Worse, when you try to explain [æ] as the a in "cat" for example that only works for some dialects because other dialects don't pronounce that a as [æ] but another usually fairly similar sound.MJK wrote:Well, I wanted to say that most English speakers can't pronounce [æ] in the end of the word. For example, in "Hyundai" where it should be [hjʌn dæ] I've always heard it as [hjʌn dei] in English. The same goes to [e]
You could write out a precise pronunciation guide for certain words used here in Ireland spoken with an Irish accent from say the south. Most Americans and British speakers would find it very difficult to reproduce the sounds because the words will include some sounds borrowed from Irish. Again, as above, you could use a particular part of a word to explain the meaning of an IPA symbol but if you're thinking of BBC English then it's rather likely that there's a different vowel or consonant cluster sound used here in many common words which will end up messing things up.
Like above, I see [æ] as the a in "cat." I then need to figure out if my particular southern Irish accent pronounces cat in the way that's being referred to here (most of us don't), and I need to figure out if the writer was thinking of Received Pronunciation (BBC) or some Eastern or Western Coast American accent (it's almost never central US or Southern, nor Northern England, Scotland or Wales that people use for their reference point). This is fine for me, I married a language scholar who is useful for these kinds of questions, but for most people it's not going to be easy figuring out what symbols apply to their variety of English pronunciation (and honestly it's very complicated, there are around five main distinct "pronunciation dialects" in my city alone and I speak like none of them).
