Cyprus-Forum.com

[umit07]

Instead of hug I say huug for example, both cut and cat come out the same from my mouth and milk and ship become meelk and sheep.

I think it is the opposite with me. I apparently pronounce "beach" as "bitch". And is there really a difference between cut and cat?

That's a tricky one, what about "can't" vs "cunt"?

[miltiades]

Instead of hug I say huug for example, both cut and cat come out the same from my mouth and milk and ship become meelk and sheep.

I think it is the opposite with me. I apparently pronounce "beach" as "bitch". And is there really a difference between cut and cat?

That's a tricky one, what about "can't" vs "cunt"?

Can't is slightly elongated[*] with more phonetic emphasis on the C while cunt has the phonetic emphasis on "cunt" the emphasis is on the ...middle !!

[Sotos]

Instead of hug I say huug for example, both cut and cat come out the same from my mouth and milk and ship become meelk and sheep.

I think it is the opposite with me. I apparently pronounce "beach" as "bitch". And is there really a difference between cut and cat?

That's a tricky one, what about "can't" vs "cunt"?

You can always use synonyms that can not be confused with something else if you don't have perfect pronunciation e.g. instead of "cunt" use "vagina" and instead of "cat" use "pussy"!

[supporttheunderdog]

The only difficulty I ever found when learning English, as I learned it in Cyprus by Cypriots, was the pronunciation. Being around English people during my studies in Britain fixed that to a certain degree. People hardly ever had a problem understanding my accent. On the other hand I did have problems understanding certain Scottish accents and the Geordies. I found the Scouse funny to hear but could understand them. I had to get used to the East Midlands accent to start getting it (Nottingham) but the real pain there were the Brummies.

My friends would make fun of my long vowels. Instead of hug I say huug for example, both cut and cat come out the same from my mouth and milk and ship become meelk and sheep. Some people thought I was American for some reason whilst my best friend thought I had a near Schwatzeneger accent. All in good fun.

It's good to note that approximately 1 year after I left Britain for good my accent turned super Cypriot again, and my English friends who I contacted through skype noticed it. Having said that, when I returned to England for an 1 month gig (job), by the second week my "faux" accent was back.

I never managed to pronounce the "schwa" in everyday speech though I really tried

Even native born Brits can occasionally have trouble understanding the regional accents and dialects spoken in other parts of the UK, so much so that I have seen a person from Edinburg acting as translator between a Londoner and a Shetland Islander...mind...all were drunk.