Joss Fong from Vox Video Lab explores the far more complex truth behind the Western cultural stereotype of Asian people interchanging the ‘L’ and ‘R’ sound. To wit:
Japanese, Korean, and Chinese are completely different languages that each handle L-sound and R-sounds differently.
David Smith complains about what he calls ridiculously intrusive “haitches” in the pronunciation of taoiseach and tánaiste on the airwaves. These are both Irish words, and in the Irish language, the letters D and T, if followed by a broad vowel (a, o, u) are pronounced as if they were followed by the letter “h”. For convenience, I call them “soft” Ds and Ts. So the broadcasters are right – it should be “thaoiseach” and “thánaiste”.
And while I’m at it, “Fine”, as in Fine Gael, is also an Irish word, and is pronounced “finna”, and not “fine”, to rhyme with “wine”. Enda Kenny gets it right. Do his supporters not hear the difference?
Doireann Ní Bhriain,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Finally.
Vowels – softy does it (Irish Times letters)
Pic: Laura Hutton
Ah here.
International showjumping daughter of Cruising expecting two foals (Horse and Hound)
(Thanks FancyPrancing)
Miguel Jiron’s vibrantly coloured, elegantly phrased short tells the story of a young boy who travels to Nicaragua with his family and faces the first of many cultural challenges – rolling his r’s to pronounce the name of the country correctly.
Previously: Paintstorm
Donal Mulligan writes..
I reached for a biscuit the other day and it started a debate about how you say its name. So, being a social scientist ‘n’ all, I did a quick survey and dolled up the results in an overwrought info-graphic! Seems there’s a clear winner, but also a lot of interesting side-info.
The survey is still up and running – people are more than welcome to lend me their opinions and I’ll update it anything major changes.
(H/T: Buzz O’Neill)
