The Great and Mighty Fuck
In this track I pretended to be George Carlin LOL
I know that my pronunciation is far from being perfect but would you mind telling me to what should I first pay attention in correcting it?
http://www.houndbite.com/?houndbite=15864
And by the way, do you agree with the fact that the Fuck is really wonderful word? Or this word is just mere obscenity?
Well, I was rather put off by the title of this Topic Heading. I remember one of the first Topics that I replied to on Antimoon was a Topic discussing the use of this word. My contribution was to say that when I was on a flight from Poland I told the air hostess that my seat was 'broken', so I could not put it in the upright position. She could not understand the word 'broken', and I was feeling very rather unpleasant having got up very early in the morning, so I was not inclined to help her out. The only other word that was coming into my mind was: 'The seat is fucked'.
I got a reply from an Air Stewardess who said how hard they had to work and how difficult the passengers could be.
I listened to your recording which is academic in tone. It reminded me of a conversation that I had with a Polish paint sprayer who worked in Aberdeen. He said that the only word his colleagues used to describe their work, their feelings, their activities after work, etc. was fuck. I can well believe him. The f-words very versatility is its downfall, it is used to indiscriminately and the effect generally is just to raise the emotional temperature.
My guess is that you are German, Polish, Eastern European.
'so I could not put it in the upright position'
I can put it in the upright position ev'ry time.
That brought back memories of hearing George Carlin do that routine -- too funny!
Well, you speak very carefully and enunciate well. You have a thick Russian-type accent, but I could understand you pretty well. Your rhythm and delivery and patterns of emphasis were not the same as a native's, but that's just something you have to hear a lot to get used to.
Pronunciation-wise, I would make a few little pointers that may help you: the name Shirley is pronounced "Shur-lee", not "Sheer-lee". You may not have heard that name much, of course. I don't even hear it much, as it is no longer as common as it once was.
Also, you made a good stab at a V-sound, but it still had some W-overtones. Keep trying!
Lastly, "situation". It looks like it would be pronounced the way you said it -- "sit-tu-ay-shun", but there is an oddity about English whereby a T that is followed by a U with a y-sound in front of it (called a yod) takes on a CH sound. "Tyoo" is hard to say, while "chew" is much easier. So situation is pronounced "sit-chew-ay-shun". (This happens with TR, too -- truck is pronounced "chruck", trouble is "chrouble", true is "chrew".)
Not all U's that follow T's will have the y-sound, so you will have to pay attention to which ones do and which ones don't. You sound like you have a little bit of a British influence to your speech, so you're in luck; they have more of them than we Americans do, so if you err on the side of the Ch, you'll be right more of the time!
Uriel, your comment was useful and you got it right, one of my native languagues is Russian.
I've never tried before to record how I talk and it was very helpful in reconsidering my skills. And I think that it is rhythm, delivery and patterns of emphasis that gives me away rather than pronunciation.
I have a feeling that I do not want to know what your native language is?
I must be suffering from a (hopefully) temporary bout of dyslexia.........you'll experience a Great and Mighty FCUK on many UK High Streets.......French Connection United Kingdom.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGVkZzmGEb4
My immediate reaction on seeing someone one called 'FCUK': French Connection United Kingdom. I thought that this must be an immature British person who enjoys saying the word FUCK in 'inappropriate' situations.
'Inappropriate' is another interesting word. 'Inappropriate' is a word that can be used to describe behaviour that ranges from the criminal to the officially embarrassing. Local Councils are very concerned that individuals might exhibit 'inappropriate' behaviour. The most 'inappropriate' behaviour possible is 'treachery' or 'treason' which in the olden days was punished in the most severe way possible - traditionally be being 'hung, drawn and quartered'.
I am in danger of turning into Damian, trying to introduce novel words into popular journalism. However anything must be better than turning into Travis, the Linguistic Expert, who writes in a deliberately unintelligible way in order to assure us of his academic credentials. In this way 'knowledge' is retained by an educated elite, who speak a foreign language (Latin) and who refuse to converse with ordinary people or speak their language.
LOL, I know what fcuk is, I just wasn't creative enough and borrowed from the subject of this thread.
<<In this way 'knowledge' is retained by an educated elite, who speak a foreign language (Latin) and who refuse to converse with ordinary people or speak their language. >>
Haha, yeah right. Academic speak is just more effective. There are 'popular science' (probably linguistics too) books for uneducated people like you.
What is it you find hard to understand about Travis anyway? I can read it fine, I just have to look up specific linguistics terms on Wikipedia. You love researching so much so why is that a problem for you?
Your vowels are probably the biggest issue. There were issues with consonants, though. For instance, in "hate", you moved the "t" too much like a "d".
Also, don't listen to Uriel if you want to sound like a normal American. The pronunciation "sit-too-a-shun" is indeed incorrect, but it's not quite "sichewation", either. And it's DEFINITELY not "chruck" for "truck", etc. unless you're going for a "Just arrived from China" sound. Maybe he's using the letter "c" to indicate the fact that the "t" is more of a stop than normal.
I've never heard 'chruck' or 'chrew' for 'truck' and 'true' respectively.
It's how everyone I know says those words. You just don't consciously think of it as a CH sound, because you're thinking T. And situation is never with a TOO sound, always with a CHOO.