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difficult English words for Polish speakers?


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shewolfThreads: 5
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  Jan 28, 07, 07:08 /  #
This is a question for anyone who speaks Polish and who learned English later in life. What are some words in the English language that you found most difficult to pronounce or remember?

miranda   Jan 28, 07, 07:24 /  #
pronunciation: available, turtle, girl, world, focus, book, cook, pronouncing TH in THAT, THIEF ,THOOTHPASTE
AmathystThreads: 30
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  Jan 28, 07, 07:32 /  #
My friend has problems with TH - so she usually says Fink as a posed to THink, but then again you get a hell of a lot of English than cannot pronounce English very well...
MatyjaszThreads: 2
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  Jan 28, 07, 07:54 /  #
Vowels. There are more vowels in English than I Polish, and I don’t see the difference between some of them.

TH of course. "Do you fink dat..."
And -ing ending. Instead of saying "doin" I will say "doING".
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  Jan 28, 07, 08:04 /  #
Vowels

A, E, I, O, U

A - Animal

E - Elephant

I - Indian

O - Ongoing

U - Underground
MatyjaszThreads: 2
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  Jan 28, 07, 08:22 /  #
I was thinking more about problems with the "ash" sound, as well as with the two versions of "o" and "u".
plgThreads: 23
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  Jan 28, 07, 08:33 /  #
well i dont have any problems pronoucing english

but......polish ........oh dear
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  Jan 28, 07, 08:55 /  #
Ongoing and Underground


both gave examples of the differences in the O & U
MatyjaszThreads: 2
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  Jan 28, 07, 09:19 /  #
I was thinking more about the differences between two versions of the vowel sound "U":

for example, in the words : too, blue, goose the "u" sound should be different like in the words football and good. I don't see a big difference between them. We only have one version of the vowel sound “u” in polish.
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Edited by: Amathyst   Jan 28, 07, 09:48 /  #
Arrrh I understand now, I know, how silly is English....I mean why do we have a T in Castle or Gh in Ghost or a K in Knife and the silly rules of i before e except after c and to too and two....
shewolfThreads: 5
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  Jan 28, 07, 11:26 /  #
Thanks for the responses. I didn't realize English was so difficult but now that you've pointed it out, I can see it. Wow. Interesting.
EurolaThreads: 6
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  Jan 28, 07, 11:33 /  #
Quoting: miranda, Post #2
pronouncing TH in THAT, THIEF ,THOOTHPASTE


Yes, this one was a challenge for me too. One time, the teacher sat across me - face to face, she opened her mouth and I was to position my tongue the way she did, and I was repeating the kind of 'hissing" sound after her!

She did it to all who had a trouble with the right sound...It was so funny, but it worked!
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  Jan 28, 07, 11:54 /  #
If you can read this number your English is OK

33,333
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  Jan 28, 07, 12:05 /  #
Thats a bloody tong twister for even an English person, you bad man!
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  Jan 28, 07, 12:20 /  #
Think

1 Breath in

2 Bite the end of your tongue and breath out.

3 say 'ink'

4 put the two together. th-----ink

5 think.


Next lesson we will do 'that'
globetrotterThreads: 4
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  Jan 28, 07, 12:22 /  #
Quoting: Wroclaw, Post #13
If you can read this number your English is OK



'She sell sea shells on the sea shore' is another good test - particulalry if your name is Sean Connery
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  Jan 28, 07, 12:24 /  #
but not if you have a lisp
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Edited by: Wroclaw   Jan 28, 07, 12:26 /  #
That would be lithp
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  Jan 28, 07, 12:28 /  #
A terrible affliction...
globetrotterThreads: 4
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  Jan 28, 07, 12:31 /  #
Yesh it would
dulcianaThreads: -
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Edited by: dulciana   Jan 28, 07, 12:34 /  #
No, no no! To get the "th" sound, you don't bite the end of your tongue, it gets trapped. We don't want partially tongued Poles walking around!

You place the tip of the tongue behind your upper teeth and blow out.....that's all there is to it!

Now how the hell do I pronounce Wroclaw.....Breslau was a lot easier!
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Edited by: Wroclaw   Jan 28, 07, 13:21 /  #
Dulciana,

You're wrong. And there are two th sounds, which are pronounced in different ways.

You've been spending too much time reading World of English.
HuegelThreads: 1
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  Jan 28, 07, 13:23 /  #
Quoting: Amathyst, Post #14
tong twister



I have an image now of Pete Tong with his right hand on Blue, Left leg green.
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  Jan 28, 07, 13:26 /  #
Quoting: Huegel, Post #23
I have an image now of Pete Tong with his right hand on Blue, Left leg green.


Tongue...I can actually spell it was a typo (brain goes faster than fingers)
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  Jan 28, 07, 13:28 /  #
But yes a great D.J....had the pleasure of seeing him several times at the hac!
RUDZIA   Feb 13, 07, 23:39 /  #
for me it was 'UNBELIEVABLE'
krysiaThreads: 26
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  Feb 13, 07, 23:42 /  #
I teach english to some fresh Polish People and they have a problem with "refrigerator"
sledzThreads: 29
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  Feb 13, 07, 23:44 /  #
Quoting: krysia
problem with "refrigerator


This Polish grl told me the same thing...I used to tease her about it...
Lee_England   Feb 17, 07, 18:48 /  #
Quoting: Amathyst
I mean why do we have a T in Castle or Gh in Ghost or a K in Knife and the silly rules of i before e except after c and to too and two....


They are there for pronunciation as are most hidden letters in English. If you took the t out of castle it would sound like "cas all" instead of "car sall". Obviously "car sall" is correct so we modify the pronunciation with t. Northerners (and Americans) generally have problems pronouncing words such as these due to their accents.

The h in Ghost is the modifier needed to make the o sound like "oe" instead of "o".

Hope this clears things up :-)
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  Feb 17, 07, 18:54 /  #
Quoting: Lee_England
Hope this clears things up :-)


It would if it were correct.

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