Guy goes to the doctor and says, Doc, I've got a problem! One day I feel like I'm a teepee, the next day I fee like I'm a wigwam. Teepee! Wigwam! Teepee! Wigwam!
Doctor says, Relax! You're two tents! (too tense!)
Behind this rather stupid joke (thanks Kid's Turn Central) you will find a device utterly common in English pronunciation. This very same device sounds utterly horrible when speaking Spanish.
I'll give you a clue. Plosive means 'sound produced by a total closure of the oral passage' (that would be your mouth). Epenthesis means 'insertion of a sound'. Second clue: there's no name for that thing in Spanish.
Theoretical mumbo jumbo will arrive in some post soon. In the meantime, I've entrusted one of my students with a little poll:
-Do the words 'tense' and 'tents' sound alike when said by a native English speaker?
-Do the words 'tense' and 'tents' sound alike when said by a native Spanish speaker?
What do you think?
If you don't want to miss the answer to this week's mystery riddle, subscribe to the Spanish 101 RSS feed. If you want to insult me for abusing bold letters, send me a mail, or leave a comment below.
16 July 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Yes they sound alike in English, no they do not sound alike in Spanish.
Here's my take:
At least to General American they would sound exactly the same. Some native speakers may say they sound different but most likely they are only seeing the letters in their head as they say the two words, imagining a difference.
As for when they are said by a native Spanish speaker, the problem infinitely varies depending on the person's level of fluency in English. So the answer can be either yes or no.
What do you think?
Interestingly, I thought that I would say them both quite differently, enunciating distinctly. So I took them to my husband, a spaniard, on a sheet of paper and asked him how he would say them. He pronounced them very distinctly but I promptly repeated them and they came out sounding quite the same. Was that they way it was supposed to come out? : )
Well, yes! You are all right. I've just posted part II, with a detailed explanation.
Post a Comment