Need Help (on pronounciation and input)

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Vulpecular
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Need Help (on pronounciation and input)

Post by Vulpecular »

Hello.

Unluckily, I am a university sophomore in China, where there is no courses available.

When I began the book Latin For Beginners, it really makes me feel a little discouraged. Because I do not think it is easy for me to pronouce the Latin words. Since I have got a Chinese accent, many sounds, which should be distinguished clearly in English, are not that easy to tell apart.

Is it a little too much for me to make a request for some audio materials?

If it is not, thank you. And hope you will not mind contacting me further.
If it is. Anyway, would you please make a chart showing the relationship among the pronouciation of the Latin words, the English words, the French words, and the phonetic symbols?

Thanks

BTW
how to input the letter AE OE(two letters together)?

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Lucus Eques
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Post by Lucus Eques »

This looks like it might help; it sounds fairly convincing:

http://www.poetaexmachina.net/

As for æ and œ, those are only written in Mediaeval texts normally, and normally (ae and oe) are respectively pronounced "eye" and "oy." How to write them, I only know for the Mac.
L. Amādeus Rāniērius · Λ. Θεόφιλος Ῥᾱνιήριος 🦂

SCORPIO·MARTIANVS

Alatius
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Post by Alatius »

Most sounds in Latin are pretty "easy" sounds, I think, that exist in many different languages around the world. It's unfortunate though, that our only common language is English, because the sounds in English are very often not very good approximations of the Latin sounds. The phonology of Japanese actually seems to be pretty close to that of Latin; closer, anyway, than English.

The main problem, I guess (and where Japanese won't help you), is the L - R distinction. The difference between the sounds are bigger than in English: while the L is similar, the R should be rolled. I guess that could pose some problems...

Are there any particular words you would like to hear pronounced? If you could provide us with some of the Latin sentences from your book, I'd be delighted to record them for you.

Vulpecular
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Post by Vulpecular »

Thank you both, Lucus Eques and Alatius!!

To Lucus:

I appreciate the site you offered me, but it seems that it is not convenient for me to make an approach.

To Alatius:

I have picked up a few Japenese and French. And if this does help, please tell me.


Here are some Further Questions

1st:
In which way does letter R pronouce in Latin, like English more or like French more?

2st:
Do the consonant letters make sound like English, or keep silent like French?

3nd:
How to cope with the long and short vowels?

Twpsyn
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Post by Twpsyn »

Vulpecular wrote:1st:
In which way does letter R pronouce in Latin, like English more or like French more?
Neither, and Chinese isn't much help either. Chinese and English r are more or less the same, and both are unlike the rolled r. The Latin r is more like the French, but rolled against the ridge right behind your teeth (in the same place as the Japanese r), unlike the French r, which is in the back of your mouth.
2nd:
Do the consonant letters make sound like English, or keep silent like French?
Consonants are never silent. But they don't always sound like their corresponding English consonants!
3rd:
How to cope with the long and short vowels?
Do your best. A long vowel is held about twice as long as a short vowel. The difficult thing will be to differentiate vowel length from stress, which is related to long vowels but not the same. It is good to memorize which words have long vowels on them, though many learners ignore this (at their peril, in my opinion).

... Really, the best thing for you would be to invest in a course that has an audio component, like the computer version of Lingua Latina. Can you get that in China? Most everybody here, including me, would recommend it highly as a learner's course. Actually hearing the sounds, connected to text that you are learning from, is good.

Vulpecular
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Post by Vulpecular »

Twpsyn wrote:
Vulpecular wrote:1st:
In which way does letter R pronouce in Latin, like English more or like French more?
Neither, and Chinese isn't much help either. Chinese and English r are more or less the same, and both are unlike the rolled r. The Latin r is more like the French, but rolled against the ridge right behind your teeth (in the same place as the Japanese r), unlike the French r, which is in the back of your mouth.
2nd:
Do the consonant letters make sound like English, or keep silent like French?
Consonants are never silent. But they don't always sound like their corresponding English consonants!
3rd:
How to cope with the long and short vowels?
Do your best. A long vowel is held about twice as long as a short vowel. The difficult thing will be to differentiate vowel length from stress, which is related to long vowels but not the same. It is good to memorize which words have long vowels on them, though many learners ignore this (at their peril, in my opinion).

... Really, the best thing for you would be to invest in a course that has an audio component, like the computer version of Lingua Latina. Can you get that in China? Most everybody here, including me, would recommend it highly as a learner's course. Actually hearing the sounds, connected to text that you are learning from, is good.



thanks a lot~

it is a tough job to pronounce the "R" for me, really.
it takes me half a year to make the french way, and it, perhaps, is another half :wink:

the computer version of Lingua Latina is not easy to get, I think. But I will have a try

Vulpecular
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Post by Vulpecular »

thanks for metrodorus as well~

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