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<blockquote data-quote="Per SÃ¸vik" data-source="post: 82175" data-attributes="member: 1285">Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English SpeakersI don&#039;t know Gaelic of course, so I can&#039;t comment on what is going on with that language. However, in general, some languages have great consistency in how words are pronounced and some are much less consistent. It is obviously quite hard for most of us to pronounce a polish or czech name or word correctly without either knowing the rules or being told how it is pronounced. Once you know the rules and have trained your voice to produce the sounds, some languages are fairly easy because they are consistent.Some languages, like english, exist in cultures where names and words come from a great variety of &quot;ancient&quot; languages and dialects and has developed over a vast geographical area, while other languages have a much more limited heritage and location, thus ensuring consistency.Finally of course, there is the pronounciation of imported words, where spelling and pronounciation have been governed by the political and social conditions at the time of introduction, like french words imported at a time when speaking french was the in thing among English aristocracy will have a very french sounding pronounciation while other words will be more colloquialized in either spelling or pronounciation or both, ensuring that correct spelling and pronounciation is hard to guess if you don&#039;t actually know it. Is for instance the flower/weed named dentdelion, dandelion or dandylion and how is it pronounced exactly?Some countries have decided not to import words at all, instead making up new words consistent with the language, Iceland being a prime example. Good maybe for language consistency, but a real pita in any other way.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Per SÃ¸vik, post: 82175, member: 1285"] Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers I don't know Gaelic of course, so I can't comment on what is going on with that language. However, in general, some languages have great consistency in how words are pronounced and some are much less consistent. It is obviously quite hard for most of us to pronounce a polish or czech name or word correctly without either knowing the rules or being told how it is pronounced. Once you know the rules and have trained your voice to produce the sounds, some languages are fairly easy because they are consistent. Some languages, like english, exist in cultures where names and words come from a great variety of "ancient" languages and dialects and has developed over a vast geographical area, while other languages have a much more limited heritage and location, thus ensuring consistency. Finally of course, there is the pronounciation of imported words, where spelling and pronounciation have been governed by the political and social conditions at the time of introduction, like french words imported at a time when speaking french was the in thing among English aristocracy will have a very french sounding pronounciation while other words will be more colloquialized in either spelling or pronounciation or both, ensuring that correct spelling and pronounciation is hard to guess if you don't actually know it. Is for instance the flower/weed named dentdelion, dandelion or dandylion and how is it pronounced exactly? Some countries have decided not to import words at all, instead making up new words consistent with the language, Iceland being a prime example. Good maybe for language consistency, but a real pita in any other way. [/QUOTE]

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