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Radrook Posted 21 years ago
Culture

Pronunciation Oddities

Why do American speakers of English have so much difficulty pronouncing the Spanish letter "a" in the name Diaz when they don't have any whatsoever with it in names like Douglas, Thomas, Caesar. Neither do they seem to have trouble with it when saying: "buenos dias".

Why do Hispanics who are learning English persist in saying "S" when pronouncing such names as Stanton, Steve? They don't say "S" when the letter appears in Spanish. They simply pronounce the letter. So why the change?
  

Top answer

Radrook Why do American speakers of English have so much difficulty pronouncing the Spanish letter "a" in the name Diaz when they don't have any whatsoever with it in names like Douglas, Thomas, Caesar. Neither do they seem to have trouble with it when saying: "buenos dias". Certain pronunciations get stuck and there is nothing you can do about it.

— Forbes

  • Radrook Why do American speakers of English have so much difficulty pronouncing the Spanish letter "a" in the name Diaz when they don't have any whatsoever with it in names like Douglas, Thomas, Caesar.
  • Neither do they seem to have trouble with it when saying: "buenos dias".
  • Certain pronunciations get stuck and there is nothing you can do about it.
  • Radrook Why do Hispanics who are learning English persist in saying "S" when pronouncing such names as Stanton, Steve?
  • They don't say "S" when the letter appears in Spanish.
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4 Answers
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Radrook
Why do American speakers of English have so much difficulty pronouncing the Spanish letter "a" in the name Diaz when they don't have any whatsoever with it in names like Douglas, Thomas, Caesar. Neither do they seem to have trouble with it when saying: "buenos dias".

Certain pronunciations get stuck and there is nothing you can do about it.
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Thanx for clearing that up about the Spanish speakers' "s" difficulties.
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I should have mentioned that the Spanish for "Spain" is "España".
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RadrookWhy do Hispanics who are learning English persist in saying "S" when pronouncing such names as Stanton, Steve? They don't say "S" when the letter appears in Spanish. They simply pronounce the letter. So why the change?

Well, English has similar case, too. Like the letter "W" in "write", for example.

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