Can you beat 'yacht'...

[subaqua]

You could; but we don't.

So it shows that letters together have different sounds than the singular ones.....

 

[Dirk]

So it shows that letters together have different sounds than the singular ones.....

Well..... you learn something new everyday.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

It is another language, not everything is magically connected to English, and why should it be??

One of the 'V' sounds in some Galic languages is that of 'Bh' (as in the name Siobhan, complete with the 'Si' being a 'Sh' sound) and also (I think) 'Gh' can be a 'V' in certain circumstances too.

It bears no relation to English, but so what?

 

[Tin Pot]

Iron.

Like almost everything in this thread, a reminder that English isn't the only language in the world. In this case Gaelic the fark.

It's as if European integration hadn't been happening since about 200BCE, and we'd been completely isolated on our little lump of rock between the Atlantic and the North Sea.

It's just the best language. Can't wait for the others to be consigned to history along with imperial measurements.

 

[Foghat]

Well it's spelt 'Raymond Luxury-Yacht', but it's pronounced 'Throat-Wobbler Mangrove'.

Anyway, I once convinced two Slovene women that 'yacht' was pronounced 'yacht' rather than 'yot', and that Sting was pronounced Stinge. It worked, but failing to keep a straight face then gave it away.

 

[speccy1]

The name Siobhan, or however it`s bloody spelt, which is pronounced "Shevawn"

Chassis, which for years I read as chase-iss, I was very young.................................

 

[MarquisMatsugae]

, I was very young.................................

42 ?

 

[speccy1]

42 ?

Not far off....................

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

The name Siobhan, or however it`s bloody spelt, which is pronounced "Shevawn"

Or 'Shivawn' as we would say.

Chassis, which for years I read as chase-iss, I was very young.................................

So have you learned enough to tell us how it should be said?

 

[nickyboy]

I know it's a Gaelic name, but it doesn't explain how you get that pronunciation. It bears absolutely no relationship to the spelling.
I think I'll liamh it at that........

I think it's because you're trying to use "English" rules for pronouncing combinations of letters. Other languages that use the same or similar alphabet have other rules

As an example, Chinese has a romance version of it's character-based language. The word "try" is "cai". But it is pronounced similar to "tsai". English doesn't have words starting "ts" so this is one of the hardest pronunciations to master

 

[Dirk]

I think it's because you're trying to use "English" rules for pronouncing combinations of letters......

Maybe it's coz I'm Inglish....

 

[byegad]

You could write fish as ghoti and it would sound the same.

Oh dear!
Everyone knows it's spelt photi.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Oh dear!
Everyone knows it's spelt photi.

gh as in trough

It's a photi of a ghoti!:

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Has be said in Scots, obvs.

Yes, photos.... Photies !

 

[Dogtrousers]

I think English may be alone in having so many alternate rules for pronunciation and orthography. I guess this is due to the fact that it has bits of Anglo Saxon, French, German, Latin and all kinds of different stuff mixed up in it.

French, on the other hand, is very consistent (apart from a few place names like Reims) in that you can get to the pronunciation from the written word quite consistently - but it does have funny rules, so you end up only pronouncing half the word.

Finnish is great. Pronunciation is guaranteed from the written word, and the rules are simple. Unfortunately the rest of the language is hideously complex.