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Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by sheepdestroyer on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:30AM (#21825802)
Not sure if the distinction between accent and pronunciation is very relevant here? I have a particular/personal 'French' accent that heavily influences the way I pronounce words. As stated, it mainly comes from the way I learnt : I often straight up applied french pronunciation (but with some basic informed knowledge of what could be the proper way) to what I read. So, to answer your examples, I pronounce those exactly like the french "beau", "tire" and "rot".

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.

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
Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by StavrosK on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:45AM (#21825982)
I mean, yes, all languages are easy if you don't care much about correctness.