Friday, February 23, 2007

"If you go to country, there are lots of skanks!" "Really?"

Learning English pronunciation is very important. If your pronunciation is really bad, people may think that you mean "skank" when you say "skunk." Some English learners from Asian countries have difficulty distinguishing between /r/ and /l/. Let me give you a funny example. One of my friends from Taiwan said to a female tried to make a compliment to a lady. He meant to say "You look elegant," but the lady who had his words got puzzled, because she thought he said "You look arrogant." I heard this episode from the friend with some Americans, but surprisingly, one of them said, "Well, I think that the two words have almost the same meaning." Was he right? I don't think so.


Skunks spray a liguid with a very strong, bad smell from their bodies
However, I dare to say that you don't have to be paranoid about English pronunciation. Some Americans don't make a distinction between "pin" and "pen." I watched a teenage girl asking a gentleman to take her picture. But, the gentleman didn't understand her till the girl pointed to the hill behind her. She said, "Could you take a picture of me along the hill?" but to the gentleman and me, it sounded like "Could you take a picture of me along the hell?"

英語を勉強している人なら,発音をよくしたいと一度ぐらいは思っただろう.勿論,「発音なんか悪くてもいい」「ネイティヴのように発音する必要なんかない」という気持ちはわかるが,いいにこしたことはない.ちょっとの発音で誤解を生むことがないわけではないからだ.

ぼく自身もあまり発音はよくないが,残念ながら(?)発音にまつわる面白い実体験はない.だけど,友達などの体験で面白いものを紹介する.

Is Paris Hilton a skank?

ある友達の日本人の女の子がおならをする動物スカンクのことを英語っぽく発音しようと思って「スキャンク」と云った.だが,実際の英語のskunkの発音は「スカンク」のほうに近い.別に他の単語に間違えられなければ,ただの発音ミスですむのだが,残念ながらこの場合,skankという単語がある.これは俗語だから,語数の少ない英和辞典や外国人向けの英英辞典とかにはないかもしれないが,

Skank is slang and a pejorative term used in the Western World to describe an extremely self entitled or promiscuous female.[1] It can also refer to how a woman is dressed.[2] Skanks are supposedly shallow women, obsessed with celebrity lifestyle and emulating or focused on the attainment of material goods. This term is distinct from "slut" in that it usually implies a slovenly or ill-featured woman.
Originally denoting a bad smell[citation needed] or a filthy surface[3], "skank" has come to refer to someone who is physically repugnant for their filth, and figuratively applied to someone who is morally or socially repugnant for their behavior and demeanor, most often sexual conduct.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skank


性格には,Wikipediaの定義を参照してほしいが,要は「軽い女」「チャラい女」のことである.シチュエーションによっては,skunkとskankを入れ替えても意味が通じることもあるのでその場合はまずいことになるかもしれない.まあ,ぼくが耳にしたこの女の子とアメリカ人男性の会話では相手が笑ってすんだんだけど.

あとは,台湾人の友達が,アメリカ人女性の身なりを褒めるつもりで,You look elegant.「素敵に見えますね」と云ったつもりが,You look arrogant.「あなたは威張って見えますね」 ただ,この場合は,「気品のある服装をしている」ということは「偉そうに見える」から同じことだろうというアメリカ人もいた.

ただ,発音を気にしすぎるのもよくない.アメリカでも地域によってはpin(安全ピンなどのピン)とpen(ペン,最近では実質的にはボールペンを指す)を発音し分けない人もいるぐらいだ.Could you take a picture of me along the hell?とアメリカ人の女の子がおじいさんに頼んでいるテレビ番組を見たことがある.そのおじいさんにもぼくと同じように「地獄」に聴こえたらしくて,女の子が丘(hill)をさすまでキョトンとしていたのを思い出す.

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