Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Karl Zeiss Tuba


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Posted by Kenneth Sloan on December 18, 2003 at 15:40:28:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Karl Zeiss Tuba posted by dp on December 18, 2003 at 14:27:20:

I rise to the defense of 'Murican pronunciationisms.

Ever listen to the average German trying to pronouce y'all properly?

Better yet, ask the average German to read a paragraph in Spanish. I guarantee that the pronunciation will not come anywhere near what a native-speaking Spaniard would consider "correct".

Did you live through the '80s listening to US TV news reporters valiantly trying to follow the pronunciation guide, laying on heavy Spanish/French/German accents for single words in the middle of ordinary Enflish sentences?

Some sounds used in speech simply cannot be perceived (literally) by listeners who have not heard those sounds in speech before (about) age 14 (i think that's the latest data - corrections welcome). And, if you can't hear it, you can't reproduce it.

You can, of course, get a bit better with practice - but for most people it's not a question of being "lazy". In the case of Americans vs Europeans, it's largely a case of living in a part of the world where you can easily travel 1000 miles in *any* direction without any requirement to speak (or hear) a different language. People in Seattle can understand the folk in Orlando a whole lot easier than people from the extreme North and South of Germany (a *much* shorter distance!)

and now, I must return to my Deutsche Welle mp3 files...



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