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My Japanese native language speaker in college had an obsession with the word "squirrel". We spent an entire year trying to teach her how to pronounce it. Ssss
by rabboRubble 9y ago
My Japanese native language speaker in college had an obsession with the word "squirrel". We spent an entire year trying to teach her how to pronounce it.
Ssss-ka-wuh-rrr-llll
- kijin 9y ago"Squirrel" is in fact a very difficult word to pronounce. Too many consonants squeezed into only two syllables -- sometimes even pronounced as a single syllable -- with a weird diphthong in between. The ancient Greek version would have been much easier to express in Japanese: su-kyuu-ro-su.
- yoodenvranx 9y agoI am German and 'squirrel' is the one English word I just can't pronounce. I am very good at all the other words, but that one stumps me.
- jacobolus 9y agoCan you handle “square” and “girl”?
- yoodenvranx 9y agoYes, but squirrel is still impossible.
- rangibaby 9y agoin Japanese: Square yes (スクエア, sukuea） Girl no (ガール, gaaru)
- pluma 9y agoYou're not alone. "Squirrel" pops up as that one word most Germans seem to be insecure about even if they otherwise speak fluent English. I think this is mostly because Germans are generally taught RP, where it is pronounced /ˈskwɪɹəl/ (skwe-rel). The American /ˈskwɝl̩/ (skwerl with a very faint r) is considerably easier to pronounce for German speakers. Because neither the English /w/ nor the English /ɹ/ exist in German and because they're both pronounced in close proximity to each other, the combination tends to be confusing to pronounce (as with combinations of th and s/z).
- sandythos 9y agoWhereas I have that problem with Eichhoernchen
- throwanem 9y ago"Fuzzy-tailed picnic-thieving tree rat" is an acceptable alternative. Season to taste with your favorite summer or winter expletives.
- rabboRubble 9y agoI had trouble with the Japanese "ts" sound until I was taught that "ts" is the same sound as "pets" without the "pe. Can you pronounce "squirt"? If yes, try pronouncing the "squir" portion of the word, dropping the "t". You should be pronouncing it like this reference, minus that hard "t" sound at the end [0]. Can you pronounce the rare English word "rill"? It's of Germanic origin so you should be able to. You should be pronouncing it like this reference [1] If yes to both of the above questions, you can pronounce "squirrel". Say "squir" from squirt, take a pause for a half second, then say "rill". Repeat the phrase faster and faster trying to shorten the pause between the two. Alternatively, you can approximate the word "squirrel" from the English word "quarrel" by adding an "s" to the beginning. "s" + "quarrel". There will be a subtle mispronunciation with this method, but you should be able to pass in most conversation. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPhAx00d2Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPhAx00d2Y [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFuCgq03mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFuCgq03mg [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y21ZciKJA_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y21ZciKJA_I
- yellowapple 9y agoIf you can say "swirl", then "skwirl" ain't too far off, at which point you're in line with American pronunciation.