How many words in this sentence can you pronounce correctly?

[TaiwanPofLee]

How many words in this sentence can you pronounce correctly without consulting an English dictionary with phonemic symbols?

Colonel Nguyen possesses voluptuous suites and relishes Belizean recipes.

Note: Nguyen ranks the 57th most common surname in the United States.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_common_surnames_in_North_America

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, apart from Nguyen (which is not an English word), all of them, of course. It's my native language! I assume you were not directing this question at native English speakers.

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

Thank you for your response, Emsr2d2.

I'm directing this question at all English speakers.

By the way, how are you going to ascertain the pronunciation of "Nguyen"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, I have a slightly unfair advantage in that I used to work at an airport dealing with passengers of all nationalities so I already know how it's pronounced. If I had never heard it, I would probably guess at "Uhn-guy-enn" or something.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Thank you for your response, Emsr2d2.

I'm directing this question at all English speakers.

Yes, we can generally pronounce words without looking them up. (Ems is right, some people might look up Nguyen. But I'll just assume it's pronounced a lot like it's spelled, since there's no need for me to know for sure.)

It's interesting that Nguyen is that common here. I like the Wiki list you posted.

Why do you ask?

 

[MikeNewYork]

All of them except Nguyen. And I am not bothered by the exception.

 

[emsr2d2]

If I stumble across a word I don't know (doesn't happen very often), I look it up in a dictionary to find out the definition. I never look at the pronunciation, partly because I don't understand phonetic symbols but also because, even though English isn't a phonetic language, I am confident that I can make a very good guess as to its pronunciation. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw an English word and thought "Hmm, I have no idea how to pronounce that".

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

Well, I have a slightly unfair advantage in that I used to work at an airport dealing with passengers of all nationalities so I already know how it's pronounced. If I had never heard it, I would probably guess at "Uhn-guy-enn" or something.

Why don't you consult an English dictionary with phonemic symbols?

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

To Charlie (#5):

I ask because I advocate teaching and learning of phonetic symbols.

 

[emsr2d2]

Why don't you consult an English dictionary with phonemic symbols?

Well, for a start, "Nguyen" wouldn't appear in an English dictionary (nor would an English surname). Furthermore, as I said in post #7, I can't read/understand those symbols, nor do I feel the need to know for certain how to pronounce a word, especially if I think I can make a very good guess at it on my own. If I was really stuck, I would consult Forvo and see if another native speaker had recorded a pronunciation for me to listen to.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

To Charlie (#5):

I ask because I advocate teaching and learning of phonetic symbols.

Oh. But we know how those words sound. We already speak English fluently.

Asian names aren't usually hard because they're either spelled more or less phonetically (Nguyen is a good example) or so badly spelled that there's no hope - like Peking versus Beijing.

European names are the trickiest for us, because the phonetic rules of the alphabet change across borders. For instance:

Italian: I knew a guy named Lenny Bisceglia - pronounced Bi-SHELL-ee.

Polish: I knew a guy named Dave Pizcz, pronounced Peesh, and an Ed Lachowicz, pronounced La-HO-vich.

French: Here in Maine, there are a lot of French Canadians. Cloutier is pronounced CLOO-chee, CLOOT-yay, and CLOOT-ee-er.​

I'm like Ems: If I look up a word, it's for the meaning, not the pronunciation.

 

[MikeNewYork]

You have brought up the major reason that phonemic symbols don't help much with surnames.

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

pronounce names:

http://www.pronouncenames.com/

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

pronounce names:

http://www.pronouncenames.com/

Nice!

In the U.S., we don't spell Chin Qin. We spell it Chin.

Euler is a fun one. I had a math homework assignment of creating an Euler circle and line:

Euler circle and line

Coincidentally, there's a new best-selling American novel by someone named Nguyen. Now I'm going to see it everywhere!

 

[MikeNewYork]

The website says that "Euler" is pronounced "oiler" but is also pronounced "you ler".

 

[Roman55]

I noticed that 'oiler' pronunciation, too. I'm not familiar with the surname Euler but I naturally pronounced it (in my head) as "you ler".

 

[emsr2d2]

I would assume it was German and because I'm familiar with German pronunciation, I would say "oiler" (or, more accurately, "oil-air"). However, it wouldn't surprise me if someone (who isn't German/Austrian/Swiss) with that surname Anglicised it and pronounced it "yoo-ler".

 

[TaiwanPofLee]

Won't it be better if UK and USA each have standard pronunciation and a unified phonetic system to represent the sounds of English words, including names.

 

[MikeNewYork]

With the variation in pronunciation of surnames, how could that be possible? There is also the variation in regional pronunciations of regular words.

 

[emsr2d2]

[STRIKE]Won't[/STRIKE] Wouldn't it be better if the UK and the USA each [STRIKE]have[/STRIKE] had standard pronunciation and a unified phonetic system to represent the sounds of English words, including names?

In my opinion, no. It is one of the joys of the English language that we have such varied accents and pronunciations. I realise that makes it much harder for non-native speakers but hey, everyone likes a challenge!

In addition, as you have already seen, most of us don't learn pronunciation from phonetic symbols. They are simply not taught at school or in the home. We learn by listening and by hearing words around us all the time from an early age.