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Are Vowel or Consonant Sounds Most Important?

dunn
New in Town
Posts: 9
Joined: November 27th, 2017 6:43 pm

Are Vowel or Consonant Sounds Most Important?

Postby dunn » January 11th, 2018 2:32 pm

Howdy,

People from New York, Alabama, and California in the US can sound vastly different from each other yet each understands the English of the other.

People from California, Mexico, and Columbia can sound vastly different from each other yet each understands the Spanish of the other and must only overcome variances in vocabulary usage.

An English speaker learning Spanish can find it hard to make themselves understood when speaking Spanish to native Spanish speakers. This is because the native English speaker focuses on getting the consonant sounds right and is not as concerned about the vowel sounds; after all, that's what keeps English intelligible between the accents. The Spanish speakers' anchor, however, is the vowels because that's what mostly stays consistent across their varied accents.

Does a Greek speaker focus more on vowel sounds or consonant sounds when trying to understand someone speaking Greek with a different accent than theirs, or are both equally important?

(Even though we're listening to very clear native speakers for our lessons, some people (people other than than me of course ;-)), might sometimes have some trouble sounding exactly the same.)

Thanks,
-- dunn

stefaniach
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 22
Joined: January 15th, 2015 9:54 pm

Re: Are Vowel or Consonant Sounds Most Important?

Postby stefaniach » January 12th, 2018 11:24 pm

Hi Dunn,

That's an interesting topic!

I always found it harder to understand an English speaker speaking Spanish rather than Greek which are both my native languages. It doesn't bother me that much hearing Greek with a heavy accent, because I somehow understand it better, but with Spanish it's different. I have to try harder to understand. Maybe it's also because of the vocabulary. I feel Greek has more distinct words and also a wider vocabulary so you can more easily tell apart words even when mispronounced.

Now, in Greek, I'd say both the consonants and the vowels are equally important. As a Greek, the pronunciation of both strikes me when it comes to English speakers. Maaaaaybe vowels a bit more. They sound like 2 or 3-in-one sometimes instead of clear /a/ or /o/ sounds which to me is something easy to tackle as it requires so little effort to just open the mouth widely and make a simple and clear /a/ or /o/ sound. But like you said, for some people it's harder. Maybe it has to do with the perception of sound by some people. For example I'm not tone deaf. I can sing notes spot on, but some people can't and they can't even tell that they sing off tune. They need more voice training than others.

But Greek ears are used to all sorts of accents due to tourism and also because foreign movies and shows always air in the original language on TV with subtitles. I think only cartoons and soap operas might be dubbed sometimes. As a result, Greeks understand fairly well foreigners when they speak in Greek. We can also imitate accents easily. I see that in comedy shows when actors pretend to be Germans, French, Italians, Russians, Americans etc.

So my advice is not to worry that much about the distinction between vowels or consonants in Greek :)

Cheers,
Stefania

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dunn
New in Town
Posts: 9
Joined: November 27th, 2017 6:43 pm

Re: Are Vowel or Consonant Sounds Most Important?

Postby dunn » January 17th, 2018 4:09 pm

Howdy Stefania,

Wow, it's sure good to know that you find Greek coming from foreigners easier than Spanish. Sometimes when practicing I think no one will ever understand what I have done to the Greek language or why. :-D (I'll keep working on it though.)

You also make me think, with the foreign language shows, that Greeks might end up speaking seven different languages like the Icelandic do.

Thanks,
-- Dunn

stefaniach
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 22
Joined: January 15th, 2015 9:54 pm

Re: Are Vowel or Consonant Sounds Most Important?

Postby stefaniach » January 18th, 2018 2:07 am

Hi Dunn,

Maybe it's because I consider Greek as my first language, although I'm also a native Spanish speaker. When I think or count, I do it in Greek :wink: .

Actually, many Greeks speak more than 2 languages, especially Greeks born during the 80's and on. The parents of that generation (which is also my generation) focused heavily on education. Most of my classmates were studying both English and French and they were getting their fluency diplomas before high school. It was the logical thing to do back then since most parents wanted their children to have finished their language studies before things in high school would get tough. So by the time everyone was graduating from high school, most students had passed the examinations for what we called the "Proficiency" in English (Cambridge English Proficiency or CPE) and the "DALF" in French. Spanish, Italian and German were also quite common to learn.

These parents worked very hard so that their kids, kids like me, could go to the university and study. The irony is that many people of my generation have now Master degrees and PhD degrees, they speak 1-2 extra languages and did things such as ballet, gymnastics, piano, guitar or sports as kids, but unfortunately, now, due to the financial crisis, all these qualifications mean nothing as jobs are rare and pay so little. The unemployment rate among young people is skyrocketing :(

Anyhow, back to our initial topic: Greeks can understand accents easily, so keep working on your pronunciation, but don't worry too much about it :D !

Regards,

Stefania
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