How to pronounce the word "often"

One of my colleagues asked me this, and I thought "Err... do you want fries with that?" For the life of me I couldn't think what I would say. I think learning German is pushing the English out of my head (and all those long words take up so much space! agh!) :cry:

I think it depends a bit on where the stress of the sentence is. If the word often is stressed, the "t" will be more obvious. If you are in the pub at 1:30am and have had a few pints, the "t" will be more likely to disappear.

Sober, I sat here, saying a half dozen sentences out loud, and most of the time I said the "t".

I often used to go to windsor for afternoon tea just outside the grounds of the castle, but then I would offen go down the east end for chips n mushy peas...

Depends on where you are, what you are doing, and with who one is talking...

Pootle

Erm... can I have the answer "Somewhere in between" please? The t is kind of suggested by a kind of back of the throat noise, if that makes any sense at all... but you're right, as soon as you start thinking about it, it's impossible to say for sure!!!

Shouldn't that be "with whom"?

I always pronounce the "t". Maybe it's my accent? Then again, maybe it's my age!

if I want to speak clearly, for example when speaking to non native english speakers or when i want to sound snooty, then i pronounce the t, otherwise when with other english speakers or when i've settled into my texas drawl, you won't her' no t from meyh.

okay, is it "i am looking forward to seeing you", as commonly used in american vernacular, or "i am looking forward to see you" as all my german friends say they learned in school.

is it a difference b/t british and american english or what?

Elf, "I am looking forward to see you" is NOT British English. It is just plain wrong. Just like Germans often say "One friend from me" when talking about a mate.

That's interesting - I've noticed some recurring and common mistakes by Germans speaking English; I wonder if it's a problem of "on-the-fly" translation, or just common phrases that are taught incorrectly?

For instance, "analyzes" as a noun instead of "analysis"; or "until" as meaning "no later than" (e.g. 'Please have this report ready until Friday').

okay, so it is wrong, but why? most german's say they were taught never to use a conjugated verb after "to", hence why they say "looking forward to see you" is correct. (i want to go, not i want to going).

is it simply that "forward to" is a prepositional phrase and that "to" here is not indicative of an infinitive verb which should come afterwards.

got it?

the german's say "one friend from me" because that is directly translated from "ein freund von mir". i can understand this one. but regarding my lat post, i know a finnish girl who also said "i am looking forward to see you". at first she wrote, "to seeing", then corrected it in a letter to me.

You look forward to performing an action - EG playing football. "I am looking forward to play football" is just wrong. BUT to look forwardS (with an s) is a direction, so you could look forwards, to see the cars in front of you on the road.
Dunno why. Just is.
If they get their point across, thats good enough for me. I always think it is more important to try to impersonate a good accent when speaking a foreign tongue. Makes you sound alot more fluent than someone who is grammatically correct, but speaks with a blatant foreign accent.
This does not count for french people, who should always speak with a french accent, regardless of what language they are talking in.

Okay Don Riina, you've forced me to pull out my Practical English Usage by Michael Swan to clear up what you have said. You are at least partly right, but this explains it a little more.


So, you can can say "I look forward to your next letter" and also "I look forward to hearing from you", but "I look forward to see you" is wrong.

thank you showem! i finally have won this bet i've had with my b.f. for 2 years! he still was not convinced, but he's an engineer and german. they never wnat to be told they're wrong!

Because I have become the resident consultant on the Queens English at work I never bother to make corrections outside of the office, but there is one oft misused phrase that really gets my goat.

Some of my well aquainted German friends often say to me as we say goodbye:

"It was good to meet you", but of course they really mean: "it was good to see you".

I have never bothered to point out the distinction, instead I just go for the smart alec reply of: "es freut mich auch, dich kennen zu lernen" (it was a pleasure to meet you as well).

Hey Mr. Munich, send your work colleagues my way, I could use the work. :wink: I won't bore you with all the typical German mistakes that wind me up. Not all do, but some really test my patience.

Nine out of ten English speakers know that "often" is never pronounced with a "t" sound unless it is two different words!

Couldn't resist! Courtesy of my Bavarian friend Georg ...

is it not odd that, with all of the anti-american sentiment in the air around these parts nowadays, germans generally still insist on using american pronunciation and (mis-)spelling?

mmm jordigo. i don't like the colo(u)r of your post. but no defens©e is needed on my part.

Jordigo, I don't know the Germans you talk to, but most who learn English in school have a very pronounced British accent and spelling habits.

Thats not my experience - people certainly can't understand a word I say if I speak like I do back in London, whereas my American friends are understood perfectly, and they don't dumb down their speech at all.

Mr. Munich, I don't know what your accent is, so I can't comment. I didn't say what accent Germans understood, rather how they spoke themselves.

My point was that I agree with Jordigo - most Germans I know (with very few exceptions) speak and write American, and even those that speak with a middle-english Accent use american slang.

All my colleagues want to speak with me in and to learn real English. Which is annoying because I want to speak German, and my American colleagues are never treated like this.

*thinks* Must resist... Must resist...

Hey guys..I need to ask you'll this. How do you pronounce NAUSEA?? Is it pronounced as Naushia or nozeeu??

Thanks!!

neither. pronounce as nor-zee-ah

Go here to hear it pronounced. Click on the speaker button.

One entry found for nausea.
Main Entry: nau·sea
Pronunciation: 'no-zE-&, -sE-&; 'no-zh&, -sh&
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, seasickness, nausea, from Greek nautia, nausia, from nautEs sailor
1 : a stomach distress with distaste for food and an urge to vomit
2 : extreme disgust
- nau·se·ant /-zhE-&nt, -shE-, -zE-, -sE-/ noun or adjective

at dict.leo.org you can als find a sound file

cheers joe

A recent e-mail

1] The bandage was wound around the wound.
2] The farm was used to produce produce.
3] The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4] We must polish the Polish furniture.
5] He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6] The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7] Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was
time to present the present.
8] At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of
a bass drum.
9] When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10] I did not object to the object.
11] The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12] There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13] They were too close to the door to close it.
14] The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15] A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16] To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17] The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18] After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19] Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20] I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21] How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22] I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

thnx guys :-)

@ Bluedave

Where did the "r" come from?

to emphasise the 1st syllable, sounds like gnaw also if you prefer

i need to start a similar thread with schedule. heard the "SCH" pronounced in so many different ways.

I think its pronounced as Skedule @ BD
not sure though

in british english schedule is pronounced with a hard sch as sked-yule and in american as soft sch as shed-yule

The "r" is typical standard english pronunciation. If you asked an american to try and spell it phonetically he would probably have left the "r" out (as would I). Many english often pronounce an r where there is none written, and leave it out when there is one written.

"...and leave it out when there is one written"

haha..interesting!

I would say the exact opposite. I learned SK and hear birtish films use the pronounciation shed

you could well be right brokenm, i get bloody confused, especially on a Monday but either pronunciation is acceptable

I say often offen, but I don't say offen often. Hope that clarifies it.

I can't say I've ever heard anyone say offen. Tis news to me that people are lazy enough to drop the t.

1-4 beers with a 't'
5-7 beers with an 'ft'
8+ beers 'f' only...

I found here:

"Usage Note: During the 15th century English experienced a widespread loss of certain consonant sounds within consonant clusters, as the (d) in handsome and handkerchief, the (p) in consumption and raspberry, and the (t) in chestnut and often. In this way the consonant clusters were simplified and made easier to articulate. With the rise of public education and literacy and, consequently, people's awareness of spelling in the 19th century, sounds that had become silent sometimes were restored, as is the case with the t in often, which is now frequently pronounced. In other similar words, such as soften and listen, the t generally remains silent."

I hate it when Germans challenge me at my mother tongue. I don't care how well they speak it, I think it's rude.



I disagree with both of you. It used to be cool in both Holland and Germany to speak American English, but that has now changed to what they call Cambridge English. Nevertheless, even when they were supposed to be speaking American English, many Germans actually spoke British English albeit with an American accent. This was because they were taught British English at school, but heard American accents in films. I find that foreigners speak to me with a variety of accents. Just on the weekend, a German girl spoke to me with a Kiwi accent. I hear Irish accents fairly often too.

Getting back to "often", I pronounce it without the "t" whereas my dad pronounces it with the "t". It does sound more posh with the "t", but then he says "onvelope" instead of "envelope" like I do. Also sounds more posh. Just learnt on the weekend too that "pet peeve" is an American phrase and the Brits don't understand it. Is that correct? Do the Kiwis and Aussies know it?

As a Brit I know what "pet peeve" means and would use it too. It could well be transatlantic in origin, but hey.
On the other hand "on the weekend" is not a phrase I would use.

I would say the exact opposite is true (as brokenm says)

Yes so would I. And this is a case in point on the other current pronunciation thread: Germans have been known to correct me when I say "shedule". However I believe that "skedule" is becoming acceptable in the UK now and why not, it's not as if I don't understand it.

Ulysses, dude, that post is two and a half years old. Not that the basic contents have altered, I still stand by it. But man, talk about a dead horse...

@showem, It wasnt Ulysses that restarted the thread, it was someone else, and it wasnt even him that started talking about the t in often again.

I want to know why noone talks posh english (RP) anymore? Are there any TTers who speak posh english as their standard dialect or do they all supress it for various reasons?