Some more...

Schadenfreude
Brett Favre
Justin Bieber
Nietzsche
Chipotle
Cthulhu
Haute Couture
Zach Galifianakis
Croissant

Ok, real Tagalog pronunciation.

>> ^garmachi:

Hopefully there's someone of Japanese/Chinese/some other Asian descent who can answer this for me.
Why is it that I can pronounce "walk", "wok" AND "werrrrrrk", yet this guy can't? I also hope no one thinks I'm racist, I'm just ignorant.


The other replies to this were great, but I thought I'd chime in with a "shoe on the other foot" anecdote.

I am an American but I moved to Thailand almost 5 years ago to teach ESL English. I've been working on learning to speak and understand Thai. My comprehension is reasonable now, but my speaking is more mediocre and native Thai listeners sometimes have to guess what I am shooting for based on context, etc.

The tough part is tones. Depending on the pitch, in Thai the word "kow" can mean rice, white, mountain, or knee. A tongue-twister my students use is "krai kai kai gai" which means "who sells chicken eggs", if you get the tones right.

I think that if I live here another 20 years I could probably get to be fluent in Thai comprehension, but I'll never be good in pronunciation of the tones like a native Thai speaker. I can definitely get by and have a functional command of the language, but to a native Thai ear I will always have poor pronunciation somewhat analogous to this guy's inability to say walk/wok/weerrrrrk.

Also, they have done studies on brain that show if certain sounds aren't used often by the brain as a child, the brain trims that area and people later in life will find it hard, and in some cases impossible, to learn those sounds. More and more, we learn that the human experience isn't nature or nurture, but nature AND nurture. The formative years are as much as a stumbling block as they are an opportunity in this case, which is such an alarming parental responsibility I doubt I could ever rationally convince myself to procreate.

>> ^garmachi:

>> ^azukipie:
>> ^garmachi:
Hopefully there's someone of Japanese/Chinese/some other Asian descent who can answer this for me.
Why is it that I can pronounce "walk", "wok" AND "werrrrrrk", yet this guy can't? I also hope no one thinks I'm racist, I'm just ignorant.

I posted this because I am an ESL teacher, and speak Japanese and I run across this everyday! So I think your comment IS justified. To give you some perspective, in Japanese they only have 5 vowel sounds. In American English is have 15 and that is NOT including all the diphthongs (double vowel) sounds. We use more of our mouth speaking English than almost ANY other language and therefore Japanese just DON'T have the muscles to create a difference between walk, wok and work without YEARS of practice. Japanese also don't have any /r/ sound that isn't followed by a vowel so saying an /r/ between /wa/ and /ku/ is totally foreign for them. Hope that helps!

This is precisely what I was hoping to learn! Thank you!

>> ^azukipie:

>> ^garmachi:
Hopefully there's someone of Japanese/Chinese/some other Asian descent who can answer this for me.
Why is it that I can pronounce "walk", "wok" AND "werrrrrrk", yet this guy can't? I also hope no one thinks I'm racist, I'm just ignorant.

I posted this because I am an ESL teacher, and speak Japanese and I run across this everyday! So I think your comment IS justified. To give you some perspective, in Japanese they only have 5 vowel sounds. In American English is have 15 and that is NOT including all the diphthongs (double vowel) sounds. We use more of our mouth speaking English than almost ANY other language and therefore Japanese just DON'T have the muscles to create a difference between walk, wok and work without YEARS of practice. Japanese also don't have any /r/ sound that isn't followed by a vowel so saying an /r/ between /wa/ and /ku/ is totally foreign for them. Hope that helps!


This is precisely what I was hoping to learn! Thank you!

>> ^garmachi:

Hopefully there's someone of Japanese/Chinese/some other Asian descent who can answer this for me.
Why is it that I can pronounce "walk", "wok" AND "werrrrrrk", yet this guy can't? I also hope no one thinks I'm racist, I'm just ignorant.


I posted this because I am an ESL teacher, and speak Japanese and I run across this everyday! So I think your comment IS justified. To give you some perspective, in Japanese they only have 5 vowel sounds. In American English is have 15 and that is NOT including all the diphthongs (double vowel) sounds. We use more of our mouth speaking English than almost ANY other language and therefore Japanese just DON'T have the muscles to create a difference between walk, wok and work without YEARS of practice. Japanese also don't have any /r/ sound that isn't followed by a vowel so saying an /r/ between /wa/ and /ku/ is totally foreign for them. Hope that helps!

Your video, Siri vs Japanese English (or why pronunciation is important), has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

>> ^csnel3:

In Siris defense, That guy cant say "work" worth a shit.

Hear hear!

That pronunciation of "work" isn't so far off from some American regional accents.

I think it's more about where the language is going rather than where it is now.


So you could ask for "orange juice" or "oren tzu" from the bar tender now...but what about the bar tender who's 5 now or yet even born? It would seem to be trending that he simply has stopped giving a shit at appeasing western pronunciation or is even aware of it. It is not "English" any more, they've stopped trying to speak it, they now speak "Panglish". Maybe they stop bothering to hire foreign teachers to aid in teaching English who will make these corrections and they say, "You know, our Panglish teachers are good enough...and cheaper and we don't have to give them accommodation and...".

>> ^draak13:

@artician That's quite interesting. I've known several people from singapore, malaysia, bangladesh, china, japan, vietnam, philipinnes, etc...I've never run into this phenomenon, though far be it from saying it doesn't exist. Though, so long as the standardized english language media is being broadcast, I'd be surprised if the vast majority of the people who spoke 'panglish' couldn't also understand western english.

>> ^ForgedReality:

It's pronounced "Citibank," not "City Bank." sigh


I do believe those two spellings result in the same pronunciation.

The correct pronunciation is the same as the only sound in the song but with an n at the end. Sort of like "nee-ah-n" except rolled together into one syllable.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

>> ^Ghostly:
"nigh-an cat"? Really? Seems he doesn't know his memes...

What's the correct pronunciation?

>> ^Ghostly:

"nigh-an cat"? Really? Seems he doesn't know his memes...


What's the correct pronunciation?

That's the weirdest pronunciation of "castlevania" that I've heard.

Well it's lucky that, like David Mitchell says, a name is just a label and everyone will get used to it. My kids know a girl named "Mustang", which surely would be worse

You're right that sid-knee would be correct.

The masters of spelling a name one way and pronouncing it another are our cousins across the English channel from you. Have you heard of an English TV show called "Keeping up appearances"? The main character is named Hyacinth Bucket, but insists it's pronounced "Bouquet".
>> ^DerHasisttot:

>> I'm not good at transcribing into phonetic language, I admit it :-)

The first syllable sounds like the french "Zut" as in "Zut alors!", the second syllable sounds like the word "neigh". As opposed to a (hopefully) correct pronunciation "Sid-knee".

>> ^oritteropo:

Even in English speaking countries, she may find herself being teased for having a name which is usually a boys name.
Does that horrible pronunciation sound, to a German, like the sound a bavarian horse would make, or like oppression of the south? Or is there another homophone that I've missed?>> ^DerHasisttot:
My father's wife's daughter called her little girl "Sydney." In English-speaking countries this would not be a problem, but here in Germany it stands out like a lighthouse. Even more problematic is the fact that the mother cannot even pronounce the name properly, which would be sth like "Sid-knee." She pronounces it "Süd-neigh," which is just ugly.



I'm mot good at transcribing into phonetic language, I admit it :-)



The first syllable sounds like the french "Zut" as in "Zut alors!", the second syllable sounds like the word "neigh". As opposed to a (hopefully) correct pronunciation "Sid-knee".