Learning English is hard

[Doctor Phibes]

Around here there's a town named Warwick. The way they pronounce it sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it. They actually say both 'w''s. There's no way they did that when they first named it.

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Learning English is hard:

Around here there's a town named Warwick. The way they pronounce it sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it. They actually say both 'w''s. There's no way they did that when they first named it.

You guys sure do throw in a lot of unnecessary letters. I suppose it adds a certain colour to the language.

I mean, Worcestershire. Gloucester...

Now, pronounce ghoti.

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in Learning English is hard:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Learning English is hard:

Around here there's a town named Warwick. The way they pronounce it sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it. They actually say both 'w''s. There's no way they did that when they first named it.

You guys sure do throw in a lot of unnecessary letters. I suppose it adds a certain colour to the language.

I mean, Worcestershire. Gloucester...

I think it's more likely that we took out or replaced some of the letters, but not all. Worcestershire was derived from the middle-English Wyrcestreschire.

My favourite town name is Cholmondeley in Cheshire, normally pronounced 'Chumley', but there's others - Leominster, near where my wife's father came from is pronounced 'Lemster' by the locals. I still get it wrong.

[Copper]

@George-K said in Learning English is hard:

Now, pronounce ghoti.

The Riddler used that in a comic book I remember from somewhere around the mid-60s. Batman figured it out right away.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Klaus said in Learning English is hard:

Every language has exceptions to its rules, and things you just have to know, which you can't derive from any rules.

I'm not saying that English is unique because it has phonetic exceptions and other languages don't. I'm saying that even compared to other languages, English has more phonetic exceptions than many others.

In part this is because other languages haven't been broken and rebuilt as many times as English has.

English is a rather simple language to learn, compared to most other (Western) languages.

Says the guy who first knew German before he learned English. It's not a coincidence you think that.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Learning English is hard:

In part this is because other languages haven't been broken and rebuilt as many times as English has.

I think you might be on to something. At least, I've noticed a lot of you chaps speak broken English.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Learning English is hard:

@Aqua-Letifer said in Learning English is hard:

In part this is because other languages haven't been broken and rebuilt as many times as English has.

I think you might be on to something. At least, I've noticed a lot of you chaps speak broken English.

Ours is older, though.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Learning English is hard:

Ours is older, though.

Like your leaders.

And no, that's not necessarily true where I come from. Plenty of people aren't speaking received pronunciation etc. up in't North.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Learning English is hard:

@Aqua-Letifer said in Learning English is hard:

Ours is older, though.

Like your leaders.

And no, that's not necessarily true where I come from. Plenty of people aren't speaking received pronunciation etc. up in't North.

We've had a reform, though. You all haven't.

[Renauda]

@Doctor-Phibes

And no, that's not necessarily true where I come from. Plenty of people aren't speaking received pronunciation etc. up in't North.

Ayup, thay’d be knowin’ nowt about ‘at.