There’s nothing worse in terms of pronunciation than English. French is silly for writing twice as much as what’s pronounced, but at least it mostly follows some rules.
The one at the bottom who is supposed to just fucking walk but keeps threatening the stability of the whole thing by randomly blurting out nonsense.
In the dimly lit boudoir, she sat at her ornate bureau, perusing an array of gourmet hors d’oeuvres, contemplating which avant-garde piece from her repertoire to perform at the soirée, her silhouette an epitome of haute couture elegance. Meanwhile, her fiancé, a connoisseur of fine arts and a critic of the bourgeoisie’s penchant for laissez-faire economics, prepared a detailed critique on the nuances of ballet and the je ne sais quoi of modern art installations, embodying the esprit de corps of their eclectic salon.
“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 D. Nicoll
What’s so wild is that, as a native speaker, there are SO many rules and edge cases and exceptions…. And I know them by heart without ever being told them explicitly. First example that comes to mind is the whole order of adjectives…. We say big fluffy purple cat, never purple fluffy big cat.
Also, people love to break what little rules it adheres to and claim “eh, it’s already broken, so let me do this dumb thing a little further because Alicia said it was hella fetch.” And that’s why people can’t pluralize “email” properly and why everyone under 40 knows no adverb but “literally”.
I learnt English as my second (technically third) language. Other two languages I know are written and spoken exactly the same.
So take it from me, French pronunciation can be baffling or straight up ridiculous at times. English has got nothing on it. I don’t care if French aren’t heureux at this comment.
They are baffling and ridiculous but they are consistent in that. Once you learn one baffling and ridiculous rule, you can successfully apply that rule to correctly pronounce almost any new word you’ve never encountered before. Eaux is a stupid fucking way of writing “o” to be sure, but at least you will always immediately know how to pronounce it without ever having to guess, or hear it from someone else. Meanwhile in English you write “read” but you pronounce it “read”.
There are of course exceptions, but show me one language in the world that has none.
I am now very competent in Spanish and making no progress in French. Real speakers sound nothing like the classroom. It’s so frustrating. I feel like the French are all mumbling with Nutella in their mouths, but my tutor is clear as a bell.
I know you ioke but French (or a common root language) shaped so much of what the English language is today it wouldn’t surprise me if French influence is why we have that in English as well
Your first mistake was to speak in a language which randomly decides to have some extra letters which it doesn’t pronounce.
Like english?
Yes, but much worse.
There’s nothing worse in terms of pronunciation than English. French is silly for writing twice as much as what’s pronounced, but at least it mostly follows some rules.
Doesn’t english just get that from being three languages in a trench coat?
One of which is French, yes.
The one at the bottom who is supposed to just fucking walk but keeps threatening the stability of the whole thing by randomly blurting out nonsense.
Statements dreamed by the utterly deranged.
They have played us for absolute fools.
I detest that meme, but you made me snort.
French was not supposed to be a real 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 D. Nicoll
This reads like Pratchett. Love it
What’s so wild is that, as a native speaker, there are SO many rules and edge cases and exceptions…. And I know them by heart without ever being told them explicitly. First example that comes to mind is the whole order of adjectives…. We say big fluffy purple cat, never purple fluffy big cat.
I can’t imagine trying to teach that or explain it in a way that would be satisfactory to someone learning English.
“I don’t KNOW, its just how we do it!”
If you can’t have a satisfactory explanation then at least you could have an unsatisfactory one from Tom Scott, and that’s the next best thing, right?
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I know… wild.
Lol! “what’s a big-cat?”
There’s small cat medium cat and big cat. Any cat clothes shop will tell you the same.
Also, people love to break what little rules it adheres to and claim “eh, it’s already broken, so let me do this dumb thing a little further because Alicia said it was hella fetch.” And that’s why people can’t pluralize “email” properly and why everyone under 40 knows no adverb but “literally”.
I learnt English as my second (technically third) language. Other two languages I know are written and spoken exactly the same.
So take it from me, French pronunciation can be baffling or straight up ridiculous at times. English has got nothing on it. I don’t care if French aren’t heureux at this comment.
They are baffling and ridiculous but they are consistent in that. Once you learn one baffling and ridiculous rule, you can successfully apply that rule to correctly pronounce almost any new word you’ve never encountered before. Eaux is a stupid fucking way of writing “o” to be sure, but at least you will always immediately know how to pronounce it without ever having to guess, or hear it from someone else. Meanwhile in English you write “read” but you pronounce it “read”.
There are of course exceptions, but show me one language in the world that has none.
An example I like is that alchemy didn’t turn lead to gold, but it did lead to chemistry.
Well, I learned English as my second and French as my third language, and I see it the other way around. Agree to disagree I guess.
I am now very competent in Spanish and making no progress in French. Real speakers sound nothing like the classroom. It’s so frustrating. I feel like the French are all mumbling with Nutella in their mouths, but my tutor is clear as a bell.
Spanish is that much easier than French? Interesting.
As a multilingual fluent Spanish speaker. Yes, yes it is.
Easier to pronounce once you know the rules, at least.
French literally has rules with more exceptions than things that apply to the rule.
I think that’s also the case in English with “I before E, except after C.”
“Or when sounded as A, as in neighbor and weigh.”
“Weird.”
“Dammit!”
I hate that wiener (giggity) obeys the rule but is pronounced like it should be weiner. At least that word doesn’t come up (giggity) too often.
That one’s because the word comes from Wien (Vienna), and in German you pronounce “ie” as “E” and “ei” as “I”. In English it’s a free-for-all!
I am currently learning French and what gets me is how much of the French language is contextual for its meaning
Like English?
I know you ioke but French (or a common root language) shaped so much of what the English language is today it wouldn’t surprise me if French influence is why we have that in English as well
It’s both. The Romans and later Christianity brought Latin influences, then the Normans brought French influences.
Worsechester?
wustah
Exactly like English!
Ouaïeux