Pronunciations (Re: Does Viktor Krum become an important character?)

[ginnysthe1]

No: HPFGUIDX 118915


>"Paula \"Elanor Pam\"" <elanorpam at y...>
> wrote:
> > The point of this linguistical crap: Krum can't say
> > Hermione. That's NOT his
> > fault. His system just can't create certain sounds.

Juli <jlnbtr at y...> replied: 
> I completely agree with you, I learnt English and
> Spanish at the same age (when I was a toddler), and
> even if I hear Spanish all day and it's my native
> language I can't pronounce the 'R', and I've tried.
> The same happened when I lived in France they couldn't
> pronounce the Spanish 'J'. I think Viktor did try to
> learn the pronunciation, he just isn't capable:
> language is learnt before the age 7, whatever sound
> you try to learn afterward it's just plain impossible
> (well, maybe not impossible but extremely difficult).

Now Kim:
My sense is that Viktor might have done a better job 
pronouncing "Hermione" in reality, but that JKR was just making a 
little fun of the situation.  I think in one of her interviews she 
was delighted at the way even native-English speakers had problems 
pronouncing the name Hermione, and maybe she wanted to put something 
funny like it in the book.  

Nevertheless, I definitely agree that it's hard for every learner of 
a foreign language to pronounce every sound correctly, partly 
because, as you've all said, those particular sounds don't exist in 
the learner's native language, so their tongue gets tied up trying to 
make the new sound, and partly because they also don't hear the 
sound's difference from a similar sound in their native language 
(also as someone said previously).

I've studied quite a few languages over the years and I never became 
even close to native-sounding when I spoke them.  But I did improve 
with time and practice.  The language I was "most native" at was 
Spanish because I started it at the earliest age (age 12).  I think 
the capacity to learn a second language fluently and to sound like a 
native really starts to diminish after the age of 12 (if I recall 
what I heard in linguistics class correctly).

A third thing that may happen for a foreign speaker is something I 
witnessed teaching English to Chinese students.  They had the hardest 
time with the (American) English "th" sound because it required them 
to stick their tongues out between their teeth and they thought doing 
that was rude!  I told them it wouldn't look rude to English native-
speakers, but no go!  They'd try everything they could to make the 
sound without sticking out their tongues (e.g. using "f" or "t" 
instead) so finally I just gave up.  A word's context tends to be 
more important for being understood than perfect pronunciation anyhow 
(IMO).  Anyway, it would be nice to know if there's a Bulgarian (like 
Viktor) on this list to see what they think of his foibles with 
pronouncing "Hermione."

Cheers,  Kim