I’ve heard many Brazilians say that English is a simple language to learn. I agree that English grammar in many respects is less complicated than that of Portuguese. There are fewer verb conjugations, far fewer versions of pronouns (Já desisti de usar os pronomes corretos em português), and our sentence structures are often more compact. All of these factors, of course, make it easier to learn the basics.
But what about pronunciation? When I was a kid, spelling bees (competições de soletrar) left me in cold sweats. Because of the complex history of the English language there are 24-27 consonant sounds and 14-20 vowel sounds, yet there are only 26 letters in the alphabet. And, unfortunately, English speakers don’t have the benefit of accents as Portuguese speakers do. So you can imagine winning a spelling bee was no easy feat (não era nada mole, não)!
Take a look, for example, at the letter combination “ough” in this sentence:
“Although I have a rough cough, I can still climb through the boughs of the tree”, thought the man.
(“Embora eu tenha uma tosse seca, eu ainda consigo trepar nos galhos da árvore”, pensou o homem.)
Let me give you an idea of how to pronounce the various oughs in the above sentence:
- In “although” it’s similar to that of “oe” in “toe” (dedo do pé).
- In “rough” it’s similar to that of “uff” in “puff” (sopro).
- In “cough” it’s similar to that of “off” in “coffin” (caixão).
- In “through” it’s similar to that of “ue” in “true” (verdadeiro).
- In “bough” it’s similar to that of “ow” in “how” (como).
- In “thought” it’s similar to that of “o” in “hot” (quente).
Others will tell you there are even more pronunciations to this letter combination, but these are the most commonly used. And as far as I’m concerned they’re enough (“uff” as in “puff”)!
Tchau for now!
Comentários (20)
Oi, Luis! No need to forgive your stupid mistakes. There were none! You’re English is great!
And Lydiane, I’ll see what I can do about sending an audio with the pronunciation.
Thanks, everyone!
Hey Ashley you should record it , like in a podcast.. what do you think?
Congrats
hello
adorei o tópico
só estou em duvida com uma frase e não consigo achar a resposta nos meus livros antigos
“yet there are only 26 letters in the alphabet.”
pelo que eu me lembro, nós apenas podemos usar a palavra YET (para dizer “ainda”), no fim de frases?
por exemplo
“I didn’t my homework, yet…”
please, forgive if I’m wrong…
thanks
Hi, Haiany!
Na verdade, tem vários usos de “yet”, o mais comum sendo, como você falou, “I haven’t done my homework yet”.
Pórem pode usar “yet” como “however” também, então a frase pode ser: “…however, there are only 26 letters in the alphabet.”
I could have also used “nevertheless”.
Todas essas palavras, “yet”, “however”, “nevertheless” podem ser traduzidos como, “todavia”, “contudo”. Espero que essa explicação tenha esclarecido esse uso de “yet” para você!
Gostei muito! Me ajudou bastante mesmo!
Haiany,
Yet pode ser usado como conjunção adversativa (ou seja, para dar idéia de adversidade, de contratriedade), sendo, portanto, sinônima de but, however… Por exemplo:
There are 52 sounds in the English language, yet there are only 26 letters.
In addition to your fab examples, here is my contribution: GHOTI.
You must be wondering what it means and how it is pronounced, but I bet you won’t be even close.
It is read “fish”. Yes, fish. The word GHOTI means nothing actually, but it was created, allegedly by George B. Shaw, to illustrate irregularities in the English spelling. See:
GH pronounced f as in touGH
O pronounced ɪ as in wOmen
TI pronounced ʃ as in naTIon
To those of you who say English is easy, or easier than Portuguese, think twice before you say it again.
ainda estou um pouco atrapalhada para entender como lidarcom as lições. Não entendi as sequencias que elas seguem. Gostaria de poder sempre ter lições com audio para aprender a pronuncia mas nem sempre encontro. Acho que o curso é ótimo, eu é que não soube ainda bem aproveita-lo.
perfeito, gostei muito do topico, thanx a lot!!!
I have been teaching cultural conversation in Brazil for 2 yrs. and I have a practice for my students for ” th “: Think that this month the way through the thicket is thickest.”
Caro leitor,
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