Pronounciation

Creaking in the throat – why Danish high school students have a hard time pronouncing Spanish

by
COLOURBOX9052963 scaled

¿Mi casa… Jacobolo Ditzolo. Pablo spaniol?

The quote comes from Jacob Ditzel, a character played by comedian Charter McCloskey from the Danish satirical TV show called Ditzel All Inklusiv. Ditzel has gone to the Spanish island of Mallorca and is explaining to the viewers how you make do on the island with only a few Spanish words and phrases. Most importantly, he reminds 11- 12 year old kids that they should say ’¡no!’ to sangrias and cervezas.

One of the reasons why the show is funny to Danes is that many of us have some knowledge of Spanish, although it might be quite limited. This helps us realize that there is something strange about Ditzel’s Spanish – it’s just … ↪

Silent letters and consonant pairs in Irish

by
Skaermbillede 2024 05 11 110307

I’ve had a fascination with Gaeilge, the Irish language, for a long time. Its long words and complicated writing, which together allow for such fun things as fheicfeadh [ɛcətʲ]. Oh! And its consonant mutation, one of the coolest features I think a language can have. Initial consonants changing based on prepositions, adverbs, gender, tenses, and so on. It’s so amazing and interconnected! Add to that, Irish’s long literary history and the modern attempts to save the language from extinction, and I just can’t help but love the language.

But I’m not here to write about any of that. I’m here to write about the Irish consonants, more precisely, the leathana and caola pairs, the two categories that most Irish … ↪