Nothing bothers me more than bad pronunciation. Okay, there are some things that bother me more, but not many. Least ways not much more.
The English language is particularly evil that way; especially the way English-speaking people speak not-English-speaking languages. But first, let's examine our own inconsistencies.
Take this for example:
Monkey. Pronounced MUN-key, right?
Now take donkey. DON-key.
Spelled the same, yet pronounced differently. Explain that one.
Shouldn't it be MON-key and DON-key--or MUN-key and DUN-key?
Ugh.
Then there's improper foreign pronunciation; perhaps more understandable yet all the more irksome.
Since I know how to pronounce Japanese, I'll use that as an example.
Anime. Most pronounce this like the English word Animation. That's actually wrong (yes, despite what you like to think). It's not Anna-may. It is in fact On-ee-may. On. Ee. May. Got it? Yup. It's true. Just like Manga isn't pronounced Main-gah like a mango. It's actually MAHN-gah.
Or Naruto. Na.Ru.Tow. Not Nar.Uu.Toe. Say it out loud to hear the difference.
If people care to be experts (or otaku: Oh. Taw. Kuu) they should at least learn how to talk right first. Geez.
English is a bugger like that. There are so many stupid things that follow the same idea. Take a look at "sew" and "few". Oh yeah, English makes TONS of sense pronunciation-wise. -_-;
ReplyDeletePronunciation makes me laugh though, especially the different "accents" the English language has. One thing I refuse to believe though is that we Canadians pronounce "about" as "aboot". We do not. I don't think even the French Canadians say it quite like that.
Heh, I actually knew that about anime and manga. Unfortunately for myself, I have to break the habit of saying it the "English" way. When I first got into it, I didn't know that they weren't pronounced that way, so now it's really habitual to do so.
I'm getting better, though. Now I more often say "mahn-gah" (I look at it as being more of an "ah" than an "o") than "mang-ga". (The way I hear it, in "English" we pronounce it as having more of an "ang" sound; maybe that's just me.)
Ugh, TELL me about it. No wonder it's such a hard language for others to learn. We can't grasp it fully ourselves--even if we know the rules! All those exceptions... -_-;
ReplyDelete*laughs* I've never seen a problem with Canadian pronunciation, myself. American English, however... >>; I catch myself saying the dumbest things. lol
It took me FOREVER to change how I pronounced "anime", but I finally have it down. Habits DO take TONS of effort to break, drat blast it. Occasionally I think I sometimes slip even now.
Mahn-gah is the only right way, you're right. I've debated with a friend about this for years, and he's adamant about the stupid "mango" pronunciation of his. *sigh* Ah well. We learn through time.
I think a major issue with why people find English so difficult (even those who have it as their mother tongue) is because it's not taught well enough in schools. As ridiculous as this is going to sound, I truthfully didn't get a good handle on English grammar and understanding it until I started learning French.
ReplyDeleteBecause I was being taught a new language, of course the teachers would go into the nitty gritty of grammar and when to use what, etc. With English, while I do remember learning the difference between verbs and nouns, I don't remember the teachers ever really going into intricate detail about which tenses are used when and the like. I think it's hugely taken for granted because we all speak it so we don't think we need to learn it any more beyond that.
Of course, it also doesn't help non-native-English speakers when the language borrows from so many other languages and jumbles it all around. >.>
"it's not taught well enough in schools." AMEN to that! Education is seriously lacking in that department. And I know exactly what you mean concerning understanding English better by learning a second language. My brother is fluent in Spanish, and he understands English rules only because he learned another language.
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad that we don't spend more time learning our own, for the sake of sounding literate. I guess not many people care about that, but I tend to want to know WHY I say things in a certain way.
*laughs* Then there's that, definitely! I feel for people learning English, or any language that adopts others on a whim.
I'm the same way. When I was younger I didn't really care about why and how things were said certain ways, but as I started writing and as I got older I did. But, it's not like we're taught it later in life when we actually start caring since we're already supposed to know it, I guess. We're just expected to employ it, as if we know.
ReplyDelete