I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh, and through.
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
Well done! And now if you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps,
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead–
For goodness sakes don’t call it deed.
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose–
Just look them up–and goose and choose,
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five.
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
How do people EVER learn to speak this language!?
"... not to be told a story, but to live inside a dream." - Hades, The Burnt City
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
I tried to read that aloud and nearly died!!!merry wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 10:27 pm How do people EVER learn to speak this language!?
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh, and through.
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
Well done! And now if you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps,
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead–
For goodness sakes don’t call it deed.
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose–
Just look them up–and goose and choose,
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five.
"I'm not sure I'd know how to dabble." 8-)
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English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
(she/her)
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
I love these. I've seen a number of the poems that make English sound so crazy...we should share more of them. I've actually never seen this one.
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English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
How does anyone learn English as a second language?
The secret of life lies in laughter and humility. —GKC
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
That's what I can't understand, Pips. German is tricky for me to pronounce but it seems entirely logical. Ditto Portuguese. English just... isn't. Not in grammar or pronounciation. Our own children make entirely reasonable deductions at grammar when they are very small - 'I cutted it up' - but in the end it's just not logical and you have to learn all the exceptions by rote/absorbing them and there are SO MANY!
People like Tom who can write and speak as fluently in English as their own language must have hyperlexia (?! is that the name for it? anyway, a special gift for language.
"... not to be told a story, but to live inside a dream." - Hades, The Burnt City
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
Oh Merry, the German grammer is utter BS. (We'll just work our way around it cleverly while teaching it to you lol). Learning it from a textbook is practically impossible.merry wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 10:29 pmThat's what I can't understand, Pips. German is tricky for me to pronounce but it seems entirely logical. Ditto Portuguese. English just... isn't. Not in grammar or pronounciation. Our own children make entirely reasonable deductions at grammar when they are very small - 'I cutted it up' - but in the end it's just not logical and you have to learn all the exceptions by rote/absorbing them and there are SO MANY!
People like Tom who can write and speak as fluently in English as their own language must have hyperlexia (?! is that the name for it? anyway, a special gift for language.
An example: In English it's: think-thought-thought
In German: denke/denkst/denkt/denken/denkt/denken - dachte/dachtest/dachte/dachten/dachtet/dachten - habe gedacht/hast gedacht/hat gedacht/haben gedacht/habt gedacht/haben gedacht... I'm not even kidding!
"I'm not sure I'd know how to dabble." 8-)
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
I saw the following comment on Quora and thought it was apt:
"English is tough, though through thorough thought it can be mastered."
"English is tough, though through thorough thought it can be mastered."
In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.
(Terry Pratchett 1948-2015)
(Terry Pratchett 1948-2015)
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
Yes!
"... not to be told a story, but to live inside a dream." - Hades, The Burnt City
English Pronounciation - ! a comic verse
Here's the German equivalent to the English pronunciation problem. I dare you to try this!
"I'm not sure I'd know how to dabble." 8-)