Spitting it out

Categories: language, words

Date: 22 January 2008 19:11:31

Yesterday, I mentioned the difficulty of articulating unfamiliar sounds in Russian. It seems that I am not the only one in the choir finding this a challenge. I overheard some fellow singers discussing the problem in the ladies' loo after our rehearsal the other day. (I mention the location, gentle reader, not because I feel it adds anything much to what I am about to relate, but merely because I want you to understand that I do not, as a general rule, eavesdrop on other people's conversations. In this particular case, I was, as you might realise, something of a - ahem - captive audience.)

Singing lady 1: I'm quite enjoying this music.
Singing lady 2: Yes, it's already grown on me, too.
Singing lady 1: It's going to be difficult to get the words right, though.
Singing lady 2: I know, the pronounciation is really difficult.

Displaying unbelievable external self-control, Kerensa restrained herself from commenting. I cannot tell you, gentle reader, why the English language has: pronounce, pronouncing, pronouncement but proNUNciation. It may be easily explained; on the other hand, it may be one of those great mysteries in life. The fact is that when it is mispronounced the effect on me is like the sound of chalk screeching down a blackboard or the winking eye effect one experiences when sucking lemons.

I remember being absolutely horrified once when a colleague, with a brain like a planet, who translated a mere nine languages, once mispronounced “pronunciation”. I nearly suffered a cardiac arrest, on the realisation that he, the man known as the Meisterübersetzer, could make such a mistake! I pointed it out to him as humbly as I could. His reaction initially was a breezy “Oh, it must be one of those words with two pronounciations” [More electric bolts through my delicate bod]. Upon checking it in the dictionary, I heard him say “Oh. Haaarm. Aaaah.” He never mispronounced it [within my hearing anyway] again.

And now I've got that off my chest, I think I'll go for a little rest. I'm feeling quite weak.