Saturday, August 9, 2008

Pronunciation is the thing...

Okay... I've been debating whether or not I should be writing this entry because some may be offended, but then I came to the conclusion that this blog is about MY experiences and the intention isn't to offend, just to inform others about my experiences, through my eyes and ears... so here goes:
It seems to me that in my quest to learn American, one has to have an ear for pronunciation. I was at school the other day and was listening to a few of the ladies discuss directions to something or somewhere I needed to go (there have been a lot of places I've needed to go) and they were discussing the best way or the actual closest location. And this is where my ear perked up to the pronunciation... the place they thought it was was in Norfolk. Now, when I see that spelled, I want to say it: NOR-Folk... you know, like it is spelled. But they kept calling it: NAW-Fuk. (Now you see why I was worried about being offensive). It actually took me a while to place the spellings and pronunciations together and decide that they meant Norfolk and not some other odd location...
See... this learning American isn't as easy as you think!! Next time, we talk about abbreviations and form names... that's a whole OTHER language, I am convinced!!

4 comments:

Baron said...

During the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the male commentator kept referring to the Tang Dynasty as 'Dang' which should have been pronounced as 'Dung'

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, I guess...

Kristen said...

I had to learn to speak Maritimer here...same country, whole new language...especially all the Anglicized French words...like Callais (I would say Callay like the french, oh no, it's Callous - odd, but not unique around here). We also learned new terms like if you need a ride somewhere it's a drive, not a ride...things like that.

Mrs. Anderson's 4th Grade Class said...

Okay, okay... that's not American. You're learning how to speak "Southern Bell." :) YOU CAN DO IT!!

AprilMay said...

LOL...I agree! That is SO not American! I would pronounce it NOR-folk too. At the NICS orientation in Mississippi, I was TOTALLY LOST. Couldn't understand anyone, LOL!

I wish I could visit Williamsburg! No fair!