In an earlier thread we were discussing whether or not it matters if your pronunciation of another language is not very good, and it generated a sub-topic of how RS pronounces names and places himself.
Today's Merriam-Webster word of the day happens to be 'affluent' and this is how they list the pronunciation:
adjective | AF-loo-unt
but Rick always says ~a-FLOO-int~
Maybe we should just agree that either way is ok? (note that I said EYE-ther and not ee-ther)
I try to turn a deaf ear to a lot of Rick's pronounciations. On a generous day, I chalk it up to his sense of humour. However, I should be more tolerant, as I am sure I am butchering many a pronounciation in a foreign language and they tend to be generous about it. I have no idea how I'll do in SE Asian countries where differences between meanings and words are very slight inflections.
Have you ever imagined the stunned slightly open mouthed look you have when someone says 3 words, all different meanings, clearly different to their ear but it all sounds the same (and unrepeatable) to you? That will be me....often...
Not everyone has an ear for languages, nor even the ability to mimic the phrases they hear. Kudos to anyone for even trying, which I think takes courage - especially when you may know it's not your strength.
You say 'to- may-to' I say 'to-mah-to'. :)
I have no ear for languages, or music. I’ve read it is related. Anyway, I do try to learn a few words before traveling and sometimes i am successful. Other times I sound like Norm Crosby.
Cw social, yes!! I have been working on Spanish since high school using every sort of tool, and only have a handful of words with which I'm confident. It's like cracking a black walnut sometimes to pull it out of my head.
However, for the next poster, I would disprove it being the same skill as music retention. I have centuries of musicology in my brain, perhaps blocking access to my Spanish vocabulary
Maybe he just doesn't want to sound too pedantic. Some people get hung up on the fear of travel to non-English speaking countries because of the language issues, and maybe he wants to put them at ease.
There has long been an academic argument over whether dictionaries should be the reference guide for pronunciation, or should just document the way words are actually pronounced by the people.
Stan is right -- and on the continuum of prescriptive vs. descriptive functions of a dictionary, the Merriam Webster staff have a reputation for being towards the laissez-faire end of the spectrum -- when there are alternate usages and pronunciations, they are happy to include them,
so it is especially notable, as I noted above, that their pronunciation guide for 'affluent' does not include the Rick Steves version. I'm with them on this one -- I don't really agree that either way is ok.
