Re: How to Make Chicken Cacciatore (was: phonetics by guesswork)

Philippe wrote: "Not at all. The problem is not that there may be different
way for Germans to pronounce "Bach". The problem comes from the fact that
French journalists are illiterate, and haven't the faintest idea about
whatever possible pronunciation for "Bach". Or maybe they have no ears at
all. This is something completely different.

French has no [x], so wouldn't Francophones just convert the [x] to
something they know how to pronounce - i.e., [k]?

"Please note that in grammars, you normally can read at least two examples
in two different foreign languages about the pronunciation of Russian "x".
That's why I mentioned "like j in navaja or like ch in Bach" (one might
probably add Arabic examples too). But if somebody wants to learn Russian
and you explain him that "x" is an uvular cacciatorive, ehm, I mean
fricative, or an epiglottal bilabial thrill, you may be right (or not), but
you usually won't help him to go one inch further.

Actually, Russian <x> is a voiceless velar fricative. And with a dictionary
to look up the technical terms, you'll know how to pronounce the sound
exactly (even if you might not be able to in reality...) rather than having
to guess its pronunciation (cf. Spanish <j> is pronounced differently in
different places, so how would you know which pronunciation is intended?).
This is why learning some new terms is better than not learning those terms
but just guessing at the sound's pronunciation...

"I haven't the faintest idea about what are such animals."

http://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html

Cheers,

T

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
--Chinese proverb

"I tried so hard and got so far,
But in the end,
It doesn't even matter,
I had to fall,
To lose it all,
But in the end,
It doesn't even matter."
--In The End, Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory