Babel Pronunciation Novels & Stories

ARIA “Do you know the Greek alphabet?” He tensed. “I don’t think so…” He murmured scratching his head. “Well, you use it every day. It starts with the letter ‘Αα’ I wrote it in my notebook, and goes like this… ‘Ββ, Γγ, Δδ, Εε, Ζζ, Ηη, Θθ, … Ωω’. I stopped writing when I finished all 24 letters. You’re using their alphabet for your ranks. Now, the Alpha, it’s you. Next is the Beta (Ββ). It is pronounced Veta with a v, not a b. Like saying, vet. Then Gamma (Γγ) is pronounced yamma with y, not g, like when you say yellow. Then delta is like th in the word then, not a d. Epsilon is easy. Zeta, Eta, Theta like the th in thorn. I’ll skip the rest ‘cause I don’t need them, and I’ll go to the end. T

But he asked to be called Wayan only. Bli Wayan then invited me to sit down. Then, he called his wife to make me drink. After that, he lit up his cigarette again. I chose to sit cross-legged next to him, so I could see the road. I hoped Zoey came out of one of the houses opposite. Like most Balinese people, when pronouncing the letter "t". Bli Wayan also makes a unique pronunciation. For example, when Balinese say "artist" it becomes "arktiskt" with the letter "k" pronounced clearly.

He begins, and I frown. This is hilarious, I'm about to learn how to pronounce Nigerians words in a holding cell after I assualted a guy for calling me ex girlfriend a slut. "Werey, for your folks, Way as in the way to Christ. Ray, as in Ray of sunshine. Wayray, pronounce it." Smiling slightly, I say "Wayray.", and he explodes in laughter. "Bravo!. My language, Yorùbá. Yo!, as in a greeting. Ru, as in the short form of Ruth. Ba, as in bark, but without the rk. Pronounce it." and I do, which results in another fit of laughter.

she answered promptly. "It's not bibe', there's an 'R' in it." "What is 'aau'?" "It's 'ahr', not 'aau' ." I corrected once again. "Ahu." "Aaru. Say it" "Ahhu." I sighed in exhaustion. I was only wasting my time teaching a pretty kid with lisping tongue and limited education on how to pronounce 'r'. However, I didn't give up on teaching her something about bribery. "Bribery is when you take from, or give money to someone for doing what they are ought to do." She wrinkled her nose again to inform me that I had just spoken a truck load of gibberish and stroked her jaw in though.

she circled her red lips with her finger, to show them forming the letter O. “Yes, and then Bhalobaashi…it’s ee at the end,” I said, further correcting her with the last syllable. Teaching language to beautiful, red-lipped, cleavage-showing, dimple-cheeked, slightly-older girls was fun! But I thought, nobody understood the gravity of that moment more than Kexob. Raising his head, with a furrowed gaze, hair dropping on his forehead, he came forward, lifted Nazreen’s chin with the tip of his finger and said, “Aami tomakay bhalobaashi.” His ‘sh’ sound didn’t get mixed up with his ‘s’ sound now. He was such a true fan of Shahrukh!

“Were the ancient Hebrews all really bad spellers.” “Very funny,” Lyric replied, generating a gentle breeze with her hand that blew his hair backward. “No, that’s what it’s called. Stay with me.” “I’m trying to,” he said as he straightened his hair. “No, they were not bad spellers. But as I was looking at their aleph-bet, I noticed I’d been looking at the markings on Ru’s back wrong. I was starting with the left side and reading left to right, but I should’ve been looking from right to left.”

His plate just looked so good, I had penne pasta on my plate but his was different. Luka burst into a full belly laugh and it took him a while to quiet down, "what?" He wiped the corner of his lips with the napkin on his left and reached to hold my hand softly, "baby girl, it's not bo-loh-goh-nesse, it's bolo-naiyze." I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "That's what I pronounced, bolo-gnaize." He smiled and shook his head again, "baby girl, the G is silent. You can't date an Italian boy and not know how to pronounce that correctly. "

In grammés the emphasis is on the 1st sylable so it is pronounced mays. I hope you enjoyed my little phonics lesson, and if you haven't guessed it, I am a teacher and I love languages and phonics.

It was equivalent to a tacit consent to this matter. After entering the house, she changed into slippers and asked, "What are you playing?" "Mom, the godfather is teaching me how to speak Mandarin." He was wrong again, so she reminded him with a smile, "It's 'hua,' not 'fa'." "Fa..." "Hua." "Fa, fa, fa..." Zachary, who had an obsession, couldn't stand it anymore, so he hugged his head and said, "Ah... who did you inherit your big tongue?"

"If you are ever to be regarded highly by anyone on English soil, you must adopt the proper intonations. Do not roll the letter. Stress it." "Butter," she tried again, stressing the letter just like he’d asked. "No!" He threw his hands in the air, as though the lad were hopeless. "You must not roll any letter off the tongue. Speak them appropriately and give them the proper pronunciation. Butter." "Butter." She tried again. "Butter." "Butter." "My word," Philip sighed, dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. "This is going to be harder than I expected."