pronouncing words when u see/hear them for the first time

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Byron
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22 Jan 2011, 1:39 pm

I can pronounce words precisely when I see/hear them for the first time. I've been able to do this majority of my life. For example, people think that just because I can pronounce a restaurant name the first time that I've been there before. I think it just comes natural to me to pronounce words & names the first time especially if not very many people can pronounce it properly.



leejosepho
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22 Jan 2011, 4:47 pm

I can usually do about the same, and I believe that is at least partly because I was taught phonics back in the '50s.


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Sameus
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22 Jan 2011, 7:45 pm

I'm the exact opposite. I consider myself phonetically-challenged.



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22 Jan 2011, 7:53 pm

I do well after hearing them, but I've had more than a few embarrassing experiences using words verbally for the first time that I had read repeatedly in various contexts, and mispronouncing them because I had never heard them (Danube and Adirondacks both come to mind), and for some reason people are a bit annoying about correcting such things.

This happened to me a lot through my teens and 20s, only twice that I recall in my 30s. I blame hyperlexia.



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22 Jan 2011, 7:53 pm

Sometimes, but sometimes I'm off. I seem to be better at most people at knowing how to pronounce foreign words though, and I don't even know any other languages besides English. But the pronunciation rules for other languages (at least Latin-based or Germanic) seem to be simpler than English.
Or I could just be deluding myself and I'm always wrong. :lol:

I remember, though, in elementary school a teacher bet a quarter that no one could spell Goethe correctly. I went home 25 cents richer that day. But that's sort of the other way around.



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22 Jan 2011, 7:57 pm

I do think many other languages do have simpler pronunciation rules than English. I think even French is simpler because it is consistent.



ocdgirl123
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23 Jan 2011, 12:35 am

I'm bad at pronouncing words the first time I see them. I pronounced the word "Hoax" "Hoyx" the first time I saw it for example. :D


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23 Jan 2011, 12:52 am

I'm the same way- I'm good at pronouncing names/words (even foreign ones) properly after only seeing/hearing them once. I think it might have something to do with growing up in a household where French, German, and Yiddish phrases were relatively common. I'm actually pretty good with languages in general, really.


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23 Jan 2011, 12:56 am

I read more than I speak/listen; therefore, I sometimes cannot pronounce specific English words properly. I am usually not too far off, however. It's usually something to the effect of I say something with a long 'a' instead of a 'short' one, et cetera.



vetwithAS
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23 Jan 2011, 1:47 am

Zen wrote:
Sometimes, but sometimes I'm off. I seem to be better at most people at knowing how to pronounce foreign words though, and I don't even know any other languages besides English. But the pronunciation rules for other languages (at least Latin-based or Germanic) seem to be simpler than English.
Or I could just be deluding myself and I'm always wrong. :lol:

I remember, though, in elementary school a teacher bet a quarter that no one could spell Goethe correctly. I went home 25 cents richer that day. But that's sort of the other way around.


English actually is a Germanic language. While we borrow from many languages past and present, we have more in common with German than with any other modern language.

I have always been good with phonetics/linguistics. As a kid, I never once lost a spelling bee. My teachers would often give me college level words to test me and I never failed.



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23 Jan 2011, 4:02 am

Sameus wrote:
I'm the exact opposite. I consider myself phonetically-challenged.

This.

It's a symptom of dyslexia and I have a few of them. I hate it. I have to sound out the word a few times before I get it right. Sometimes I even look it up on Wikipedia just to know the appropriate way to sound it out.
I remember when I was reading Harry Potter I'd guess how to sound out the spells then in the movie they would be pronounced entirely different.

However because of a few short incomplete Polish and Swedish language courses I can guess the right pronunciation pretty well. I should just drop English and use one of them as my default language.


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23 Jan 2011, 2:26 pm

Sameus wrote:
I'm the exact opposite. I consider myself phonetically-challenged.

Same here.



Bleu
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24 Jan 2011, 5:21 am

I think I'm pretty good at this. There were some occasions when I pronounced a word completely wrong, but I usually get it right without hearing it first.



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24 Jan 2011, 1:46 pm

I'm pretty good at this as well, the exception being some astronomical place names.



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24 Jan 2011, 6:16 pm

vetwithAS wrote:
English actually is a Germanic language. While we borrow from many languages past and present, we have more in common with German than with any other modern language.

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James Nichol


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05 Jul 2011, 4:47 pm

I get spelling before pronounciation usually but occassionally the reverse. I also often mispronounce words even if I can say the correct pronounciation in my head, and tend to mix up similar phonemes.