Multiliguists of Lemmy - When speaking Language A and using a word from Language B how do you decide which pronunciation to use?
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The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…Usually like the language of origin unless I'm around people that do not speak fluently or are not looking to learn.
For example, in Chile a lot of people mix English words in their day to day use and pronounce it incorrectly so I pronounce it the same way and go along with it.
I never pronounce words in my own language differently as I think its a missed opportunity on teaching someone a little bit. Which is also a thing I appreciate other people do to me as well.
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If you ask a Japanese person if they own a "computer" they will not understand. You have to call it a "con-puuu-ta" or even "pa-so-con" which is personal computer.
In Thai it’s just ‘com’.
If you’re ready for the bill at a restaurant it’s ’check bin’ which for some reason is ‘check’ and ‘bill’ combined. When I first learned this people were confused why I didn’t already know it, “but it’s English?!”
These wrong loanwords are always so weird! German has a ton of those, e.g. "trainer" is a coach, and "handy" is a cellphone. Add all the false friends because of the similar origins of German and English (even the latin-derived words often have completely different meanings) and it becomes a huge mess to untangle when you're learning English as a native German speaker or vice versa.
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You pronounce the word correctly for whatever language the word is from. That’s the objectively correct way. Is this a serious question?
There are times in which pronouncing the wrong way can save you a lot of hassle.
In many poor countries speaking proper English is a dead giveaway that you have money, so you can obviously see why that is undesirable. Even when that is not the case English is so deep in every other language that people use English words as they see fit without knowing the language at all, so one has to pronounce it like they do for them to understand.
Last case is to "avoid correcting someone" because one does not want to make the other person feel bad, or simply want to avoid the "how is it pronounced" situation.
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These wrong loanwords are always so weird! German has a ton of those, e.g. "trainer" is a coach, and "handy" is a cellphone. Add all the false friends because of the similar origins of German and English (even the latin-derived words often have completely different meanings) and it becomes a huge mess to untangle when you're learning English as a native German speaker or vice versa.
“Trainer” probably would work just fine in US English but I can see what it wouldn’t with British English. Of course that only makes things more complicated…
“Handy” definitely does not work in U.S. English especially using it as a noun
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Definitely serious. Loanwords fall all across the spectrum regarding how much they’re integrated from their source language into the “local” language and most folks don’t know or care about word etymologies enough to even consider it. If you’re not native there’s a good chance you’re mispronouncing loanwords even when you’re trying to use their native pronunciation.
Loanwords are a different story. I would argue those are part of both languages at that point. Burrito is an English word and a Spanish word. As I see it, anyway.
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Do you speak multiple languages?
Yes, I speak English and Spanish
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Do you pronounce borrowed French words the way they should be correctly pronounced in everyday settings?
Like this video: https://youtu.be/fKGoVefhtMQ
If I can. My sentiments do not apply to “loan words”. Those are a different category in my opinion. And there are some French words I struggle with, tbh.
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It’s kind hard to write clearly in print about how we pronounce things, huh?
English is also kinda especially bad for this. There's always IPA if you want to be correct but really confuse most readers ...
Instructions unclear: Had a beer, still not great at putting my accent(s) into print.
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Instructions unclear: Had a beer, still not great at putting my accent(s) into print.
I'm sorry you had to go through that.
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The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…By how well known the word is by the people I speak to. English is usually not an issue. Germans speak english quite well. Languages' Common phrases like yes, no, thank you are also often known.
So I pronounce these as a native speaker would.When ordering food? It's a fine line when I don't speak the language myself. I.E. ordering spanish couisine but not knowing spanish. I try not to butcher the pronunciation, but trying to lean into it would feel pretentious and awkward to me.
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The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…Honestly it's mostly unconscious for me, the brain just does it's thing sometimes.
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As a funny aside I was serving a restaurant patron the other day who was Spanish-only. The restaurant I wait tables at is Mediterranean cuisine, and I stumbled because I couldn't remember how to say "falafel" in Spanish.
I just stopped in the middle of a sentence for what felt like a minute but was probably only a handful of seconds before I realized the word I wanted was "falafel": It's not an English word originally and I didn't need to translate it at all.
I was surprised by seeing “ñoqui” on a menu and realizing I actually knew what it was.
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The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…I’m a native English speaker living in Germany and if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent. It makes Germans cringe, but if I switch back and forth, I completely lose my accent. That means that I pronounce, for example, Microsoft while speaking German with a long i, a trilled r, and a voiced s.
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The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…wrote last edited by [email protected]You use the one of the language you're currently speaking, of course.
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I’m a native English speaker living in Germany and if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent. It makes Germans cringe, but if I switch back and forth, I completely lose my accent. That means that I pronounce, for example, Microsoft while speaking German with a long i, a trilled r, and a voiced s.
if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent.
Speaking German with a German accent? What?
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if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent.
Speaking German with a German accent? What?
German has many English loanwords, which most Germans pronounce with an English speaking accent. I pronounce them with a German accent, as in the example given. I also pronounce “Song” in German with voiced s and a k at the end, for another example.
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German has many English loanwords, which most Germans pronounce with an English speaking accent. I pronounce them with a German accent, as in the example given. I also pronounce “Song” in German with voiced s and a k at the end, for another example.
I'm German and I have no idea how to pronounce "Microsoft" with a German accent. I guess you could pronounce it like the German "mikro" at the beginning? But that's not an accent, that's translating half a word. And Song with a "k" at the end? That's just not a word. Are you saying Zonk?
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I'm German and I have no idea how to pronounce "Microsoft" with a German accent. I guess you could pronounce it like the German "mikro" at the beginning? But that's not an accent, that's translating half a word. And Song with a "k" at the end? That's just not a word. Are you saying Zonk?
It’s called Auslautverhärtung, and it makes Germans cringe when I do it on a word like song, but if I want to use it correctly on a word like Verhärtung, I’ve got to use it on the word song.
I'm German and I have no idea how to pronounce "Microsoft" with a German accent. I guess you could pronounce it like the German "mikro" at the beginning? But that's not an accent, that's translating half a word.
Again, long i, trilled r, and voiced s. You can call it translation if you want.
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The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…I'm French and get mocked for saying sweatshirt instead of sweetshirt (as French do)...
It's a real conundrum. -
The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom YumI imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…Cater to the audience. Being understood is more useful than being right.
