mimerim wrote:
Redwolf wrote:
I get seriously irritated when people who haven't a word of Irish insist that "it isn't pronounced the way it's spelled." Of course it is! Why do people assume that letters and letter combinations make the same sounds in all language? I don't hear English speakers grumbling about words like "ratatouille" and "tortilla" not being "pronounced the way they're spelled"...why pick on Irish in this regard?
Redwolf
People who grow up speaking English are just gonna have this bias. I should have mentioned that he and I have a nonstop banter about this (that there is no "right" way to pronounce letters, that all languages have different rules and English rules are no more or less confusing than Irish). He knows I'm right, but he likes to pick on me anyway. It's been his job since we were children in school. I'm constantly pointing out words to him in English--even simpler ones than the ones you mentioned. Like "sugar". Why do we say "shugar" ? Yet "suggest" has no sh sound. And anything ending in -ough. What is that?
And even though he continues to pick on me, he can't help but learn the words along with me and our kids. He's been sucked in, and he's intrigued. Just last night he was like, "Orange. What was orange? Oráiste?" HAHA!
What I don't get, though, is why English speakers in particular seem to have this bias. I don't think I've ever heard it from someone whose native language is something like French or Spanish.
I figured your husband's response was light-hearted...it's just something I hear a lot (in regards to Irish, but not to any other language), and I wonder what generates it.
Redwolf