The English Language

[Alex Franke]

Every once in a while I come across some crazy examples of the English language. Here's one from a book called The Read Between the Lions Book for Parents: (It's a great book, by the way -- as the subtitle says, "everything you need to know to help your child learn to read.")

• The letter a, by itself, can stand for eight different sounds in English. Try this sentence: "All was lost as many hares raced around the village swamp."
• Take a look at the long a sound and the many ways to spell it: in eight, bait, hate, may, obey, ballet, and great. And it gets worse: Every single one of those spellings can also be pronounced a different way, as in height, chai, paté, cay, key, pallet, and read.

[leehljp]

ALL of the different changing vowel sounds of English is the ONLY advantage that the Japanese language has over English! But the English changing sounds do create a pain when teaching someone English as a second language. LOML and I decided shortly after arriving in Japan that we did not want to get into any teaching of English on the side.

[germdoc]

How about this one?

"-ough"

Pronounced differently in these words: "though", "tough", "cough". In the word "slough" it can be pronounced as slue when referring to an inlet or marsh, or sluff when referring to dead tissue.

[JR]

That's what we get for letting Roman, Saxon, and Norman people mix things up on an island which was largely isolated during the Middle Ages.

Let's just be thankful the Irish, Scottish, and especially the Welsh people were marginalized.

JR

[annunaki]

Ghoti = Fish

As an example of our strange language someone used this example of phonetics-

Ghoti = Fish

"Gh" as in "rough" has an "F" sound
"O" as used in "women" has an "I" sound
"Ti" as used in "nation" has a "sh" sound

[Rand]

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.


Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.


Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.


Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.


Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.


Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.


Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.


Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.


Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.


Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.


Pronunciation - think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.


Finally, which rhymes with enough -
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

[cgallery]

Every once in a while I come across some crazy examples of the English language. Here's one from a book called The Read Between the Lions Book for Parents: (It's a great book, by the way -- as the subtitle says, "everything you need to know to help your child learn to read.")

I'm counting four sounds in that first example, maybe three. But I'm no linguist.

[Ed62]

I wish I knew what you guys were talking about.

Ed

[Alex Franke]

I'm counting four sounds in that first example, maybe three. But I'm no linguist.

Me either -- I'm stretching it pretty far to eke out seven: aw, uh, aa, eh, ay, ih, ah -- as in (Aw)ll w(uh)s lost (aa)s m(eh)ny h(ay)res r(ay)ced (uh)round the vill(ih)ge sw(ah)mp.

Can anyone find eight?

[Jcrawf]

I've been teaching adult ESL (English as a Second Language) for about 10 years. Current class has people from China, The Ukraine, Viet Nam, Korea, Mexico, Honduras, and Argentina. Those from Southeast Asia have difficulty with the "ess" sound, but for the rest pronunciation isn't a great problem. They accept that English is a difficult language and that often words aren't pronounced the way they're spelled.

I teach as a volunteer for Literacy Volunteers of America. I'd like to encourage anybody who has a couple of spare hours a week (or more) to consider volunteering. The only requirement is the ability to speak English. The curriculum is whatever you say it is; there is no structured course material.

There's always a shortage of volunteer instructors, so if you live in an area with a number of recent immigrants you're needed. I can tell you that it's satisfying and great fun. Google "Literacy Volunteers."

Jack

[Alex Franke]

I've been teaching adult ESL (English as a Second Language) for about 10 years.
[snip]
I teach as a volunteer for Literacy Volunteers of America. I'd like to encourage anybody who has a couple of spare hours a week (or more) to consider volunteering. The only requirement is the ability to speak English. The curriculum is whatever you say it is; there is no structured course material.
[snip]
There's always a shortage of volunteer instructors, so if you live in an area with a number of recent immigrants you're needed. I can tell you that it's satisfying and great fun. Google "Literacy Volunteers."

I totally agree. I used to teach ESL to adult refugees, too (before the kids came along -- then I started teaching EFL. ). I made up some picture flashcards a the time. They cover topics like emergency, health, foods, colors and furniture.

You're welcome to take a look and download them if you think they might be useful. Here's the link for word lists and also to download if you want:

http://www.thefrankes.com/wp/?tag=esl

Teaching ESL is very rewarding!