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I am a non-native English speaker, Dutch being my mother tongue. But ever since I received my first English class at the age of 13, I've loved the language.
So I wonder, what is your take on the English language (both from native and non-native points of view)? What comes to mind when you think of English?
For me, it is:
- the vastness of the language. I don't think there are many languages that have a more extensive vocabulary. And since English is the lingua franca in science and technology, new words are created on a daily base.
- the pronunciation. For me, by far the hardest part of English is the correct pronunciation. I know a couple of languages, and none for me is as hard to fluently pronounce as is English.
- the spelling & pronunciation gap: the difference between what you read and what you pronounce.
"Gothi" being the prime example here.
- this is subjective: the sense of "globality" one feels when speaking a language that is spoken in all corners of the world.
I am a non-native English speaker, Dutch being my mother tongue. But ever since I received my first English class at the age of 13, I've loved the language.
So I wonder, what is your take on the English language (both from native and non-native points of view)? What comes to mind when you think of English?
For me, it is:
- the vastness of the language. I don't think there are many languages that have a more extensive vocabulary. And since English is the lingua franca in science and technology, new words are created on a daily base.
- the pronunciation. For me, by far the hardest part of English is the correct pronunciation. I know a couple of languages, and none for me is as hard to fluently pronounce as is English.
- the spelling & pronunciation gap: the difference between what you read and what you pronounce.
"Gothi" being the prime example here.
- this is subjective: the sense of "globality" one feels when speaking a language that is spoken in all corners of the world.
Well, I'm curious
I am a native speaker of American English. At times I don't seem to speak it well--it certainly changes--new words are added frequently--many influences on this language.
If you are Dutch--I rightly or wrongly assume that there is a German influence on the sounds. This is shared with English. I doubt that I could ever learn Dutch, fwiw. German, click-click-click. I managed a bit of French.
???
'Gothi
`Order of Odin' is an epithet which has been made up entirely by magi of the Order of Hermes. The Viking wizards call themselves Gothi (Goe-th-ee). Gothi are priests of the Viking religion, and their magical powers come straight from the Norse gods themselves. All Viking wizards are Gothi, but not all Gothi have the ability to cast spells. They can all open a vey, however. The precise proportion of Gifted / non-Gifted Gothi is up to you, I would suggest about 20% / 80%.'?????
If you are a pragmatist--just listen to the personalities on TV--the news, particularly. CNN--listen to Anderson Cooper and speak as he speaks. Generic--but you will be able to communicate with others in the US.
If you pick others---you take your chances. Regional dialects---we've got plenty and ethnic dialects---there are many.
Anderson Cooper--generic US English.
I am still scratching my head from the coverage of the Royal Wedding. A US journalist mangled the pronunciation of the word mall----maaaaw--no one has any explanation. The 'l' sound is truly not that difficult--they all appeared to be native speakers of American English. Who knows.
- the vastness of the language. I don't think there are many languages that have a more extensive vocabulary. And since English is the lingua franca in science and technology, new words are created on a daily base.
We English speakers freely borrow from other languages, and incorporate those words into our language without batting an eyelash. Sometimes we mangle the pronunciation, yes.
And then add in the thousands of words from previous centuries that are no longer in everyday use ... Well, it makes your head spin!
Dutch---I thought there was a huge dispute about the language of the people of the Netherlands. 'Flemish'---it seems like I heard it was uncivilized to fail to know the difference.
'Dutch is closely related to English and German[n 5] and is said to be between both.[n 6] Apart from not having undergone the High German consonant shift, Dutch—as English—also differs from German by the overall abandonment of the grammatical case system, the relative rarity of the Germanic umlaut, and a more regular morphology.[n 7] Dutch has effectively two grammatical genders, but this distinction has far fewer grammatical consequences than in German.[n 8] Dutch shares with German the use of subject-verb-object word order in main clauses and subject-object-verb in subordinate clauses.[n 9] Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and contains the same Germanic core as English, while incorporating more Romance loans than German.[n 10'
???
'Gothi
`Order of Odin' is an epithet which has been made up entirely by magi of the Order of Hermes. The Viking wizards call themselves Gothi (Goe-th-ee). Gothi are priests of the Viking religion, and their magical powers come straight from the Norse gods themselves. All Viking wizards are Gothi, but not all Gothi have the ability to cast spells. They can all open a vey, however. The precise proportion of Gifted / non-Gifted Gothi is up to you, I would suggest about 20% / 80%.'?????
I think the OP merely misspelled the well known word "ghoti" -
"gh" as in rough or tough
"o" as in women
"ti" as in action or motion
I think the OP merely misspelled the well known word "ghoti" -
"gh" as in rough or tough
"o" as in women
"ti" as in action or motion
in other words, "ghoti" is pronounced "fish".
Hello Rob, no I put the word "ghoti" there on purpose, as indeed it can be pronounced like "fish".
It's a classic linguistic example of the aforementioned spelling & pronunciation gap in the English language.
@TakeAhike: most people here in Flanders call their native tongue Dutch. Flemish is a local variant (or better, a bunch of local variaties). The pronunciation is different, vocabulary is slightly different, but for the rest Flemish = Dutch
Ghoti can not be pronounced 'fish'. It is a clever bit of linguistic wit, but ultimately is agains the rules of English pronunciation which are actually quite sound. They only seem complicated because they usually follow a set of rules defined by the linguistic origin of the word (Germanic words follow Germanic pronunciation rules, Norman-French words follow Norman-French rules, Latin words follow Latin rules, etc.)
for example, 'ti' can only be pronounced 'sh' if followed by 'on' or 'ous' when forming the 'tion' and 'tious' suffixes in words of Latin origin. Likewise, the 'gh' can not be found in the initial phoneme of a word as pertains to the pronunciation of English words canonically containing 'gh'.
I have reflected many times on the complexity of English and how difficult it must be for an adult immigrant to learn it. I also marvel at the ease with which some non-English speakers learn it and how fluent they become with it. During my working years (I was a nurse) I came into contact with many foreign born nurses. Mostly they told me they had more trouble with the slang words and terms than anything else.
One beautiful thing about English is that it is actually two vocabularies functioning with a unified syntax, that can be interchanged within a single sentence. We have words that come from the Germanic roots, that are used informally, and words from Latin roots, which are used in a more formal environment.
For example: "I took off my clothes", compared with "I removed my garments". Few languages give the speaker the option to sound either formal or informal, while still expressing the same facts.
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