Lets face it. English is a crazy language. You write one thing, you say it another. But the point is to succeed, we need to speak English and speak it reasonably well. So I thought it would be nice to point out the common mistakes Desis make when speaking English in Canada. Add to the list. Am sure it will help the new Desis.
First we have to accept that
- Many Desis (I think I belong here) can't differentiate b/w "W" and "V". So Vet and Wet sound the same, but a Canadian can say and hear the difference
- Many old school Desis don't know the difference between "Z" and "J". So Zebra and Jebra are the same (Thank God I don't belong here).
Common MisPronounced Words
In English "a" is *often* pronounced as "aaee" (but desis pronounce it as "aaa" and "u" as "aaa" (but desis pronounce it as "ooo"
. So examples are:
- common name Muller is not "Moollar" but is "Maallar"
- Mustard is not "Moo-stard" but is "Maa-stard"
(I will add to the list below in time)
Now a general list of mispronounced words
- Biscuit = "Bis-Kit" not "Bis-koot"
- Mall = "Mol" not "Maal"
- Halo = "Hay-low" not "Haalow"
- Garage = "Gaa-raj" not "ge-rag"
- route = more commonly root and not ra-out (<-- edited)
Incorrectly used words
- Its a Table Tennis Bat or Ping Pong Bat, not a Table Tennis racquet.
- Its a badminton racquet (not bat)
- Its a badminton shuttle or bird (not ball)
- its flashlight, not torch
- its ketchup, not tomato sauce
- its green peppers, not capsicum
- its To-Go, not take-away (this one is sketchy)
- its pass not overtake, its turn signal not indicator, its gas not petrol
Location: British Columbia
Posted on: 26-02-10 15:30:04
Quote:
Originally posted by wall-E
- common name Muller is not "Moollar" but is "Maallar"
- Mustard is not "Moo-stard" but is "Maa-stard"
(I will add to the list below in time)
Now a general list of mispronounced words
- Biscuit = "Bis-Kit" not "Bis-koot"
- Mall = "Mol" not "Maal"
- Halo = "Hay-low" not "Haalow"
- Garage = "Gaa-raj" not "ge-rag"
- route = "ra-out" not "root"
Incorrectly used words
- Its a Table Tennis Bat or Ping Pong Bat, not a Table Tennis racquet.
- Its a badminton racquet (not bat)
- Its a badminton shuttle or bird (not ball)
- its flashlight, not torch
- its ketchup, not tomato sauce
- its green peppers, not capsicum
- its To-Go, not take-away (this one is sketchy)
- its pass, not overtake
- its turn signal, not indicator
Kind of right. In Canada:
Muller is "muuhler"
Mustard is "muhsturd" not 'maastard'
route is "root". I think the other pronounciation you are referring to might be american '
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~ Morning rain
^^ I dont think so. I hear so many canadians saying route (ra-out) like in "router" and maa-ller. But Canadian English is also messed up .. half british, half american. Nowadays I hear Canadian kids for "Z" they say "Zee" instead of "Zed".
Location: British Columbia
Posted on: 26-02-10 16:45:19
Quote:
Originally posted by wall-E
^^ I dont think so. I hear so many canadians saying route (ra-out) like in "router" and maa-ller. But Canadian English is also messed up .. half british, half american. Nowadays I hear Canadian kids for "Z" they say "Zee" instead of "Zed".
Canadian english is my first language
I think Ontario might have more of an american influence. i am not certain.
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~ Morning rain
Overheard to day at a bank counter from an Asian employee --
' Look at the climate outside today ' ...
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Fido.
Quote:
Originally posted by wall-E
Lets face it. English is a crazy language. You write one thing, you say it another. But the point is to succeed, we need to speak English and speak it reasonably well. So I thought it would be nice to point out the common mistakes Desis make when speaking English in Canada. Add to the list. Am sure it will help the new Desis.
First we have to accept that
- Many Desis (I think I belong here) can't differentiate b/w "W" and "V". So Vet and Wet sound the same, but a Canadian can say and hear the difference
- Many old school Desis don't know the difference between "Z" and "J". So Zebra and Jebra are the same (Thank God I don't belong here).
Common MisPronounced Words
In English "a" is *often* pronounced as "aaee" (but desis pronounce it as "aaa" and "u" as "aaa" (but desis pronounce it as "ooo"
- common name Muller is not "Moollar" but is "Maallar"
- Mustard is not "Moo-stard" but is "Maa-stard"
(I will add to the list below in time)
Now a general list of mispronounced words
- Biscuit = "Bis-Kit" not "Bis-koot"
- Mall = "Mol" not "Maal"
- Halo = "Hay-low" not "Haalow"
- Garage = "Gaa-raj" not "ge-rag"
- route = "ra-out" not "root"
Incorrectly used words
- Its a Table Tennis Bat or Ping Pong Bat, not a Table Tennis racquet.
- Its a badminton racquet (not bat)
- Its a badminton shuttle or bird (not ball)
- its flashlight, not torch
- its ketchup, not tomato sauce
- its green peppers, not capsicum
- its To-Go, not take-away (this one is sketchy)
- its pass, not overtake
- its turn signal, not indicator
What you have mentioned are not mistakes, but differences between Indian and Canadian English. While some of the pronunciation has to do with one's mother tongue and may be absent when person from some other state pronounces the same words. I have noticed that people from north India have trouble pronouncing what in Gujarati you call "Jodakshar" e.g. "sp" as in "special", "sm" as in Smita, "pl" as in "plus"
"Route" is pronounced as "root" in Canadian English and "raut" in American English.
"Overtake" may be Indian (British) English while "Passing" may be its north American counterpart.
"To Go" or "Take out" is equivalent of "parcel" in India. I used "Parcel" word in a desi takeout place, and two ignoramus ladies started laughing as if I was an alien.
Just trying to add my two cents. I don't think people coming from England/Australia/SA would be corrected for usage of non-North american terms. So why should we reprimand ourselves. We can slowly learn and adapt.
Quote:It is - if you are from Yorkshire
Originally posted by wall-E
- Mustard is not "Moo-stard"
Quote:"root" is perfectly correct. It is just a difference between British and American (US) English.
- route = "ra-out" not "root"
Check any British based dictionary like Oxfords.
Quote:Capsicum is perfectly correct as well.
- its ketchup, not tomato sauce
- its green peppers, not capsicum
Just because US Americans use different words for some things doesn't make it wrong.
Most of the things you're calling "English mistakes" are actually US English cultural changes.
One could easily call a lot of the phrases, spellings and expressions used by US Americans are "English errors".
Messrs. Wren and Martin must be turning in their graves
I find Canadians more intelligent and adaptive to the cultural variances in English than US Americans.
