Sad vs. said

[nyggus]

Hi:

Is the difference between pronunciation of "sad" and "said" very easy to hear?

Thanks,
Nyggus

[AlainK]

Hi Nyggus,

Yes, the same as between "bad" and "bed".

You can also try a text-to-speech engine, but if it is based on American pronunciation, they sound very similar.

For instance, here :
http://www.edict.com.hk/TextTospeech/TTStest.htm

If you choose "Adult male #1 ...", you won't hear any difference, but if you select "Mike", or "Mary", you will notice one.

[nyggus]

Thanks, AlainK. And here a funny thing follows. Consider then the two sentences:

1. "It is said that Amy is in love with John."
2. "It is sad that Amy is in love with John."

Don't you think that a non-native English speaker might have a problem with them?

Best wishes,
Nyggus

[AlainK]

1. "It is said that Amy is in love with John."
2. "It is sad that Amy is in love with John."

Don't you think that a non-native English speaker might have a problem with them?

To jest pravda, especially if you are doting on Amy

Alain

[nyggus]

To jest pravda, especially if you are doting on Amy
Alain

Hey, AlainK, this was nice to see it ! (By the way, it should be "prawda"; Polish "w" is prounanced a bit like English "v"). I am curious now, you know some more words?

Best,
Nyggus

[AlainK]

Hello nyggus,

Yes, I remember a few words from my childhood. Polacks scattered ewerywhere...
My father's name was "Krzyzyk" (funny name, isn't it ) until 1954, a year before I was born, he changed it to Krizic, which is much simpler to pronounce for the French. My parents used to speak Polish when they didn't want us to understand. That probably gave me an ear for foreign languages ...
My mother's family is from Zakopane, I went there in 1985 and it seemed half the population bear the same name there : Chyc.
At the time, there were words that you could easily learn for they were the most frequent you could hear in a shop : "brak", "niema",...
I wish I had the money to buy a chalet in the Tatra mountains, it's a wonderful place...

Alain

[j4mes_bond25]

Hey, AlainK, this was nice to see it ! (By the way, it should be "prawda"; Polish "w" is prounanced a bit like English "v"). I am curious now, you know some more words?
Best,
Nyggus

Such a difference in sound based on single "sound" are called Minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are pairs of words whose pronunciation differs at only one segment (vowel or consonant sound), such as sheep and ship, or lice and rice. They are often used in listening tests and pronunciation exercises.

To practice on both Vowel & Consonants sounds, try:

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/marl...ist/index.html

1. For vowel sound difference in words like "bad" (vowel sound "{", as in Sampa) and "bed" (vowel sound "e"):

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/marl...st/HADHEAD.TXT

2. For vowel sound difference in words like "leave" (long & stressed "i") and "live" (short & unstressed "I"):

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/marl...st/feetfit.txt

3. For vowel sound difference in words like "look" (short vowel) and "Luke" (long vowel):

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/marl...t/PULLPOOL.txt

[nyggus]

I wish I had the money to buy a chalet in the Tatra mountains, it's a wonderful place...

Well, Alain, indeed it is... Maybe we'll meet there sometime?
Nyggus