Speaking 'properly' & the French

[Karen Barker]

> 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 
> notto 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 did French 'O' level (OWL, LOL!!) when I was 16 at school, and 
while I can see exactly what you are saying - how on earth does eois 
sound like 'wa', all I can say in it's defence is at least it ALWAYS 
does sound like 'wa' (at least it always did in the basic minimum 
that you need to pass French 'O'Level!).  In English 'bow' 
and 'bough' both sound the same, but 'bough' sounds nothing 
like 'rough' or 'enough'.  Imagine being French and trying to learn 
English with that sort of deal going on!!!

Another thing that I've often wondered about when pondering the 
mysteries of English is if you take something apart you 'dismantle' 
it, but if you build something up you don't 'mantle' it.  If 
something is out of date it's defunct, but something current isn't 
funct (unless it's broken - sorry, couldn't resist!!).  There are 
loads of others I could bore you with but I'll spare you!

Karen