you are from.

>

Answer 7

When you say pronunciation, do you mean "how to reproduce English sounds with your mouth", or "how to read written English aloud"? The former is quite hard if your native language is Spanish; the latter is almost impossible, no matter where you are from.

Answer 8

It's always very difficult for me to pronounce cities or towns in English because some names are special.

Marco