Comment on Should you copy a person's accent when pronouncing their name?
crypto@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks agoI’m told “écureuil” is an infamously hard word for non-natives. It’s funny that one of the hardest words to pronounce in English in my opinion is “squirrel”. At least for a beginner.
To answer your question, I was thinking about words with nasal vowels, which are non-existent in English.
“Enfant”, “informatique”, “un brin brun”
My own first name has a nasal vowel and in my experience talking to native English speakers, it’s seems like a challenge to them.
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Interestingly I don’t find the nasal vowels hard at all. In Écureuil (and other words that give me problems) it’s the “u” that is the hard part. It’s projected to a funny place in the mouth for me.
crypto@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Yes you’re right, I bet the French “u” is strange for an anglophone!
The sound I have the most trouble with in English is “th”. When I try it it kind of defaults to a “d”. In France they usually pronounce it like a “z” instead.