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ArchivesRe: I beg to differ...
in reply to a message by ClaudiaS
I hear an "h" sound. If you were to ask me to write them out without seeing their spellings, I would definitely not use an "r."
I think the point here is that our OP is a native English speaker that cannot necessarily (but maybe she can) pick up on the subtleties in another language that uses a sound not found in her own. Of course it sounds different to a native speaker of that language, because they've grown up with it.
Here's another example. I'm Israeli. In Hebrew, we have sounds also not in English. One of them is the "ch" sound, a gutteral "h" sound. Many people cannot pronounce this sound, or they cannot distinguish it from a normal "h." (I speak from experience) Based on that, is it wrong to write/pronounce Chanukkah as Hanukkah? In an English speaking country, of course not. One is not more wrong than the other in such a case. Just because I myself can pick up on a pronounciation like that doesn't mean that everyone else can. Should those people be subject to trying to pronounce something that they find difficult?
I think the point here is that our OP is a native English speaker that cannot necessarily (but maybe she can) pick up on the subtleties in another language that uses a sound not found in her own. Of course it sounds different to a native speaker of that language, because they've grown up with it.
Here's another example. I'm Israeli. In Hebrew, we have sounds also not in English. One of them is the "ch" sound, a gutteral "h" sound. Many people cannot pronounce this sound, or they cannot distinguish it from a normal "h." (I speak from experience) Based on that, is it wrong to write/pronounce Chanukkah as Hanukkah? In an English speaking country, of course not. One is not more wrong than the other in such a case. Just because I myself can pick up on a pronounciation like that doesn't mean that everyone else can. Should those people be subject to trying to pronounce something that they find difficult?
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