Philip ([info]bluesmoon) wrote,
2007-09-10 15:37:00

English

Seen on Merriam-Webster:
this word comes from French and has sounds with no English equivalents

Then I think about our 'merican friends goofing up really simple Indian names like Ajay, Unni and Tahir

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  • 16 comments

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[info]bluesmoon

September 10 2007, 11:07:24 UTC 4 years ago

the word is longueur, which comes from french.

[info]code_martial

September 10 2007, 11:58:41 UTC 4 years ago

Yep, that's what an American friend told me. There's just no way to spell my name in English and get the right pronunciation. The "Ta" in "Tahir" rhymes with "say". I'm still clueless about why people spell it with a 'D' even when I say my name with a regular 'T' sound.

[info]satyap

September 10 2007, 12:23:25 UTC 4 years ago

They can't hear the difference with our accents. My phone bill is still addressed to "Sadya... B...." (despite telling them otherwise in written form, as they add shadow databases to their numerous other sins).

[info]satyap

September 10 2007, 12:24:34 UTC 4 years ago

I tried -- I got one of them to pronounce the 't' sound for me and went back and forth several times, but just couldn't make it work.

[info]code_martial

September 10 2007, 14:33:20 UTC 4 years ago

Oh, I was referring to 'T' as in 'Tea', not as in a Hindi word, like 'Tabla'. That's how I said my name but they still got it as 'D' all the time.

[info]solzaire

September 11 2007, 08:47:07 UTC 4 years ago

is there a soft 't' sound in English? as in tabla wala t instead of table wala t. must be but i just can't get an example right now.

[info]bluesmoon

September 11 2007, 09:49:47 UTC 4 years ago

No there isn't. There are sounds for the three other T sounds, but not for the soft one:

त - ?
थ - Thick, thank
ट - Table, tourist
ठ - Thailand, Thames

[info]anomalizer

September 11 2007, 18:46:56 UTC 4 years ago

Isn't Thailand -> थ ?

[info]bluesmoon

September 11 2007, 18:48:09 UTC 4 years ago

no, although most people think it is.

[info]mona1610

September 12 2007, 04:48:14 UTC 4 years ago

Agreed. I also find it interesting how not-originally English speakers can actually distinguish the soft 't' from the hard one. Like most Chinese friends/news reporters in Singapore had no problem saying 'Taliban' correctly with the soft 't'.

[info]adarsh_bhat

September 12 2007, 15:40:51 UTC 4 years ago

-th ending words like wrath come close, don't you think?

[info]bluesmoon

September 12 2007, 15:43:18 UTC 4 years ago

nope. That's still थ

with the exception of Thailand and Thames, and th words that have a d sound (the, that), all th sounds in English map to थ in hindi.

[info]anomalizer

September 11 2007, 18:44:28 UTC 4 years ago

Or Iraq

[info]bluesmoon

September 11 2007, 18:47:53 UTC 4 years ago

shh, you'll get them irate.

[info]code_martial

September 12 2007, 01:58:26 UTC 4 years ago

I ran.

[info]udhay

September 13 2007, 06:02:31 UTC 4 years ago

Heh. I remember an old r.h.f posting that was a list, on the lines of "You know you've lived in Silicon Valley too long when..."

One of the items was "you can actually pronounce 'Balasubramanian'"

:-)
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