5 ms·

I think this is ironic writing this in English. In Portuguese, Deutsch or Italian, even Spanish why not, but in a language with like 10 diphthong and 5 triphtho

by orwin 4y ago

I think this is ironic writing this in English. In Portuguese, Deutsch or Italian, even Spanish why not, but in a language with like 10 diphthong and 5 triphthong, 15 ways to pronounce the letter 'a', that even native speaker can't really pronounce (at least Scotts and Irish, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same for blue collar English workers) should not be used to make fun of another idiotic language. At least we have the excuse that a conservative, non elected body is keeping our language difficult and dumb for conservative reasons.

ggm 4y ago
Few native English speakers learn grammar formally these days. Partner is a retired proofreader and these last 20 years has killed her, watching teachers and lecturers fail to understand their mother tongue. Also, the Spanish equivalent of academie francais is at least talking about ending gender for inanimate objects I believe. In english, lack of a definitional body makes this very hard (actor/actress chairman &c, not having gendered inanimate objects makes it hard to find a direct equivalent)
dotancohen 4y ago
> I think this is ironic writing this in English. Oh, definitely. French is worse than English, but both are bad. My two Right-to-Left languages are far easier to pronounce from reading.
- clauderoux 4y ago
  Actually, since English borrowed many spelling convention from French, and then invented quite a few for itself, I find it quite ridiculous to say that French is worse than English. In French, pronunciations is usually not an issue, the rules are quite straightforward and quite regular, despite what you may think. Grammar is pretty complicated, but it is very very rare to have words in French for which people might wonder what is the actual pronunciation. Usually, the problem will only arise for words borrowed from a foreign language with a foreign spelling.
  - dotancohen 4y ago
    Thank you. French is not one of the languages that I speak, so from afar French spelling and pronunciation seems arbitrary. I appreciate the lesson!

by orwin 4y ago

ggm 4y ago

Few native English speakers learn grammar formally these days. Partner is a retired proofreader and these last 20 years has killed her, watching teachers and lecturers fail to understand their mother tongue. Also, the Spanish equivalent of academie francais is at least talking about ending gender for inanimate objects I believe. In english, lack of a definitional body makes this very hard (actor/actress chairman &c, not having gendered inanimate objects makes it hard to find a direct equivalent)

dotancohen 4y ago

> I think this is ironic writing this in English. Oh, definitely. French is worse than English, but both are bad. My two Right-to-Left languages are far easier to pronounce from reading.

clauderoux 4y ago
Actually, since English borrowed many spelling convention from French, and then invented quite a few for itself, I find it quite ridiculous to say that French is worse than English. In French, pronunciations is usually not an issue, the rules are quite straightforward and quite regular, despite what you may think. Grammar is pretty complicated, but it is very very rare to have words in French for which people might wonder what is the actual pronunciation. Usually, the problem will only arise for words borrowed from a foreign language with a foreign spelling.
- dotancohen 4y ago
  Thank you. French is not one of the languages that I speak, so from afar French spelling and pronunciation seems arbitrary. I appreciate the lesson!