Maciamo
先輩
- 17 Jul 2002
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How could someone, who has not studied English from childhood (thus increasing the time of learning and obviously, the grasping power is much higher then), born and brought up without having to speak a line of English, ever master the nuances of the English language?!!
It is perfectly possible for a European who has a Germanic or Latin language has mother tongue. It' incredible the number of similar idiomatic expressions between some of these languages, for example.
It's tough because there are no fixed rules. A same word can be "officially" pronounced in 3 or 4 different ways if you look just at Britsih and American dictionaries (more if you add Irish, Aussie, Indian, South African, HK or Singapourian Englishes). You can pronounce "direction" with a "i" like in "bird" (US), bit (mostly US) or bite (UK). Longer words have also different stress, sometimes both correct in the same country. The worst of all is how clearly you stress each syllable, thence if a "a" will sound like a "e" (unstressed), "a" like in father, "a" like in cap or "a" like in cape (ditto for other vowels). Taihen da ne !And I always thought pronunciation is the toughest aspect of eigo....