LoL
How about "queue"!
I never knew how I was supposed to read that one until I heard it somewhere!

Last edited by alantin (2008 November 08, 2:02 pm)

Tobberoth wrote:

Yeah, queue is a really odd one. I also have problems with always (Isn't it supposed to be short of all ways? allways!!)  and stuff like that.

Nah, it's like "often" but with more certainty or absoluteness.

I often fall. --- I fall (when doing this action) many times.
I always fall. --- I fall (when doing this action) every time.

In America queue is rarely used. Queue is French in origin, for this reason it's so impossible to pronounce .

Japanese has compounds based on Chinese pronunciation. English has entire countries of origin combined with years of butchery.

Last edited by kazelee (2008 November 08, 4:36 pm)

Ji_suss wrote:

How about "alright"?  Can you write "all right"? I'm a native English speaker and i have no clue.

"All right" is actually the correct usage. "Alright" is a colloquialism (or a neologism or some -ism), frequently used but not considered perfectly correct by the authorities. Not as egregious as writing "should of" for "should've," though.

I love the weirdness of "quay," which is also a French word if I'm not mistaken. In the Caribbean, you find "cays," also pronounced "keys," only they are small islands rather than piers.

Last edited by annabel398 (2008 November 08, 8:35 pm)

Tobberoth wrote:

kazelee wrote:

Tobberoth wrote:

Yeah, queue is a really odd one. I also have problems with always (Isn't it supposed to be short of all ways? allways!!)  and stuff like that.

Nah, it's like "often" but with more certainty or absoluteness.

Look, i've been fluent in English for over 5 years, I know what "always" means ^^

My point was that the etymology of the word "always" is: All ways. Just like in Swedish where Alltid (always) is short for all tid (all time). Unlike in English, we keep the spelling the same in the connected word.

.....

Cool

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Anyone know where I can get some good cheese?

Hmm.. "Colonel" might be the trickiest I have encountered so far.
It took me a looooooong time to connect "colonel" to how it was pronounced in tv..
I thought they were different ranks!

The Japanese themselves don't know how to read the place names when they are off their own neighborhood!

I was in "枚方" and heard that people frequently read it as "まいかた". (Well.. Logic isn't it!)
The real one is "ひらかた".

My biggest pet peeve is when people get cavalry and Calvary confused. Jesus isn't leading a charge of armed troops on horseback.

And the last 8 year of having "nucular" arms. It's nu-cle-ar.

cavalry-- armed troops on horseback.

Calvary-- the hill where Jesus was crucified.

Big difference.

And this goes to show you how easily people are set off topic haha

Well guys THANKS!!
I'm gonna use all those links and do some drills...so you gotta do them daily?
Yeah...well,after a while, i'll start to know them without doing it every day..but i guess a fun hiragama game isn't really a drill

About the pronunciation...well, i'm from Romania and romanian *should* be my mother language..though i know a lot more words in english LOL and since i read heisig i know a few more...like...i don't know tree,plants,land types in romanian but in english...it's ok
But enough from that...i learned romanian and the "a" is totally different from the english "a"...but it's exactly the japanese "a" YAY! ^__^ that goes for most of the kana...but the problem is fluency i guess...

About the practicing...do any of you know where to find some japanese children's books?

kazelee wrote:

That was a joke silly. Most people pronounce them exactly the same.

Which is precisely what drives me nuts. They're not pronounced the same, yet the same people who can't pronounce "nuclear" correctly can't say "cavalry" correctly. Calling in the Calvary isn't really very useful. >_>a

rich_f wrote:

My biggest pet peeve is when people get cavalry and Calvary confused. Jesus isn't leading a charge of armed troops on horseback.

And the last 8 year of having "nucular" arms. It's nu-cle-ar.

He is not???  Soon and very soon!!!  Us Godless Buddhists are going to feel the sabre.

I want English overhauled using Chinese characters :-)
 
何's 君r 名前?   僕好映画s.  What's your name?  I like movies

僕 was 歩ing　down the 丁 one 日 when all of a sudden, a 鬼 grabbed 僕 by the 頭 and threw me into a 壁. I wasn't 幸 to say the least..

That's fun^^ the firefox addon kinda does the same thing though.

I wish English was phonetic at least.  Wouldn't it be fun if it incorported Chinese Characters though!  America is too lazy to convert to the metric system so logic is not a priority here anyways. 

I taught English in Kyoto last year and there were two Scottish teachers at the school.  Not sure what language they were speaking.  Hope it was English in the classroom.  >_<