Re:Mother Tongues
by Frondo on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:35PM
(#11625082)
It's tricky when the origin language has sounds that the target language doesn't.
The 'ы' in Russian is tough for English speakers even to say (at least, it has seemed so when I've seen people try to say it for the first time!), and we just don't have a letter that represents that sound.
Similarly, Arabic has several sounds that have no equivalent in English, so you see words with 3s in them (like 'na3m')--the 3 stands in for a ع (aiyn), which we just have no sound for.
But impossible? Nah. People can understand what you mean.
The 'ы' in Russian is tough for English speakers even to say (at least, it has seemed so when I've seen people try to say it for the first time!), and we just don't have a letter that represents that sound.
Similarly, Arabic has several sounds that have no equivalent in English, so you see words with 3s in them (like 'na3m')--the 3 stands in for a ع (aiyn), which we just have no sound for.
But impossible? Nah. People can understand what you mean.