Re: Learning a language

From: Rex F. May (rex.may_at_comcast.net)
Date: 06/30/04 

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 14:54:09 GMT

in article 20040630100148.11581.00000850@mb-m11.aol.com, Dmitri at
uiesperanto@aol.com wrote on 6/30/04 8:01 AM:

>> From: "Rex F. May"
>
>>> Why don't you find it hard for English speakers to perceive a French
>>> "r" as an (English) "r", not an "h"?
>>>
>> Because, as an English speaker, I do indeed perceive it as an 'r.'
>
> Maybe because you were taught that it's "the French 'r'"? A friend of mine is
> a native Arabic speaker, and he thinks of it as the voiced counterpart of "kh"
> (ghayn in arabic).
>
Partly, I'm sure. But the fact that they're historically related may mean
there's some sort of similarity we can't put our finger on. I mean, at some
point French abandoned the trilled r for the uvular version, so, it seems,
they must have -something- in common.

Actually, I can make a Mandarin r (or at least the teacher said I was making
it okay), the South Midlands r (Festus), a single-tap trilled r, and a
uvular r. However, despite trying for 40-odd years, I can't roll a damn r.

And, yes, this ghayn shows up occasionally in Urdu, in Arabic loans, and I
remember in class just using my old French r for it and sounding just fine.