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A small question about English - Page 3

post #31 of 37
11/23/09 at 9:12am
sometimes the ay pronunciation is used for emphasis as opposed to the uh pronunciation, a bit like the thee and thuh pronunciation of "the"
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post #32 of 37
11/23/09 at 10:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrGreen View Post
Both are acceptible for the particulate 'a'.

In Australia we almost universally pronounce it the same as the Schwa of the language ('uh'), whilst a more formal situation in olde Britain will generally use the 'aye' pronunciation.

Typically, it has to do with the pronunciation habits of locals, with countries (such as Australia) with lazy habits pronunciating it as 'uh'.

If you want to be more articulate, 'aye' would be advisable, however if you want to 'blend in' then 'uh' would be more advisable for countries with english as the primary language.


Most countries other than america with their primary language as english will speak and write "British English", however some ESL countries have picked up the habits of american english due to software etc.

But don't worry about it too much, learning English is an amazing feat, especially for someone who has been speaking a different language most of their life. English is by far the most complex language.
It depends.

Hardest language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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post #33 of 37
11/23/09 at 12:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cankin View Post
How hard a language is to learn based on your native languages (particularly as referenced by an inadequate article which deals mostly with native english speakers) is different from how complex a language is. The sheer number of sounds in english dwarfs other languages which produces many many problems for ESL learners in the pronunciation of english (which is what the thread is about). Then we have exceptions to rules in english (which off the top of my head I believe is unique to this language). The grammar is also very complex and, although in part to the poor education of grammar in recent years, is not mastered by many native speakers.

On the grammar front, Japanese may rival it, although I am coming from a region where english is my primary language, which means there are additional difficulties in speaking Japanese in a gramatically correct manner (issues of it appearing 'backwards' and whatnot).

If you want to get technical, english is classified as only having a moderate amount of constonant phonemes but has a very large set of vowel phonemes, although the subset of sounds contained within these phonemes in english is simply monstrous (off the top of my head it may be something like 4400 or 440 something like that anyway vs the typical 11-50 in languages that average one sound per phoneme....)

I'll add a specific number comparison on the complexity of english vs other languages later (with an academic reference), I am capped at the moment so I cannot access a book from the uni library online.

Bearing all this in mind I would still say that English is typically one of if not the hardest language to learn in terms of grammar convention, rules and phonetics.
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post #34 of 37
11/23/09 at 1:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrGreen View Post
But don't worry about it too much, learning English is an amazing feat, especially for someone who has been speaking a different language most of their life. English is by far the most complex language.

You should take a look at Finnish someday...



In any case, AFAIK it doesnt matter how you say 'a', but usually in common speech it is a quick 'uh'. But when people really want to articulate something, 'aye' is also used.


How 'the' is officially pronounced in english depends on the word it precedes. If the first letter of that word is a consonant, its 'thuh'. If it is vowel, its 'thee'. Thats what I was taught in english class anyway.
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post #35 of 37
11/23/09 at 2:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaZa View Post
You should take a look at Finnish someday...
Not entirely related to the topic but...
+ YouTube Video


saunan jälkeen hypimme trampoliinilla!

... something like that anyway (it probably makes about as much sense as he does)


Regarding thuh/thee, that is the case because it is easier to pronounce that way in a run of words.
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post #36 of 37
11/24/09 at 4:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrGreen View Post

I'll add a specific number comparison on the complexity of english vs other languages later (with an academic reference), I am capped at the moment so I cannot access a book from the uni library online.
Please do so when you have time, this is an interesting topic
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post #37 of 37
11/24/09 at 5:27am
apropos of nothing, I like http://www.wordsmith.org/ and.. HotForWords
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