Speaking 'properly' & the French

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman"
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:

> SSSusan:
> We have absolutely *butchered* some of the original pronunciations in 
> Indiana.  There is a town named Versailles, which of course any self-
> respecting person would WANT to pronounce in its French form ("vehr-
> sigh" is the best I can come up with for phonetics).  But, OH no.  
> Here Hoosiers feel compelled to call it "vehr-SALES."  There is also 
> a tendency to pronounce Brazil, Indiana, as "Bray-zil." ::shudder::
> 
> Siriusly Snapey Susan

bboyminn:

I hate to trash the French and their language, but I've never seen
another language where words are pronounce so differently than they
are spelled. What is the purpose of all those letters in a word if not
to lend a clue as to how the word is pronounced? 

Example:  bour·geois (boor-zhwä) [should sound similar to 'gorgeous'
but with a 'B' instead of the first 'G', and an odd inflection on the
second 'G'.]

Ok, I can get the odd 'G' pronunciation, just like I can get that
'J'='H' in Spanish (Juan = Hwan or Jesus = Hey-sous), but how on earth
does 'eois' become 'wa'. 

My heartiest congradulations to any non-French person who has manage
to learn to read and speak the French language.

I think the Thia and the Lao have the right idea, they have one letter
for every sound (something like 40+ letters in the alphabet), so if
you can say it, you can spell it, and if you can spell it, you can say it.

Don't want to start a war, just thinking out loud.

Steve/bboyminn