Why does ine sound "in or een" sometimes?

When someboby wants to learn English, it's easy to say you need to speak and don't worry for the grammar, but the point is that all of us need to know when and how to pronounce correctly. The best fact is to accept the reality that this is a difficult language but the most important one in worldwide business communication and political issues.

If we compare words like: feminine /'fem-i-in/, canine /'kei-nain/, and machine /m@-'shi:n/, obviously we realize these three words don't rhyme, but a recent learner would think this is a very crazy metamorphosis in all irregular words.

They sound different due to historical reasons and you just have to remember their pronunciations.

Well, if you just want to learn how to *speak* English, then why not forget the orthography, and just learn it from the phonetic alphabet. Then if you really must learn how to read and write, learn it later once you have mastered the pronunciation. If you do it this way, and you learn English for a year, you would be as good as someone who learned the spellings for two years, since it takes forever to remember those, and severly impeeds your progress.

I don't really know how to explain this; you really just have to know which words are which. For the three you metioned, I think it has to do with the language of origin 'Feminine' was borrowed from French, 'canine' from Latin, and 'machine' from Greek; I don't know if these apply to all words with those origins, though.

>>Well, if you just want to learn how to *speak* English, then why not forget the orthography, and just learn it from the phonetic alphabet. Then if you really must learn how to read and write, learn it later once you have mastered the pronunciation. If you do it this way, and you learn English for a year, you would be as good as someone who learned the spellings for two years, since it takes forever to remember those, and severly impeeds your progress.<<

Of course, then, one has to deal with variation in pronunciation between dialects, so saying that one should simply learn something "phonetically" is not an automatic solution to the problems with learning the pronunciations of words in English.

It's easy to learn English as a child is growing up and hearing his or her parents, but at the moment to begin learning orthography this infant discovers weird words in many different origins because of no simple orthography, which might be related to their supposed sounds. This sample always happens in Germanic languages and few others with no resolution given.

Grammar is quick to master but spelling is difficult.

The best way is to speak what you hear and consider the correct one.
Dictionary is made to help everything about a language but I still hate to take a hard spelling test without memorizing those words of it, specially in English or some like this.

These guys are upset when they hear someone saying that the English is hard. They think to master everything of this language as fast as a mucus blow. Wow, it's really fantastic! I can't believe it.

Hi, let me tell you that I found this website page for ESOL or ESL students but I was born in the U.S.A, so I speak a perfect accent. I'm amazed when I see so many people in here who don't even speak English but write perfect. Perhaps they have no trouble in spelling as we the Americans do. Thanks to Noah Webster, our spelling is simpler than the British one. I hope one day the English become an easier language for all of us, mainly the children who need to write words according to the pronunciation as in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages.

I don't like to face traditional spelling origins to remember how to spell.

Thanks,
B

Dickson, let me inform to you that the English has cultivated accent stresses that noboby could figure out why to stress the primary stress instead of the secondary one.

Example: chief /chi:f/ but mischief /'mis-chif/, mischievous /'mis-chi-v@s/,
& handkerchief /'hand-ker-chif/

If began making this language I would pronounce /chi:f/, /mis-'chi:f/,
/mis-'chi:-v@s/, & /'hand-''ker-hi:f/, but unfortunately I am not pronouncing correctly at the way the English is already made in England and versus Commonwealth of Nations.

Hou eart eow, sire? Ich am makenge a newe langage for William the Conquerour.

How are you, sir? I'm making a new language for William the Conqueror.