ah, prononciation

(pro-nohn-seeah-seeohn)

I think our teacher often wonders why we consistently pronounce the same words incorrectly again and again. The reason is that we are actually pronouncing them correctly, or at least half correctly, in English. I have been told that 60% of the French language is also in English. However, none of those words are actually pronounced the same way and they are rarely spelled the same way either. If you see more and more errors popping up here on my blog, it's probably because I accidentally pulled the spelling out of the French part of my brain rather than the English part.

On Sunday my professor had a friend and her son visiting so they went to church with us. When they found out that I am from the US, the mother said that her son had been reading a book about a boy in the US. I asked her where in the US. Based on her incomprehensible response, I assumed that she either had misunderstood my question or the book had placed the boy in some remote village in the hills of Arkansas. But then my professor said something about "la grande ville des voitures" (The big auto city) and I suddenly realized what her friend had said- Detroit! But she had of course pronounced it the French way because the French are incapable of pronouncing it the English way. It is truly a nightmare for them. Here is why:

D-so far, so good. They've got the same D as us.
e- uh oh. The first e is never pronounced "ee" unless it is an accent (é). It is always pronounced somewhere between "e" and "uh"
t- the same
r- major uh oh. The French can not pronounce an American r to save their life. Especially after a t, it sounds much more like our w. But not really even that.
oi- this combination is always pronounced "wah"
t- the same.

So what she said was more or less "dutwat." And that was a word I supposedly know!
This, ladies and gentlemen, is my everyday life.