The correct pronunciation of th seems to be one of the bigger challenges for people who want to learn the English language. Apart from the fact that the pronunciation of th varies from word to word, some of the sounds associated with th do not exist in other languages, and may therefore be difficult or
Following up on my previous post about Edinburgh, I want to discuss the English pronunciation of Berlin. According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, the pronunciation is [bɜː’lɪn], suggesting that (1) the r is not pronounced, even in American English, (2) the stress is on the second syllable (many German speakers stress the first syllable when
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a wonderful place, but its name can cause quite some problems, especially when it comes to pronunciation. As a result, you can hear many different variations, both by native and non-native speakers. According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, the standard British pronunciation of Edinburgh is [,edɪnbərə], in agreement with
While my blog is usually concerned with the English language, today I want to mention a topic for advanced learners of German. In Germany (but not usually in Austria and Switzerland), it is quite common to abbreviate the word einen with ‘nen (the apostrophe is not always used, but is required since it indicates that
In the context of languages, the term false friend refers to the incorrect use of a word in one language that is identical or very similar in terms of spelling to a word in another language. Of course, because of the common origin of many languages, there are many true friends, namely words that are
Whereas the German word homogen is rather straight forward to pronounce, the English equivalent, homogeneous, is slightly trickier. Oxford English suggests [ˌhɒməˈdʒiːniəs] (British English) and [ˌhoʊməˈdʒiːniəs] (American English), see and listen here. On the other hand, the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary includes the following possibilities: British English: [ˌhɒməʊˈdʒiːniəs] (used by 75% of the speakers) [ˌhoʊməʊˈdʒiːniəs] (used
Use of the name Dirac and the words honeycomb and ribbon has grown almost exponentially since the experimental realization of graphene (stressed on the second syllable) in 2004. Because of its shape, the hexagonal pattern in which carbon atoms are arranged in graphene is called a honeycomb lattice. On such a lattice, electrons near the
I have previously mentioned an example of a major company falling into the literal translation trap in a presentation, see here. Today, I came across another such case, and the victim (or culprit?) is BMW. On their Facebook page, a presumably German employee translated the German expression “Ideallinie” as “ideal line”, although the correct English
The word please is very important when you try to be polite, and hence plays a central role in the British culture. However, it is often used incorrectly by German native speakers, and can be classified as a false friend related to the German word “Bitte”. Please vs. Welcome My first example is the use
The adjectives discreet and discrete can easily be confused in writing, for various reasons. First, when typing quickly, the second e may just slip in before the t. Because both words exist, this mistake will not be detected by the spell checker. However, in addition, the pronunciation of discreet and discrete is identical, see here