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I Know that the letters "J, K, W, X, Y" Foreign in the Italian Language but they have their own different Pronunciation.

What are the Foreign Letters for English and what is their Pronunciation?

2007-07-08 09:43:33 · 4 answers · asked by ? 4 in Society & Culture Languages

4 answers

A number of non-English letters appear in writing some words that have been borrowed in English: for example:-

the French symbols:
é - as in fiancé/fiancée
ê, à - as in tête-à-tête
ç - as in "garçon!"

the Spanish symbol: ñ as in "mañana", "señor/señora"

All of the foregoing are pronounced more or less as in their original languages.

the Greek diphthongs: æ, œ: as in anæmia, manœuver (although in modern spelling these letters are usually written separately: anaemia, manoeuver).
æ - is pronouncued /ī/ like the I in "machine";
the word "manœuver" is pronounced "man-ū-ver.

The word "hors-d'œuvres", however, is pronounced as in French.

2007-07-08 10:00:04 · answer #1 · answered by GrahamH 7 · 2 0

English is one of only three languages that CAN be spelled with JUST the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet.

But we don't actually so restrict ourselves. Any letter with a diacritic is foreign. The ones that actually appear at all often in English are the grave, acute, and circumflex accents on French-derived vowels and less often the (acute) accent on Spanish-derived vowels, the curl under C that makes it a French cedilla, and increasingly the tilde on n in borrowed Spanish.

On the other hand, when Lech Walesa of Poland was in the news, we never or virtually never put the curl under the second E that accounted for our pronouncing it Lek WaleNsa.

And come to think of it, I suppose CH when pronounced as in Loch or Bach is foreign for American English speakers. (Obviously not for Scots.)

Incidentally, we don't THINK of having "foreign letters for English." I'm fascinated that Italian speakers do have a conscious list.

Oh, as for pronunciation: Sometimes we approximate the original using English sounds, sometimes we go with what the spelling makes it look like the pronunciation ought to be based on analogy with existing English words. If you care for a specific case, check a "collegiate" or larger dictionary. Except for the Bach-type CH, we never use non-English pronunciations, and even that is VERY often pronounced as K.

P.S. Despite the other Answer, "hors d'oeuvres" is pronounced only approximately as in French. Dervs does NOT= dXvr's! (where X is one of those French vowels English is not afflicted or blessed with)

2007-07-08 09:54:53 · answer #2 · answered by georgetslc 7 · 2 0

See in eastern the sentence shape is S O V this is situation merchandise Verb. English is often S V O. situation Verb merchandise truly. the awesome eastern could be: watashi no ohi desu. translating that directly to english could be: (inferred: that) + my + ohi) + is. (btw i don't be attentive to what an ohi is, so i purely refer to it as ohi) in case you translate immediately from english to eastern of right here assertion: this is my pencil. the end result could be: sore + wa + desu + watashi + no + enpitsu. the awesome order could be: sore + wa + watashi + no + enpitsu + desu. So, in different words, direct translation from structurally diverse languages is purely beside the point.

2016-10-01 03:55:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

all leters are foreign for Eglish

2007-07-08 11:37:52 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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