The word height can be quite difficult for non-native speakers because they are tempted to pronounce it in the same way as the word hate. However, there is a clear difference: hate is pronounced as [heɪt], listen here, height is pronounce as [haɪt], listen here. For me, a simple way to remember the correct pronunciation
The pronunciation of the titles lieutenant and colonel, given to selected army and police officers, respectively, is both challenging and interesting. First, the British and American pronunciations are very different in the case of lieutenant. In British English, the pronunciation is [lefˈtenənt], see and listen here, whereas in American English it is [luːˈtenənt]. Second, colonel
Here are two rather false friends which are quite common among German native speakers. False friend #1: Greet Vienna from us! This is not the proper English phrase, but a false friend based on the German expression Grüße Wien von uns! More generally, the German “jemanden grüßen lassen” translates into the English expression “to send/give
@GrammarGirl @BryanAGarner In German it is quite common among pregnant women to abbreviate “Schwangerschaft” (pregnancy) as SS. — painfulenglish (@painfulenglish) June 18, 2013
The definite article the is the most often used English word, see here. However, even though it only has three letters, its pronunciation can be tricky. There are three different pronunciations, the so-called weak forms [ðə] and [ði], and the strong form [ði:]. You can listen to all three forms here. The is most often
The words price [praɪs] (listen here) and prize [praɪz] (listen here) sound and look quite similar, but have very different meanings. Therefore, make sure that you do not confuse them when writing about any prestigious prizes you won, for example, in a cover letter for a job application. Since both words exist in the English
Here are some false friends that are quite common among German native speakers. When talking about academic fields such as Physics, Mathematics or Genetics, you can quite often hear and read the false friends ‘Physic’, ‘Mathematic’ and ‘Genetic’, because in German the correct names do no have an s at the end: Physik, Mathematik and
Although I love the English language, I do not appreciate the (unnecessary) overuse of English words in German. Hence, I try to avoid words such as Beamer (Projektor), Handy (Mobiltelefon) or Headset (Kopfhörer). Today, I overheard two inspiring conversations featuring anglicisms I had not heard before. The first was Wir können ja wieder disconnecten referring
The German word ‘Karte’ is used with many different meanings. This fact often leads to confusion among German native speakers, because they use the potential false friend ‘card’ when they speak English. Here are two good examples: Karte (or Speisekarte) [False friend] This is a true classic. Just last week, the waiter in a posh
Most scientists are very familiar with the name and work of Richard Feynman. Among his many achievements and contributions, let me mention Feynman diagrams, the Feynman path integral (an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics), and his work on quantum electrodynamics for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. Feynman is not only