Sounds that are not used or greatly underused in certain languages

Sign language

English doesn’t have clicks.

The doubled-length vowel and consonant sounds found in Hungarian and Japanese are rare in other languages.

Ironically, the Spanish language doesn't have the 'sh' sound. For example, 'shampoo' is spelled/pronounced 'champú.' The Puerto Ricans I know refer to Shakira (an Arabic name) as Chakira.

Spanish doesn't have the B or V sounds as English does. Their B and V are pronounced the same way, and they sound like a softer version of the English B.

The hard "R" sound in English is hard (no pun intended) to pronounce for some non-native speakers of English.

English speakers have trouble distinguising between the "u" and "ü" sounds used in German and French, amongst other languages.

The ח (chet), ר (resh) and צ (tsadik) in Hebrew. The ח is gutteral, pronounced like one is clearing an obstruction from the back of the throat. Same with the ר, pronounced from the back of the throat. The צ is a 'ts' sound that's difficult for everyone but Russian speakers, who have the same sound in the letter ц .

OP, about German: an "s" in the middle/end of a word sounds like an English "z". A double "s" (often written as ß), is pronounced like an English "s". "W" doesn't really exist, but the sound isn't a problem for most Germans nowadays--they often substitute the "w" sound for a "v", strangely. "Valley" becomes "wally", for example. The "th" sound like in the "this" is the one that is hard for a lot of them.

English speakers struggle to pronounce the German ö, ü, ch because there's no equivalent in our language. If you haven't been exposed to a sound by a certain age (7 years old?), it's hard to recognize and master.

R6, one of my ex's was a French foreign exchange student... studying English at university here, and teaching French as a TA. He found the hard-R really difficult, and the hardest word to pronounce in his opinion was "Squirrel", because no other language he studied (he also knew German and Italian and Spanish) had that transition from a hard-R to an "el" sound... with no consonant in between.

He was also really just incensed at how many words there were like "bow" (on a present) and "bow" (like a Japanese greeting/sign of respect) there were... "Lead" and "Lead" as another example. Trying to figure out which it was by just reading was difficult for a non-native speaker.

[quote]If you haven't been exposed to a sound by a certain age (7 years old?), it's hard to recognize and master.

There are tricks to it, I find having some explain how to place your mouth, lips, tongue is the best way to master new sounds. For example, I got the French "u"/German "ü" after it was explained to me that you practice by pursing your lips and instead of making an "oo" sound like would be natural to you, make an "ee" sound. Then you listen and listen and listen to natives do it and you find you can do it. It just takes practice.

There are all sorts of sounds that some languages have and others don't. The French e and u are weird for most English speakers.

Arabic abounds in oddities. There are 2 versions of th, d, t, h, k and s sounds. Another consonant sounds a bit like a growl. Another consonant is a glottal stop, like pushing out a puff of breath from the middle of your throat. Another is a bit of a gargle, closer to the French r.

In Greek the gamma is used as a g or a y sound.

According to this website:

Total Phonemes by Language Greek 23 Spanish (Castilian) 25 Galician 26 Romanian 29 Basque 30 Italian 30 Serbo-Croatian 30 Esperanto 32 Finnish 34 Swedish 35 Catalan 36 English 36 Albanian 37 Czech 37 Polish 37 Portuguese 37 Icelandic 38 Dutch 39 Estonian 39 French 39 Latvian 39 Slovak 39 Russian 40 Ukrainian 40 Hungarian 41 Bulgarian 44 Irish Gaelic 44 Norwegian 44 Belarusian 45 German 45 Welsh 45 Danish 52 Lithuanian 59

Some Non-European languages as comparison: Arabic 34 Chinese (Mandarin) 35 Hausa 34 Hindustani 48 Persian 32 Japanese 22 Turkish 31

Danish has some very interesting sounds. Listen to their words for bread or turtle... it sounds like someone trying to stop themselves throwing up.

[Quote] Arabic abounds in oddities

Odd to you. Fuck off.

[quote]about German: an "s" in the middle/end of a word sounds like an English "z".

Actually, the German 's' is pronounced like the English 'z' in the beginning or in the middle of a word and like the English 's' in end of a word.

[quote]"W" doesn't really exist, but the sound isn't a problem for most Germans nowadays--they often substitute the "w" sound for a "v", strangely. "Valley" becomes "wally", for example.

It took me almost 20 YEARS of learning/using English to figure out your 'v' is pronounced like our 'w'. Strange indeed. I guess there's some kind of overcompensation mechanism where you think you must avoid a sound in a foreign language because it exists in your own language as well.

Mandarin has different tones

Cantonese has even more.

Cantonese are loud r19

The whole "tone" thing is annoying.

And Lithuanian uses DOUBLE the sounds of Spanish?? Wow.

I know when I hear Chinese, it just sounds like a lot of "she/sh juh/jai" sounds all strung together.

I dabbled in Russian a little in college, and was surprised that Russians actually have a letter of the alphabet for the compound sound "sh-ch". That's not a combination English ever uses, and they use it so much in Russian that they gave it its own letter.

the English vowel sound in "bird" is nearly unique.

The unvoiced "th" sound in english is close to unique as is the voiced version

Actually, German has regular 's' sounds and also distinguishes between 'v' and 'w', though both are pronounced a bit harder than in English.

Welsh has a sound foreign to English, the double "LL."

It's kind of like a sloppy "TH." The surname Floyd in America came about because Welsh immigrants surnamed Lloyd (a common name in Wales) would give their name to a clerk on Ellis Island who simply couldn't comprehend the sound and wrote it down as an F.

To make the sound correctly, put the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth and try to hiss.

Perhaps GGG can help settle this: There’s a German delicatessen in my UES neighborhood with a little takeaway offshoot that sells brats, called “The Stube”. I pronounce it as “shtoob-uh”. My husband says “stoob”.

"German - pretty much every s is pronounced as sh"

Tell that to people in Hamburg and other northern cities.

R26, you're right.

You can use Google Translate or any proper online dictionary to hear how words are pronounced, by the way. Just click on the thing that looks like a speaker.

If a German doesn't learn the correct pronunciation of 'v' and 'w' in English within the first week, then they must not have the best teacher. The alphabet and its sounds should be covered pretty much right off the bat.

R26 Just go to dict.cc

Your husband is wrong though.

At dict.cc they have phonetic pronounciation.

[Quote]Ironically, the Spanish language doesn't have the 'sh' sound.

R4 Oddly enough, the Spaniards in Southern Spain (Andalucia) pronounce their ch as "sh." So, the word muchacho is pronounced "mushasho."

Actually, you can hear this clip at 0:30, where the young man pronounces mucho as "musho," and at 1:43, where he says chico as "shico." Very interesting Spanish variant.

Musho musho ma.

The "F" sound in Japanese is more airy than the English "F" sound. It's more of a blowing sound and you don't really clamp your front teeth down on your lower lip like you do for English ("F" sound).

I just saw an unusual Spanish name - Txertudi. I asked on Reddit how you pronounce it and was told it was Basque and the "x" was pronounced as an "sh".

The content of this article also seems relevant. I find it fascinating...

Interesting, R32!

Also, it should be pointed out that in Argentina (and Uruguay, I think), the "ll" combination is pronounced "sh". So, "pollo" is pronounced "posho" for example.

(and the "y", I should add. "yo" = "sho", etc.)

In Mexican Spanish the X is pronounced more like an H.

San Antonio is in Bexar county. Of course, Americans just pronounce it "Bear County", but it should be pronounced "Beh-har" or something like that.

Just like Mexico is "Meh-hee-koh".

What's weird is the J is also pronounced like H... "Tejano" is "Teh-HAN-oh". And of course we all know how jalapeno is pronounced.... HAL-a-pen-nyo.

Spaniards from Andalucia, like my family, can be hilarious I recall watching TV as a boy with elder aunties who were tuned in to an interview with the Spanish diva Rocio Jurado. She was from Andalucia, but she was being interviewed in Madrid.

One auntie said "mira hombre, mira how beautifully Rocio speaks Castellano."

i replied, "you mean look how well she speaks the language of the country in which she was born? Oh yes, she's a genius.".

Another auntie said "Rocio emigrated from Cadiz to Madrid.". Amusing as hell. Who in this world calls moving from one part of the country to another emigration? Those from Andalucia.

And this proud sense of "nuestra tierra" etc is reflected in our language in many ways. For instance, the infinitive is frequently ended with the "ao" sound rather than the "r".

Jo quiero ayudaote as opposed to Castellano Yo quiero ayudarte. (I want to help you.)

There are many other examples, but if one speaks Spanish.I don't believe one would have a problem understanding our dialect.

The Guinness Book of World Records used to say that the Czech ř sound was the most difficult to pronounce. It is something like "shch" while simultaneously rolling an "r".

I don't know whether Polish is in fact difficult to pronounce. But for English speakers at least, the orthography certainly produces real challenges, as some city names show:

Rzeszów, Olsztyn, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Brzeszcze, Gdynia, Choszczno, Szczecin, Częstochowa, Włocławek, Ciechanowiec, Ćmielów

Great fun can be had asking a Spanish/Portuguese speaker to pronounce "squirrel". You'll be amazed by what comes out of their mouth.

[quote]If a German doesn't learn the correct pronunciation of 'v' and 'w' in English within the first week, then they must not have the best teacher. The alphabet and its sounds should be covered pretty much right off the bat.

Well, my first English teacher certainly sucked. And generally speaking, foreign language teaching in German schools focuses WAY too much on written language. You learn how to analyse texts and write essays, but everyday language or proper pronunciation? Forget it. You leave school thinking you have a pretty good grasp of the English language, only then to find yourself in situations where you have to look up simple words like 'fan' or '(power) outlet'.

“Th” is always silent in Dutch (theater > “tay-a-tur”)

We have the letter “ij“, which is unique to our language, and impossible to pronounce for foreigners; it always sounds off.

deze buitenlander kan het wel, hoor

Dutch also has the odd diphthong UI, which is halfway between the German ö and English ow as in how. That one takes a bit of practice as well.

Other unusual/tricky sounds:

The aspirated R in Welsh (RH), where you place your tongue as if to say an R then blow air out the sides of your mouth like the LL. It can sound like a SH in rapid speech.

The diphthong AU in Norwegian and Icelandic, which is like a German ö followed by a glide.

Voiced and unvoiced TH in English, Welsh, Greek, Albanian and Icelandic for other speakers. Danish and Spanish have something approximating one of the pair but otherwise this sound is a headache for most non-natives.

The palatised consonants in the Slavic languages, especially Russian, which are hard for many non-speakers to distinguish from their non-palatised variants: Ч vs Чь for example.

As for that squirrel anecdote above, I assume this relates to the north American "squirl" pronunciation? British English is notably non-rhotic save for the odd dialect pocket here and there so the consonant usually serves as a vowel modifier rather than being articulated in its own right, hard or otherwise unless it is at the start of a word.

One of my great interests is the origins of music and song followed by the origins of language. Researchers have absolutely no idea about any of this to my surprise

.Its speculated that song predated language, that ancient man may have imitated birds and other animals before developing speech. I think its more likely language emerged from ancient man crying out in pain. It must have been hellish living in such conditions.

I long to understand the beginning and development of languages on this planet, but its never going to happen.

It's a real joy coming across posters here with interests like yours, R48. I feel it would be really interesting to talk to you.

I don't think Italian uses "th" sounds, like the "th" heard in words like "then" or "thistle."

That probably explained the dese-dem-dose way my older relatives used to speak.

That's right, they don't R50.

I believe there are some areas of Italy that pronounce their 'r' like the French do. It's called an 'erre moscia'.

Hissssss

The Korean letter ㄹ is a hard one for English speakers to figure out. In intervocalic position it sounds like a Latin r [ɾ], but in word initial position it is a light l [l]. Native Korean speakers will tell you they're the same sounds, but they are clearly distinct.

The Latin r [ɾ] found in intervocalic position in most Spanish and Italian dialects, is hard for native English speakers to distinguish from English r [/ɹ/] or [ɻ]. It is a flap or tap r, resembling the flap t in 'letter' or 'Betty.'

^^ examples would be helpful.

Korean doesn't have an F or Z sound.