Freelance

[brennan]

Hi, may i know how to pronounce freelance?

is there difference between AmE pronunciation and BrE pronunciation??

[BobK]

Originally Posted by brennan

Hi, may i know how to pronounce freelance?
is there difference between AmE pronunciation and BrE pronunciation??

/'fri:la:ns/

I'm not aware of any major difference in pronunciation - though maybe, now I think of it, the second vowel is more of an /æ/ in AmE, and longer than BE /æ/ (and there are lots of tiny differences that I couldn't describe although I could recognize them ).

Incidentally, there are several sorts of 'AmE pronunciation'; most British people can distinguish between East Coast, West Coast, and Southern accents. I imagine native speakers of AmE can distinguish many more.

b

[brennan]

Originally Posted by BobK

/'fri:la:ns/

Sorry I do not understand phonetic (should I say it is phonetic?) well.

My speaking dictionary pronounces 'free'+'lands' but I heard a lot of people saying 'free'+'lungs' in my country.

which one is correct?
1. 'free' + 'lands' (sound like lands)
2. 'free' + 'lungs' (sound like lungs)

[Englishuser]

It is /frilæns/ in American English, but in many dialects such as California English, and Northern English /æ/ is pronounced as [eƏ] or [iƏ] before nasals.
It is not free+lands, but rather free-lance.
The free+lungs one cracks me up. :)

[Englishuser]

most British people can distinguish between East Coast, West Coast, and Southern accents.

There isn't really a "West Coast accent". California English is rather different than that of Washington and Oregon. Most of the rest of the Western US other than California, extending all the way to Western Texas has a very homogenous accent. Also, many parts of the North (excluding the Northeast, and those areas strongly affected by the Northern Cities vowel shift) and the Midlands have accents that are fairly similar to the Western accents.

[brennan]

Originally Posted by Englishuser

It is not free+lands, but rather free-lance.
The free+lungs one cracks me up. :)

I meant it sounds like 'free' + 'lands' (not exactly 100% pronouce as lands, but close to the pronunciation of lands)

the problem is I have no idea how lance is pronouced.

Please help..thank you

[safeenranj]

[quote=brennan;150819]Hi, may i know how to pronounce freelance?

is there difference between AmE pronunciation and BrE pronunciation??[/qu ote]

[BobK]

Originally Posted by brennan

Sorry I do not understand phonetic (should I say it is phonetic?) well.

My speaking dictionary pronounces 'free'+'lands' but I heard a lot of people saying 'free'+'lungs' in my country.

which one is correct?
1. 'free' + 'lands' (sound like lands)
2. 'free' + 'lungs' (sound like lungs)

This page gives you an audio link for an AmE pronunciation: freelance definition - Dictionary - MSN Encarta
This doesn't sound anything like the British English version, but the fact that you mentioned 'free-lands' (with the [æ] vowel) tells me that that wouldn't interest you.

The trouble with not knowing any phonetic symbols, especially if you are learning English in a non-native environment, is that it means you are a prey to approximations (like 'free-lands') and misinformation (like 'free-lungs'); crucially, it means that you can't use a dictionary properly. When you buy a dictionary, you pay for this information, so learn to process it!

[Many years ago, when I was first learning French, my teacher made us learn enough phonetic symbols to get by in French.. We thought it was a waste of time, and resented it. How wrong we were!.End of sermon ]

b

[brennan]

thanks BobK