Present Continues

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Glizdka

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I frequently (more often than not) hear my fellow Polish people pronounce continuous like how I would expect them to pronounce continues. I'm referring to the additional syllable in /kəntɪnjuəs/ that I wouldn't expect to hear in continues.

I thought it was just a common learner error, caused by the inability to replicate and/or distinguish /uə/ by beginners, but today I heard something interesting from an English teacher (non-native speaker). She said that it's similar to potato, either, and temperature - it has alternative pronunciations. It's fine to pronounce both continues and continuous the same way.

I doubt it; it doesn't make sense. Continues (v.) and continuous (adj.) are different parts of speech, and if their pronunciation was the same, that would be really confusing. Besides, what would be the reason for a difference in spelling? I don't know what to think. As an English teacher, she definitely uses the word continuous (for obvious reasons) disproportionately more often than an average glizdka does, so she must know what she's talking about, right?

If what she said is true, and continues and continuous can be pronounced the same, how does it affect the pronunciation of other, similarily sounding words, such as ambiguous?
 

GoesStation

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The teacher was wrong. The words have to be pronounced differently.
 

Yankee

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I, and I think most AmE speakers, pronounce them differently.
 

jutfrank

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All native speakers pronounce them differently. The teacher was talking rubbish.
 

Glizdka

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I am sad now. Given the mispronunciation is so common among my fellow Poles, I thought it was just another common learner error, but now, I'm afraid it's something much worse.

How often does an English teacher use the word continuous? If she mispronounces the word every single time, believing she's right, her students will remember that's the way it's pronounced, and replicate it. I assume she's not an isolated case, and many other teachers do the same thing; it's likely because most English teachers in Poland aren't native speakers of English. Blah, many of them haven't even been to an English-speaking country in their lives. If that's the reason the mispronunciation is so widespread, I might have just lost another bit of faith in humanity.

I hear continuous mispronounced /kontiɲius/ so often that I don't even correct anyone. I got used to it like how I got used to hearing other words being mispronounced. I just carry on pronouncing it the way I do. Ocassionally, someone notices it and asks me why my pronunciation is so weird, to which I simply reply "Because that's how it's pronounced".

Actually, this happens with more words than you'd think. There are many words that the majority mispronounces, making everyone think that's how they're pronounced. I sometimes get straight up laughed at for pronouncing certain words correctly, unlike the majority. The arguments I hear are usually equivalent to "That's how everyone pronounces it", and here, let me tell you, try not to sound like a condescending asshole when you are about to say "Then everyone's wrong". However, every once in a while, I hear "That's how my English teacher says it". It's difficult to tell whether that's how their teacher actually says it, or they remember it wrong. I usually give them the befit of the doubt; I know students tend to misquote what their teachers say.

Out of curiosity, I checked a few self-proclaimed "English teachers" on YouTube, those who are native speakers of Polish and talk about English in Polish on YouTube. 6 out of 7 I cared to check did pronounce the word continuous how I would expect them to pronounce continues, persistently throughout the video. All of their students are going to remember that's how the word is supposed to be pronounced.

I wonder how many times a student's said /kəntɪnjuəs/ only for their teacher to miscorrect them, or for their peers to laugh at them, ultimately convincing them they're wrong and converting them into one of many mispronouncers.

I was talking to said teacher about the continuous aspect when she noticed how I pronounce it and quizzaciously replicated it. The exchange went something like this.

Said Teacher: "/kəntɪnjus/, or /kəntɪnjuəs/ how you say it, is-"
Me: "Why 'how I say it'?"
ST: "You know you can pronounce it /kəntɪnjus/, right?"

OK. My rant's over. I'll go pee on my bed for comfort now.
 
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jutfrank

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I am sad now ... I might have just lost another bit of faith in humanity.

I'm sorry our answers have had such a profound effect on your spiritual wellbeing.

I would advise you to focus on all the wonderful things in the world, like chocolate brownies, the fragile and unique beauty of the snowflake, the smell of freshly-pumped gasoline ... and the lovely Susanna Hoffs from 1980s US pop-rock outfit The Bangles.

(Oh, and the simple pleasure of knowing that you're right.)
 

Glizdka

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... and the lovely Susanna Hoffs from 1980s US pop-rock outfit The Bangles.
She's already stuck in my head, you monster.

If you're a monster, but you're also my master, does it mean you're my manster or moster?
 

jutfrank

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If you're a monster, but you're also my master, does it mean you're my manster or moster?

Yes, it does, young Padawan. Yes, it does.
 
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