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Re:Why Arabic Is Terrific (2011) by ComputerGuru on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @11:47PM (#20291604)
It’s more an inability to grasp it rather than an inability to produce that sound.

It’s especially apparent when after learning to make the “p” sound, ESL (or ETL/EFL even!) Arabs go around saying “apsoloutely no broblem.” The most common reverse substitution is probably “peautiful” with considerable emphasis on the p.

Re:Why Arabic Is Terrific (2011) by ithkuil on Thursday June 27, 2019 @04:13AM (#20292577)
The mechanics of speech is complicated and most of the people most of the time have no idea what is actually going on, pretty much like with breathing.

It doesn't help that alphabetical writing systems are sold to us from young age as if they were actual representing the sounds. They are not, and in more subtle ways than you'd think.

For example, in the context of B's and P's, English has "explosive consonants". In many words the "p" sound is actually followed by a puff of air. But this also happens incidentally when B is followed by some other sounds. Imagine pronouncing "beautiful" without emitting any puff of air after the B and you'll notice you sound Italian or Indian.

So, if your native language doesn't have the p sound at all and you learn it from examples in English it's quite likely you'll latch on the "puff of air" feature of exaggerated explosive variant of the p sound you might be practicing a lot.

You'll then hear a similar sound in beautiful, and try to repeat that too but native speakers might percieve that as a p sound

Re:Why Arabic Is Terrific (2011) by ComputerGuru on Friday June 28, 2019 @03:35AM (#20302236)
That's an interesting explanation, thank you.