Do u Americans differentiate between these words easily or are they difficult for u too?

Question

Words like :
pin -bin
six-sex
tin-ten
hole-hall
Because for me , these words and many more , are the same . I wouldn't know the difference if I hear them . And I sure wouldn't know how to pronounce them differently . Ofcourse I know the difference in meaning , but I am talking about the pronunciation .
Usually , I tell them apart from the context , but if they were pronounced in isolation , I wouldn't know anything .
Is it the same with you ?

Answer 1

I remember from my previous psychology class that children under a year old can hear all the different sounds but then gradually pick up those they hear in their culture and lose the rest. Asians have difficulty hearing the difference between the "R" sound and the "L" sound. Americans often are unable to tell the difference between the two different types of 'T' sounds in India.

Brains become wired differently over time. Human faces, for example, are often remarkably identical but we are able to easily discern between them. Animal faces often have just as much variation but most people can't tell the difference. Whether it's sounds, faces or even a forest terrain, our ability to discern depends on what we learn to tune into.

Answer 2

It depends on the accent. I'm from Texas orginally and all those sound different in my accent and in a Texas accent (while I'm from Texas, my accent is fairly region-neutral for the US).

In the first one, "pin" has an aspirated "p" in American English; meaning you can hear/feel a puff of air on the "p" sound. Also "p" isn't said with the voice, while "b" is. From what I understand, these would probably sound very similar in a South African accent. For most people from the US, however, the difference in the sound of those two words is very obvious.

Some will say the vowel in "six" more like the vowel in "sex," but it's a regional thing. Most people in the US would hear them/say them differently.

Same thing with "tin" and "ten," some regional accents pronounce this words the same, but most don't in the US (same thing with "pin" and "pen" in American English, by the way).

As for "hole" and "hall," it's rare for them to be pronounced the same in American English. You might find some people up in the Northeast (like in Maine) who would pronounce them similarly, but the difference on this one is very obvious for people from the US.

Hope that's what you were looking for.

Answer 3

pin-bin: p and b are essentially the same except with "p" a puff of air comes out and "b" not.

I find that people think I say "tarot" when I say "parot".

six-sex: A really lazy or drawled out "six" would sound almost like "sex" though properly pronounced they should sound quiet different.

tin-ten: sound pretty much the same and depend on context.
We don't use tin much anymore so that helps.

hole-hall: aren't the same but could sound that way in some British and perhaps southern US accents.

I pronounce "seal" and "sill" the same according to my southern US dialect but it is not supposed to be so, according to the dictionary. I am totally unable to pronounce these in a different way.

Also, according to my dialect I pronounce boil sounding like bowl. I did finally figure out the "proper" way to pronounce "boil" but feel that I should not as it's not my native dialect.

To show you how hard it can be though, I was walking through Arkansas one day and some boys said "purt day et it". It took me a second to figure out that it was "pretty day ain't it" or " pretty day isn't it". Ain't is a middle or old English term still used for "is not".

Answer 4

As English speaking Americans it's impossible for us to NOT differentiate between these words and they often DON'T sound similar to us. This is not becuase they're so easy, but as Americans, we've grown up using the language that these words are native to. Similarly, there are sounds in other languages that Ameicans find impossible to pronounce, and equally impossible to even hear. For example, there are different "T" sounds in various Indo-European languages that Americans can only vaguely approximate, though we can fake it as far as pronouncing them goes. So, in answer to your question, no...as an American we can instantly hear the distinctions between these words, even when they're slurred or said in lazy and unclear ways, and as someone who speaks English as your second language, you will learn to make distinctions with practice, just give yourself time to digest the differences.

In regard to "tin and ten" this is possibly the only one, that COULD conceivably cause some confusion among Americans, but even then, they sound different even if the vowel is pronounced the same, only because even lazy Americans or Americans who haven't learned pronunciation carefully will STILL make distinctions that native English speakers WILL pick up. For example "Ten" may be pronounced "TEE-yen" where as "tin" will most likely be pronounced "Tihn," but again, Americans can pick these distinctions out because we've been dealing with English since before we first learned to speak as little children.

Answer 5

I don't have too much trouble with it...I don't really know whether I'm just subconciously figuring the meaning or not though.

hole-hall
I think that this one is an accent thing. The British accent makes "hall" sound more like the english word "hole"

tin-ten
Again, this is an accent thing...some country accents in the US pronounce ten like tin.

pin-bin
these are very similar...the letter b simply represents the prounced form of p...so they are very similar, consequently, the sound similar enough that i don't think I would hesitate in telling which one was supposed to be used.

Answer 6

It's generally easy to tell them apart. If a person talks really softly or muffled, it may be difficult, as with all words, but otherwise it's pretty easy to tell them apart. If you hang around English speakers enough, I'm sure that eventually you'll be able to hear the difference also. Just be persistent.

Answer 7

Can be hard if they are isolated, but like you said.... can try to tell from the context of the conversation. It will come to ya. Also, it can be difficult depending on what part of the country you are in, different parts have different accents.

Answer 8

I have no problem with them but English is the only language I am fluent in