[mores]

Originally Posted by balok

I think you're right about French people sounding silly when speaking English, especially the French from France. I know of no other nationality that has more trouble pronouncing foreign words. This French buddy of mine, he was arguing with me about how to pronounce an English word. We asked a native English speaker, who confirmed my version. The French guy turns around and says it's the way the (English) word is pronounced in France, that is in "French" English, as if there were a particular dialect of English spoken in France, like US English or British English. He was serious, but I just laughed at him of course. Then I though about it, and you know what, I think he's on to something. Have you noticed how the French say "zee" instead of "the"? Well, say you were going to pronounce the word "the" in French. The regular way to pronounce it would sound something like "tuh" or "duh". Where do they get the z sound? They learned to pronounce it that way at school, from a non-native English speaker, who himself learned to pronounce it that way from another non-native English speaker... and this has become generalized in France. Only in France could this be possible, because only the French are proud and chauvenistic enough to think that their pronunciation of a foreign language is as valid as any other.

That's a load of crap. I know a lot of you do not like the french, a dislike that peaked when they did not want to play war games, but you can't generalize them like that.

Listen to germans speaking english ... half of them say "ze" instead of "the".
And I hear a lot of french people say "de" or "duh", as well as germans saying "de" ... and den dere's de mass of americans who clip de "the" rader short.

Hell, listen to you guys talk german, or french, or whatever. It sounds like shit too!
I work with a lot of native english speakers here in Austria (sound studio!), and even though they have spent more than a decade in this country, they still speak like they only had it for 2 years in college.

It's just a matter of a person's feeling for language that influences their dialect. Some like to sound native, and work on their pronounciation. Others just want to be understood, more or less, by the other, hence the minimal effort in pronounciation.

Most foreign-language teachers actually do spend time in the respective country and have pretty good skills when it comes to what the language should sound like. They're not native, even the kids will hear that, but most of the time they do not say it wrong.

I remember learning the "th" sound in school. "That's the only time you can stick your tongue out to the teacher and you won't get punished" was how they tried to get us to stick the tongue between our teeth.


I should explain: I was born in Austria, moved to Luxembourg, then Canada, then back to Austria. I have both the canadian and luxembourg citizenship, and if my avatar is not indication enough, I am glad that I have my feet planted firmly on both sides of the atlantic

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

Yes, let's wholeheartedly agree to adopt unrecognizable, unpronounceable (to most) terms to replace recognizable, understandable terms already in use.

Hehe, this cracked me up

As for calling the device a liz-ooze ... it's enough that people don't know what it is, they shouldn't not know how to pronounce it as well.
ebook reader. there. final.