Perverse Language - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PsychoMaster
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 10, 2015, 10:50:59 am
content: Hi I thought a subject which really bugs me might make a blogg and that is the Americans using the word "SODDERING". If you go around doing that you are likely to get arrested.Please let the poor souls know that the word has a letter "L" in it .

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 10, 2015, 11:38:42 am
content: So why do you guys pronounce the "L" in SOME words but not in others?Even BrEnglish has words with "sllent-L". BFD

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 10, 2015, 12:10:25 pm
content: Any part of the world has different ways of pronouncing things, even different parts of the same country........ Have you lived under a rock all of your life ?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 10, 2015, 12:59:18 pm
content: Quote from: PsychoMaster on February 10, 2015, 10:50:59 amThe Yanks can call it anything they like, we'll just continue to make fun of them

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 10, 2015, 01:08:23 pm
content: Quote from: PsychoMaster on February 10, 2015, 10:50:59 amOf course, the non-jokey answer is that there's some interesting etymology behind the difference between the UK/AU/etc pronunciation and the US/NA pronunciation, and (arguably) "sodder" or "so-der" is the more original (and therefore more correct, according to some) pronunciation.Mind you, that's not going to stop me laughing at people who leave the "l" out...

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2015, 05:46:04 am
content: I'll leave this in here

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2015, 05:46:48 am
content: I live in the USA, and I have wondered about this very subject. The English language is really messed up. WHY is the word small so big yet the word big is so small? It is confusing.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2015, 10:35:11 am
content: I first came across this in 1990...Multi-national personnel at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquartersnear Paris found English to be an easy language ... until they tried topronounce it. To help them discard an array of accents, the verses belowwere devised. After trying them, a Frenchman said he'd prefer six months athard labor to reading six lines aloud. Try them yourself.ENGLISH IS TOUGH STUFF======================Dearest creature in creation,Study English pronunciation.I will teach you in my verseSounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.I will keep you, Suzy, busy,Make your head with heat grow dizzy.Tear in eye, your dress will tear.So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.Just compare heart, beard, and heard,Dies and diet, lord and word,Sword and sward, retain and Britain.(Mind the latter, how it's written.)Now I surely will not plague youWith such words as plaque and ague.But be careful how you speak:Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;Cloven, oven, how and low,Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.Hear me say, devoid of trickery,Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,Exiles, similes, and reviles;Scholar, vicar, and cigar,Solar, mica, war and far;One, anemone, Balmoral,Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;Gertrude, German, wind and mind,Scene, Melpomene, mankind.Billet does not rhyme with ballet,Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.Blood and flood are not like food,Nor is mould like should and would.Viscous, viscount, load and broad,Toward, to forward, to reward.And your pronunciation's OKWhen you correctly say croquet,Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,Friend and fiend, alive and live.Ivy, privy, famous; clamourAnd enamour rhyme with hammer.River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,Doll and roll and some and home.Stranger does not rhyme with anger,Neither does devour with clangour.Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,And then singer, ginger, linger,Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.Query does not rhyme with very,Nor does fury sound like bury.Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.Though the differences seem little,We say actual but victual.Refer does not rhyme with deafer.Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.Mint, pint, senate and sedate;Dull, bull, and George ate late.Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,Science, conscience, scientific.Liberty, library, heave and heaven,Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.We say hallowed, but allowed,People, leopard, towed, but vowed.Mark the differences, moreover,Between mover, cover, clover;Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,Chalice, but police and lice;Camel, constable, unstable,Principle, disciple, label.Petal, panel, and canal,Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,Senator, spectator, mayor.Tour, but our and succour, four.Gas, alas, and Arkansas.Sea, idea, Korea, area,Psalm, Maria, but malaria.Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.Doctrine, turpentine, marine.Compare alien with Italian,Dandelion and battalion.Sally with ally, yea, ye,Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.Say aver, but ever, fever,Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.Heron, granary, canary.Crevice and device and aerie.Face, but preface, not efface.Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.Large, but target, gin, give, verging,Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.Ear, but earn and wear and tearDo not rhyme with here but ere.Seven is right, but so is even,Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!Is a paling stout and spikey?Won't it make you lose your wits,Writing groats and saying grits?It's a dark abyss or tunnel:Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,Islington and Isle of Wight,Housewife, verdict and indict.Finally, which rhymes with enough --Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?Hiccough has the sound of cup.My advice is to give up!!!-- Author Unknown

author: PsychoMaster
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2015, 10:57:21 am
content: I f they like well it,s up to them I suppose.But it's not English is it?I managed to learn it and I,m not over bright.I bet that gets no surprises.

author: steve_w
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2015, 11:26:15 am
content: Falcon,I see your NZ deck and raise you an American deck.enjoy

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2015, 11:47:14 am
content: Quote from: Simon on February 10, 2015, 12:10:25 pm

author: Yago
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2015, 12:19:35 am
content: The Aluminium, Aluminum story is pretty funny.

author: elgonzo
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 12, 2015, 01:07:13 am
content: Or "soccer" vs. "football" story...Everybody blames the Americans for using the word "soccer".First, the word is actually British.Second, the 'mericans are actually correct in using the word "soccer".

author: apelly
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 12, 2015, 01:30:34 am
content: I have a mate who works in forestry. He points out it's odd to chop a tree down then chop it up.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2015, 01:39:26 am
content: Quote from: PsychoMaster on February 10, 2015, 10:50:59 amAhem ...QuoteQuote

author: Nerull
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2015, 04:05:05 am
content: Quote from: PsychoMaster on February 11, 2015, 10:57:21 amWho defines English? Do you know how languages work? It may shock you to learn that language varies over geological regions and time and is not a rigid thing set in stone. Solder comes from French, where it does not have an L sound. The English word didn't have an L sound either, as demonstrated by old British dictionaries from the 1800s, but eventually enough people starting pronouncing the L that it stuck. In a way, the British pronunciation is the corrupted one.In reality it doesn't really matter, because regional dialects are an accepted part of language and are not "wrong".

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2015, 08:34:12 am
content: Quote from: xrunnerI thought it was a minority of Americans what pronounced it this way. Perhaps not?

author: LightlyDoped
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 03:55:48 am
content: Quote from: PsychoMaster on February 10, 2015, 10:50:59 amHow do you pronounce "should" or "could?" But I will pronounce the "L" in "Albert Park" when the 2015 Formula 1 season opens with the Grand Prix of Australia on March 15.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 04:14:00 am
content: Quote from: Whales on February 12, 2015, 08:34:12 amNo, thevastmajority do not pronounce the L. To the point where I'd say "all" if I didn't know better...

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 05:46:34 pm
content: Salmon...Sa-mon, or Sal-mon?

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 05:48:43 pm
content: Quote from: Stonent on February 13, 2015, 05:46:34 pm"Fish"

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 05:51:03 pm
content: Quote from: Stonent on February 13, 2015, 05:46:34 pmDo you mean Salman Rushdie? Famous author and fatwa target?Or Solomon, 3rd king of Israel?

author: DIPLover
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 09:23:32 pm
content: I'm OK with soh'der, why not? Maybe it started in Boston?What TRULY needs an explanation is "Worcestershire Sauce" being called Worster Sauce...

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2015, 09:35:24 pm
content: What boggles my mind is:TektronicsTechtronixTekTronicsIt'sTektronixIt's right there on the front panel.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2015, 12:06:48 am
content: Quote from: Falcon69 on February 11, 2015, 05:46:48 am.. and we park in the driveway and drive in the parkway.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2015, 12:17:28 am
content: I remember Bush used to pronounce "nuclear" like "nu-que-ler"Drove me mad listening to him say that.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2015, 03:37:05 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on February 13, 2015, 09:35:24 pmGreat, more keywords for my ebay deals watchlist.

author: owiecc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2015, 11:46:26 am
content: This discussion reminded me of a Top Gear episode:

author: cs.dk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 15, 2015, 01:16:59 pm
content: Quote from: owiecc on February 14, 2015, 11:46:26 amPriceless

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2015, 10:56:09 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on February 14, 2015, 12:06:48 amAbbreviation is quite long too.And we send shipments by car and cargo by boat.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 16, 2015, 11:18:22 pm
content: Quote from: owiecc on February 14, 2015, 11:46:26 amYears ago, I flew to Corinth, Mississippi to buy a motorcycle and ride it back to Boston. It was several hours before I could understand what people were sayingI can understand people from almost anywhere - but two places in this country are an exception. Louisiana (the closer to the bayou, the harder to understand) and West Texas. I have a friend in Midland and he has to speak really slowly for me to understand a word he's saying.

author: robgambrill
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2015, 05:15:17 am
content: A brand of braid changed the way I pronounce it. I started saying SOL-der when I noticed the spelling on the roll and it didn't look quite right. Before that I never thought of it. (see photo).So this American says it your way, cause another American spelled it the other way.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2015, 05:54:46 am
content: Quote from: robgambrill on February 17, 2015, 05:15:17 amThat's a registered trademark, not to be confused with spelling since you couldn't trademark "solder wick" because it's a description.

author: PsychoMaster
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2015, 10:17:04 am
content: "Ass hole" sounds a lot more refined than "arse hole".

author: notsob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:04:48 am
content: in the USA the L is silentjust like the silent P in swimming

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 01:43:53 am
content: Quote from: notsob on February 18, 2015, 07:04:48 amMy ex-wife's uncle had a sign on a wall near the pool. It said "See our 'ool'. Notice that there is no 'P' in it. Please keep it that way."

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2015, 11:53:27 pm
content: Quote from: PsychoMaster on February 17, 2015, 10:17:04 amBut an"arse" rolls off the tongue with more gusto and feel than an "ass."

author: sca
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2015, 12:59:04 am
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on February 27, 2015, 11:53:27 pmEspecially when done Father Jack style.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 16, 2015, 11:44:58 pm
content: Quote from: DIPLover on February 13, 2015, 09:23:32 pmIt's notthatbaffling. It was invented in Worcester, which (despite being a city) is the county town of Worcestershire. Sometimes it's called Worcestershire sauce, and sometimes Worcester sauce.As for why Worcester is pronounced "Wooster", the contraction is fairly common in England. Two other county towns (also cities) are Gloucester (pronounced "Gloster") and Leicester (pronounced "Lester"), and other towns include Bicester (pronounced "Bister"), and Alcester (pronounced "Alster").And it's not just us Brits doing it. There are cities called Worcester, Gloucester and Leicester in Massachusetts - all pronounced like their English namesakes.

author: allen.gordon
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2015, 12:59:37 am
content: I have a friend/client that continually pronounces "solder" like the word "soldier", except he drops the "I"!!!

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2015, 10:24:54 am
content: Quote from: rolycat on May 16, 2015, 11:44:58 pmCirencester => Sissister, Alnwick => Annick etc etcAround Bristol, the natives traditionally add an 'l' onto words end in a vowel, perhaps because that was the pronounciation of the earlier written name "Brigstowe". Thus if somebody says "I have an ideal", you don't congratulate them, you ask them what the idea is.

author: Macbeth
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2015, 11:26:30 am
content: I always found it mildly annoying that the official postal abbreviation for Gloucestershire is Glos. rather than, say, Gloucs.Never mind place names, I'd like to challenge the colonials to pronounce names like Cholmondeley, Featherstonhaugh, Dalziel, Menzies, Mainwaring, Beauchamp, Wodehouse.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2015, 03:21:44 am
content: So I am an American and I don't pronounce the l in solder. But I pronounce solder differently than I would pronounce sodder. Some ears can't hear the difference, but it is there.There are regional variations in pronunciation and usage, but we should probably try something to limit those differences or we will end up with something like what happened to Latin. (French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian and so on). TV and radio seem to be a big part of that something, with the internet chipping in quite a bit.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 28, 2015, 03:37:45 am
content: On my latest PLCA video someone took me to task on my pronunciation of CacheAdd it to the list along with Solder, Aluminium, Bode, Via etcBy far the worst complainers have been for Bode, because it's a persons name they claim you have to say "correctly" otherwise it's an insult. Little do they know there isn't even an exact official consensus on that either

author: allen.gordon
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2015, 04:39:46 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 28, 2015, 03:37:45 amIf only the Know-It-Alls knew how much they actually DON'T know!!!!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 08:14:34 am
content: Quote from: Macbeth on May 17, 2015, 11:26:30 amWe had a Prime Minister in Oz for many years called Bob Menzies,Aussies being Aussies,we all pronounced it as it was spelt.Bob got a "bee in his bonnet" about the correct spelling being "Mingas".He was immediately dubbed "Ming the Merciless" & we never heard another word about the"correct pronunciation".Lots of Fanshaws in the Phone book---not many "Featherstonhaughs"!Mainwaring is pronounced as it is spelt by everybody I have run into ,including people with that name,as is Dalziel.We had another "Polly" named St John,who wanted his Parliamentary colleagues to call him "Sinjin",but that very quickly died out.HowisWodehouse pronounced in the "Old Dart?"And why,oh why, is the abbreviation for Hampshire ,"Hants"?

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 08:54:17 am
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on June 05, 2015, 08:14:34 amI know "Dad's Army" has been shown in Oz, because a number of missing episodes were returned to the BBC from there. Presumably not recently, though?QuoteYou canblameWilliam the Conqueror:Quote

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 11:27:45 am
content: Quote from: rolycat on June 05, 2015, 08:54:17 amI meant real people---Captain Mainwaring doesn't count!!Neither does Dalziel in "Dalziel & Pascoe".

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 11:43:03 am
content: I don't care, the fact it is the English Language says it all, we spell it and use it as we want too, if you want to steal it and butcher it about feel free but do not whine or moan at us for correcting you on it.English belongs to the English. it aint called the American language by the Oxford English dictionary printers is it now.

author: Bob F.
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 12:13:13 pm
content: Place names in the UK are always a pain for tourists (and often to people from other parts of the UK!) - few are pronounced the way they are spelt (or, if you prefer, "spelled").Mind you, the US gets its own back sometimes: Kansas and Arkansas anyone?All part of life's rich tapestry

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 12:26:34 pm
content: If you really want an argument about the english go pick one with a yorkshireman about whether it is east riding, east yorkshire, humberside or whatever it is called these days, my step father is from there and he does my head in about it all.Then try to understand their use of the English language. I can't understand a word most of them say.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 01:55:20 pm
content: Quote from: Deathwish on June 05, 2015, 11:43:03 amBut you are from Wales,Look you, bach!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 01:59:02 pm
content: Quote from: Bob F. on June 05, 2015, 12:13:13 pmPeople from the Eastern States of Australia freak out West Australians by pronouncing our towns of Derby& Albany as "Darby" & "Orlbany"!

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2015, 02:03:22 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on June 05, 2015, 01:55:20 pmmy bio father was welsh, I am an Englishman in a foreign land, erm yeah, HELPPPPPP......

author: hikariuk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 07, 2015, 05:00:09 pm
content: Quote from: Bob F. on June 05, 2015, 12:13:13 pm"Happisburgh" is one of my favourite ones for confusing people.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 10:02:40 pm
content: It does make me giggle when the Brits pronounce routing/router as "rooting/rooter".

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2015, 12:27:18 am
content: Quote from: Halcyon on July 21, 2015, 10:02:40 pmThe"rowting" & "rowter"pronunciation are Americanisms which were picked up in this country because "they didn't sound rude".I don't know why Americans use them,because "rooting for your team" does not have the vulgar connotations it has in Oz.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 02:59:05 am
content: Perhaps because one of us poor colonists thought the "ou" in route should be pronounced like the one in bough, not the one in through.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 05:48:48 pm
content: I'm all for diversity and inclusiveness in English. It is the closest thing we have to a world language. But somehow we have to keep it one language. Otherwise, in 50 or 100 or how ever many years we will have 15 percent of the world speaking Changlish, 5 percent speaking North American English, 10 percent speaking Spanglish, 3 percent speaking Euro English, 1 percent speaking English English and none of them able to talk to each other. We know it happened to Latin, and from my limited knowledge it appears to have happened to Chinese. At the current time the differences in English are mostly amusing and seldom interfere with communication so lets keep it that way.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 07:58:54 pm
content: Chinese is the most spoken language followed by Spanish.I don't know about if Chinese has problems with dialects, but in Spanish other than some local slang and common words that can be insulting on other countries we have no problems communicating at all.Also I have no problems communicating in English no matter how inconsistent it can be at times.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 08:50:40 pm
content: I have had to learn quite a few BrEnglish words and phrases and idioms since joining international forums like this one.For example, the word "redundant" has very different meanings in BrEnglish vs. AmEnglish.But then there are the more understandable differences like screen=shield or earth=ground, etc.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 09:01:08 pm
content: Quote from: miguelvp on July 23, 2015, 07:58:54 pmNot exactly.Mandarin has the most speakers at 1.1 billionBut English is not far behind at 1.0 billionAnd Spanish comes in at 3rd place with 500 million.Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 09:23:21 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on July 23, 2015, 08:50:40 pmIt does?I thought it meant the same thing in both the UK and the USA - more than is necessary, or surplus to requirements.Redundancy as a term applied to people who are deemed to be unnecessary and whose employment is consequently terminated has legal significance in the UK, but the meaning is essentially the same.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 09:35:58 pm
content: Yes, I should have said "very different default/common usage".I have never heard anyone speaking AmEnglish use the word "redundant" for surplus equipment or excess workforce.When people speaking BrEnglish use the word "redundant" 90% of the time they seem to be referring to excess workforce, layoffs, unemployment benefits, etc. Or at least that is my perception from my (admittedly narrow) view of the world.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 11:25:31 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on July 23, 2015, 09:01:08 pmI was referring to native speakers but yeah if you consider 2nd languages English is 2nd.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2015, 11:54:42 pm
content: Native speakers do better with dialects. Maybe you native Spanish speakers do fine with dialects but I with limited Spanish, am thrown for a loop by many dialects. Not so much the vocabulary, but the syncopation and rhythms. Same thing is true with my rudimentary German. I am sure that works both ways. I understand many forms of spoken English pretty well, but would challenge a non-native speaker to understand people from the Big Thicket region of Texas, or a full blown speaker of Ebonics.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 12:55:32 am
content: I lived in TX for over 10 years before moving to Chicago, had no troubles at all, even in East TX or North Louisiana. No problems in Tennessee either nor in New England.Then again, I'm not sure where Clarkson from TopGear was when he encountered some strange English dialect that no one could understand. I'll say I would have trouble in there myself, but so would 99.99% of native English speakers

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 06:11:16 am
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on July 23, 2015, 09:01:08 pmIf we use the generic word "Chinese",Cantonese probably puts Chinese languages in front.

author: timofonic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 06:57:03 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on July 23, 2015, 03:20:23 amThe biggest and most extremely confusing issue of English is the total lack of a pronunciation standard.It's not just small variations like in Spanish (we just need to learn a few words and get used to small pronunciation and rhythm differences, and only total dumbasses are really unable to get used to that, most of the people unable to understand it are (closet or not) racists with a poor excuse ), but in English the pronunciation can change A LOT!I find English to be very practical for written communication, but a pain in the ass for spoken communication.English needs a standard or at least an official international pronunciation system for everyone. I would use something like australian or north uk English, easier to understand for non-natives.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 07:18:49 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on July 23, 2015, 11:25:31 pmThose native speaker numbers downplay the number of speakers of Mandarin and English quite a lot. They seem to be based on picking one language per person. A family in China who predominantly speak Cantonese at home, but are fluent in Mandarin, and speak it much of the day outside the home, are not counted as native Mandarin speakers. A family in India who might speak Hindi at home, but speak fluent English most of the day outside the home are not counted as native English speakers. For huge numbers of people around the world being truly bilingual is a normal part of life in their community.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 07:22:58 am
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on July 24, 2015, 06:11:16 amWould you like to bundle all the Romance languages together as well? That would make for a pretty large number, and be about as meaningful as bundling Cantonese with Mandarin.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2015, 04:35:40 pm
content: I'll thought that being a tonal language it will be less susceptible to accents, but it makes sense that it actually makes it more different.