Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language
by StavrosK on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:35AM
(#21825853)
> So, to answer your examples, I pronounce those exactly like the french "beau", "tire" and "rot".
That's where the problem comes in: You can't pronounce those words without context. "A row of people was watching the row". "A tear in the painting brought a tear to my eye", "I bow to your skills with the bow".
Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language
by sheepdestroyer on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:42AM
(#21825939)
I can : all the same to me. Context, mostly, makes me understood
For me, English has been a mostly literary language for years with most spoken forms coming to me with simultaneous subtiles. So, it's rare that I encounter a new spoken word that I haven't read before, but with time and familiarity you develop some kind of heuristics I guess (and enough of English comes from French that there is no need to be too lucky).
I now live in Japan and used to guide, in English, foreign tourists in Kyoto. Amusingly only native speakers seemed to sometimes have difficulties to understand my strange pronunciation/accent.