Phonetics for Dummies

[Noelia]

Creo que esto no vale en inglés británico...

En ROJO, voy a escribir palabras en inglés (que tal vez no existan) como si fueran pronunciadas con acento español.

En AZUL, voy a escribir el sonido aproximado de la palabra en ingles, como la escucha un nativo.


1) Si yo digo KAM, ustedes escuchan KOM

2) Si yo digo KOM, ustedes escuchan KUM

3) Si yo digo KUM, ustedes escuchan KOOM (esto ya *casi* lo tengo solucionado)

4) Si yo digo KIM, ustedes escuchan KEEM (esto ya lo tengo solucionado)

5) Si yo digo KEM, ustedes escuchan KAM

6)Entonces, qué tengo que decir para que ustedes escuchen KEM ?

[sendai]

I don't know what sounds you mean with KUM and KOM in blue. Give us some real words that you think they rhyme with.

Here's what I hear when a Spanish speaker speaks:

/spanish/ I hear "english"
/nat/ I hear "not"
/net/ I hear "net"
/nit/ I hear "neat"
/not/ I hear "note"
/nut/ I near "newt"

"gnat" is between /nat/ and /net/

[Noelia]

Si, pero lo estás pensando en ingles... mirá:

/not/ I hear "note"

Si yo digo "not" (con todo mi acento español) vos no escuchas NOTE, escuchas algo como "naught"

Ahora, si yo digo "NOUT" entonces sí escuchas "NOTE"

Voy a probar escribir lo que puse antes con palabras que existan, a ver:

1) Si yo digo CAM (as in camera), ustedes escuchan COME

2) Si yo digo COM (as in "dot com"), la verdad no sé que escuchan ustedes aca.. no se si existe el sonido puro de la O en español.

3) Si yo digo CUM (as in study-cum-library -check the oxford here)
ustedes escuchan KOOM (ya casi tengo solucionado eso)

4) Si yo digo KINDER, ustedes escuchan KEENDER (esto ya lo tengo solucionado)

5) Si yo digo KEPT, ustedes escuchan KAPT

6)Entonces, qué tengo que decir para que ustedes escuchen KEPT ?

Ahora ya estoy un poco mareada, pero creo que es esto lo que quiero decir.

[sendai]

This is complicated. :-) The fact is that none of the Spanish vowel sounds (including diphtongs) exist in my accent of English. /not/ sounds like something between "naught" and "note" to me, for example, and /nout/ sounds like a badly exaggerated version of "note". "Baby" is halfway between /bebi/ and /beibi/, so neither is really the correct sound.

Now, for my accent I think that /kept/ and "kept" are pretty close, though there is a little of "kapt" in there. ("Kapt" sounds like "capped", right?) I honestly think that the closest sound to /kept/ is "kept", but maybe others will disagree.

[Noelia]

Yeah I understand, it's very difficult to explain the sounds by writing here. I think my problem with "kept" is beacuse I still can't hear the difference between "pedal / paddle" remember that day? Once I figure out that, I'll know how to pronounce them correctly.

[sendai]

Ah yes, good old pedal and paddle. The sound I use for "paddle" is pretty different from any vowel sound in Spanish.

Ya know, when the South Africans say "paddle", it sounds almost the same as "pedal" with my accent. That's how different their accent is from the American one.