Job Discussion Forums

[arioch36]

Back in New York, Every one I know says often, enunciating the "t" (sorry, can't do IPA)

When I came to China, I noticed all of my students keeping the "t" silent. Looked in several dictionaries. Sure enough, this was an allowable, perhaps even preferred, way of pronouncing often. Figured it must be a Brit thing, so I asked the Brit laowais here in Zhengzhou Henan, China. They all enunciated the "t". But they are mostly younger brits, under 40 (young )
Curious about who else keeps the "t" silent, why this is considered actually more common.

The other sound that all Chinese pronounce wrongly is the "s" in "vision" or "measure" (post alveolar fricative denotated by the "3" IPA symbol). They simply do not pronounce this sound as a rule. Measure becomes mea'ure
Anyone know why?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I've run into this, too. My Russian colleagues called me on it, because I said that we usually don't pronounce the /t/ (I'm from Minnesota). However, later that day I was busted using the /t/.
I think it depends on the context or, rather, the word's placement in the sentence. Or maybe I'm just blowing smoke. I'd simply say both are acceptable and move on

[denise]

For me, it's a silent 't'. I really don't like how it sounds with the 't'. (Not that I'm suggesting that we should all just pronounce words however we like, according to what sounds best... that would just be silly.)

d

[Justin Trullinger]

No "t" in "often" where I'm from. To the point that midwestern students (natives) often mispell it when they're young.

Both are acceptable, and move on.


Justin

[blackmagicABC]

Both are acceptable and correct. It doesn't really have anything to do with British or American pronunciation as it is done both ways in both countries. I prefer to use and teach not pronouncing the t because it avoids problems later with words like soften which has no pronounced t as far as I know.

I posted this elsewhere in another form but what is really stupid is when students (like in Taiwan) are required to write IPA (or KK like they do in Taiwan) and they write the [t] but don't pronounce it or vice versa. Students shouldn't be writing IPA at all in my opinion.

Chinese students (I don't know about others) occasionally pronounce the s in measure as an s and therefore sound like the are saying mea'ure.

[MO39]

I'm from the East Coast of the US (near Philadelphia) and don't pronounce the t in often. Whenever, I hear it pronounced, it sounds affected to me, but that's just me. According to my Merriam Webster dictionary, the preferred pronunciation is the one without the t.

[spiral78]

I say the 't.' But I agree with blackmagic - either is ok...

[MELEE]

I'm from the Midwest of the US of A, where no one pronounces the t. But sometime early in my teaching career I started doing it--I guess I thought it was easier for students to understand????
About 5 years ago I decided it was silly of me to do that so I stopped.

[jonniboy]

Both. It seems if I say it in the middle of a sentence I don't say it but if I say the word alone I'll pronounce the t. Storm in a tea cup if you'll pardon the crap pun.

Some foreigners get taught pronunciations from outdated dictionaries that don't always coincide with real usage. Rest-rong is a common pronunciation of restaurant among Baltic students, but I've never heard a native speaker say it that way.

[arioch36]

Black

[Amani Renas]

I'm from Cleveland. In my experience, people who are from Northern Ohio (or Northeast Ohio) pronounce the "t". People in the Southern Part say "offen".

I don't know why, but I believe is has something to do with the big cultural gap that happens between Northern and Southern Ohio.

-Amani