Re: Learning a language

From: LEE Sau Dan (danlee_at_informatik.uni-freiburg.de)
Date: 07/01/04 

Date: 01 Jul 2004 10:15:06 +0200

>>>>> "Rex" == Rex F May <rex.may@comcast.net> writes:

    Rex> in article 20040630100148.11581.00000850@mb-m11.aol.com,
    Rex> 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).
>>
    Rex> Partly, I'm sure.

Yeah, that's quite logical. (BTW, how is the Arabic "r" pronounced?)

    Rex> But the fact that they're historically related may mean
    Rex> there's some sort of similarity we can't put our finger on.
    Rex> I mean, at some point French abandoned the trilled r for the
    Rex> uvular version, so, it seems, they must have -something- in
    Rex> common.

At some point?

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

You mean the American "r"? I find it strange, then, as it is pretty
similar to the Mandarin "r". 

-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     +Z05biGVm-                          ~{@nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee

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