THE BUSINESS TRANSLATOR PRONUNCIATION GUIDE This guide applies to all languages in this book that do not have heir own separate pronunciation guide provided. If it is necessary or advantageous to use a different system for a particular language(languages with tones, for example),a separate pronunciation guide has been provided with the language All letters sound like they normally do in English. Sp Dec ial exceptions and a few more detailed explanations are below Vowels ah=“ a as in“ father aw=“awin“awfu a=“a”in“cat ee=“ ee as in‘beet er=‘er”asin" perfect"or"ir”asin^bird ew=“ewin“new i=“1asin“bit gh=Ias in" light 00=“0 o as in loose oh=“ o as in“note ow=“ owas in“now h=“ u as in"“cut u=00 as in"" or uas in"put Special Consonants Not Found in English if you see this after a vowel (a, e, 1, o, u)it means that it is pronounced through the nose. It is called a nasal vowel".In other words in hindi or french or portuguese. "o is not pronounced like the word“own” but like“ oh'said through the nose 14
The BusinessTranslator 14 PRONUNCIATION GUIDE: This guide applies to all languages in this book that do not have their own separate pronunciation guide provided. If it is necessary or advantageous to use a different system for a particular language (languages with tones, for example), a separate pronunciation guide has been provided with the language. All letters sound like they normally do in English. Special exceptions and a few more detailed explanations are below. Vowels ah = a as in father ay = a as in late aw = aw in awful æ = a in cat ee = ee as in beet eh = e as in bed er = er as in perfect or ir as in bird ew = ew in new i = i as in bit igh = i as in light oo = oo as in loose oh = o as in note ow = ow as in now oy = oy as in toy uh = u as in cut u = oo as in book or u as in put Special Consonants Not Found in English n = if you see this after a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) it means that it is pronounced through the nose. It is called a nasal vowel. In other words, in Hindi or French or Portuguese, o n is not pronounced like the word own but like oh said through the nose.
THE BUSINESS TRANSLATOR r-in most languages, the "I'"is trilled as in Spanish or Italian In german and french. however it is in the back of the throat bit like gargling. Others are completely different. It is best to listen to the native speakers around you or to samples on the Internet to learn how to pronounce the“r” xh=“ ch as in Scottish“ loch gh= the " voiced counterpart ofxh above. If a sound is voiced, that means that you vibrate your vocal cords when you say it. For instance,"s"is not voiced, but" z"is voiced. So make he"sound but vibrate your vocal cords at the same time This is a common sound in Arabic and many other languages zh=zin“ azure c= the soft sound in the back of your mouth that you get when you say the word"human"but prolong the"h th= as in English"thing dh="th"as in English"the q=a sound like k"but further back in the throat. This is a common sound in Semitic languages such as arabic and Amharic Accent Stress on a certain syllable in a word is indicated by all capital letters. For instance, in English, if we were using the same system to show accent, we would write a-PART-ment"en cy-clo-PE-di-a. This is not appropriate for all languages especially for tone languages like Chinese, Vietnamese and many African languages. But that problem will be addressed in the special explanations for those languages 15
The Business Translator 15 r in most languages, the r is trilled as in Spanish or Italian. In German and French, however, it is in the back of the throat, a bit like gargling. Others are completely different. It is best to listen to the native speakers around you or to samples on the Internet to learn how to pronounce the r. xh = ch as in Scottish loch gh = the voiced counterpart of xh above. If a sound is voiced, that means that you vibrate your vocal cords when you say it. For instance, s is not voiced, but z is voiced. So make the xh sound, but vibrate your vocal cords at the same time. This is a common sound in Arabic and many other languages. zh = z in azure ç = the soft sound in the back of your mouth that you get when you say the word human but prolong the h. th = as in English thing dh = th as in English the. q = a sound like k but further back in the throat. This is a common sound in Semitic languages such as Arabic and Amharic. Accent Stress on a certain syllable in a word is indicated by all capital letters. For instance, in English, if we were using the same system to show accent, we would write a-PART-ment or ency-clo-PE-di-a. This is not appropriate for all languages, especially for tone languages like Chinese, Vietnamese and many African languages. But that problem will be addressed in the special explanations for those languages.
THE BUSINESS TRANSLATOR If stress is very predictable for a particular language, there will simply be a note like stress is normally on the first syllable of a Listening to the language There are websites for almost every language. Although we have indicated a few websites for some of the languages in this book, website addresses often change, so we will not publish actual URLS for most languages in this book. If, however, you have access to a computer with an audio program, just go to ww google com and search for the name of the language you want to hear, plus pronunciation"audio. Among the search results, you will usually be able to find at least one or more websites providing recorded examples of the language For example, if you are searching for recorded examples of Norwegian, simply type in the three words"Norwegian audio and"pronunciation, into the search box on the google website OTHER INTERESTING WEBSITES RELATED TO LANGUAGES httpwwwethnologuecomThewebsiteoftheSummer Institute of Linguistics. This site has maps and information related to every language in the world httpmembersfortunecitycom/mikecolley/langnum--"michael Colley's Language Number Page" Contains the numbers 1-10 in an incredible number of languages with audio recordings of native speakers pronouncing the numbers for many of the languages
The BusinessTranslator 16 If stress is very predictable for a particular language, there will simply be a note like stress is normally on the first syllable of a word. Listening to the Language There are websites for almost every language. Although we have indicated a few websites for some of the languages in this book, website addresses often change, so we will not publish actual URLs for most languages in this book. If, however, you have access to a computer with an audio program, just go to www.google.com and search for the name of the language you want to hear, plus pronunciation and audio. Among the search results, you will usually be able to find at least one or more websites providing recorded examples of the language. For example, if you are searching for recorded examples of Norwegian, simply type in the three words Norwegian, audio and pronunciation into the search box on the Google website. OTHER INTERESTING WEBSITES RELATED TO LANGUAGES http://www.ethnologue.com The website of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. This site has maps and information related to every language in the world. http://members.fortunecity.com/mikecolley/langnum -- Michael Colleys Language Number Page. Contains the numbers 1-10 in an incredible number of languages with audio recordings of native speakers pronouncing the numbers for many of the languages.
THE BUSINESS TRANSLATOR AFRIKAANS One of the official languages of south Africa. Also spoken by parts of the population in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia. Afrikaans is a variant of Dutch brought to Africa by 17 century colonists which has been influenced by malay Portuguese, other European languages, as well as the african languages of the region In afrikaans, stress is normally on the first syllable of a word like the English words FA-therand MAlL-man) Hello, nice to meet you Hello, goed om jou te ontmoet THeh-ler-00, hood ohm yer-oo tuh awnt-moot I only speak English Ek praat net Engels LEnk praht neht ehng-gehls] I don t understand Ek verstaan nie Ehk fuhr-stahn nee What is this? Wat is dit? IVaht uhs dust? What is the time? Hoe laat is dit? [Hoo laht uhs duht? What is the date? Wat is die datum? Vaht uhs dee dah-term? Where is the nearest toilet? Waar is die naaste toilet? TVahr uhs dee nah-stuh toy-leht? 17
The Business Translator 17 AFRIKAANS One of the official languages of South Africa. Also spoken by parts of the population in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia. Afrikaans is a variant of Dutch brought to Africa by 17th century colonists which has been influenced by Malay, Portuguese, other European languages, as well as the African languages of the region. In Afrikaans, stress is normally on the first syllable of a word (like the English words FA-ther and MAIL-man). Hello,nice to meet you. Hello,goed om jou te ontmoet. [Heh-ler-oo, xhood ohm yer-oo tuh awnt-moot] I only speak English. Ek praat net Engels. [Ehk praht neht ehng-gehls] I don`t understand. Ek verstaan nie. [Ehk fuhr-stahn nee] What is this? Wat is dit? [Vaht uhs duht?] What is the time? Hoe laat is dit? [Hoo laht uhs duht?] What is the date? Wat is die datum? [Vaht uhs dee dah-term?] Where is the nearest toilet? Waar is die naaste toilet? [Vahr uhs dee nah-stuh toy-leht?]
THE BUSINESS TRANSLATOR Where is the nearest hotel? Waar is die naaste hotel? TAhr uhs dee nah-stuh haw-tehl?] Where is the nearest airport? Waar is die naaste lughawe? Vahr uhs dee nah-stuh lerxh-hah-vuh? Where is the nearest hospital? Waar is die naaste hospitaal? TAhr uhs dee nah-stuh haws-pee-tahI? Where is the nearest American restaurant? Waar is die naaste Amerikannse restaurant? IVahr uhs dee nah-stuh ah-meh-ree-kahng-suh rehs-too-rahnt? What do you need to make this work? Wat benodig jy om dit te laat werk? Taht buh-naw-dehxh yuh-ee awm duht tuh laht vehrk?] Who is the decision maker? Wie is die besluitnemer? IVee uhs dee buh-sluh-ewt-nay-muhr?] May I use the phone? Mag ek die telefoon gebruik? Mahxh ehk dee teh-leh-fohn xhuh-bruh-ewk May i use the computer? Mag ek die rekenaar gebruik? IMahxh ehk dee ray-kuh-nahr xhuh-bruh-ewk?] May I speak alone with my partner for a moment? Mag ek n oomblik alleen met my vennoot praat? IMahxh ehk n ohm-bluhk ah-layn mayt muh-ee vuh-noht praht? Let s make this deal happen today Kom ons sluit vandag hierdie ooreenkoms Kawm awngs sluh-ewt vahn-dahxh heer-dee oh-rayn-kohms 18
The BusinessTranslator 18 Where is the nearest hotel? Waar is die naaste hotel? [Vahr uhs dee nah-stuh haw-tehl?] Where is the nearest airport? Waar is die naaste lughawe? [Vahr uhs dee nah-stuh lerxh-hah-vuh?] Where is the nearest hospital? Waar is die naaste hospitaal? [Vahr uhs dee nah-stuh haws-pee-tahl?] Where is the nearest American restaurant? Waar is die naaste Amerikannse restaurant? [Vahr uhs dee nah-stuh ah-meh-ree-kahng-suh rehs-too-rahnt?] What do you need to make this work? Wat benodig jy om dit te laat werk? [Vaht buh-naw-dehxh yuh-ee awm duht tuh laht vehrk?] Who is the decision maker? Wie is die besluitnemer? [Vee uhs dee buh-sluh-ewt-nay-muhr?] May I use the phone? Mag ek die telefoon gebruik? [Mahxh ehk dee teh-leh-fohn xhuh-bruh-ewk?] May I use the computer? Mag ek die rekenaar gebruik? [Mahxh ehk dee ray-kuh-nahr xhuh-bruh-ewk?] May I speak alone with my partner for a moment? Mag ek n oomblik alleen met my vennoot praat? [Mahxh ehk n ohm-bluhk ah-layn mayt muh-ee vuh-noht praht?] Let`s make this deal happen today. Kom ons sluit vandag hierdie ooreenkoms. [Kawm awngs sluh-ewt vahn-dahxh heer-dee oh-rayn-kohms.]