English Pronunciation Gone Wrong – At the Restaurant

Dining out is one of the most enjoyable and interactive of pastimes, and is a social tradition around the globe.  It is possibly one of the mostly common bonding rituals in social circles throughout America.

Going “out to eat” can run the gamut, from something as casual as taking the car to a “drive-thru” restaurant, to an event as haughty as “dressing to the nines” and visiting a gorgeous five-star restaurant.

SEE ALSO: 4 Reasons to Improve Pronunciation

One thing is certain; any visit to a restaurant can become frustrating, and possibly embarrassing, when there are mishaps involving the English pronunciation of menu items.  Think about it, as Americans we go to other countries and find ourselves in states of exasperation when attempting to speak the language of the host country.  We should put ourselves “in the shoes” of our foreign friends visiting America.

For example, consider how difficult a struggle certain situations would be for somebody from Indonesia because of their inability to pronounce /f/ – they pronounce it as /p/ instead.  It is comical just to think of them trying to order fish and chips – imagine the look on the waiter’s face when he hears a request to bring “piss and chips!”

Many languages have their own difficult sounds – the sounds that leave you completely tongue-twisted, frustrated, and sometimes in bouts of laughter at your own inability to utter the correct pronunciation of the word or sound.  Next, you wonder how anybody in the world would be able to pronounce words containing such sounds! Well, it is just as difficult for internationals who visit our country.  English pronunciation can be complicated as the language has its share of difficult sounds, such as the /th/ and /sh/ sounds, which frequently prove to be quite problematic for travelers from abroad.  One of people’s favorite things to do while visiting from other countries is to sample the culinary delights that are not plentiful in their own country.  However, how much fun can it be to order a menu item when you’re afraid you may be ordering something completely different from what you want to appear on your plate? It probably is not very pleasant.

What about the Frenchman who would like to buy an “emberger”? Any waiter would be hard-pressed to understand the poor guy is craving a hamburger.  He could starve by the time the waiter understands the culinary request.  Instead, the customer resorts to pointing at the picture in the menu.  This is all well and fine, but it does not help the tourist learn how to pronounce the tricky English word.

Not all people who visit the United States and go to restaurants want to have to give up on speaking and rely on pointing at pictures (if the menu even has them!).  How time-consuming would that be? Not only that, it would be counter-productive if one were interested in learning proper English pronunciation.  Another great example is a food-item word that we Americans pronounce in a way that even we can’t quite explain – “salmon.” Okay, it makes sense that if we were speaking phonetically, we would say “sal-mon” (pronouncing the “l”).  However, as you know, this is not the case! Instead, we have to say “sa-men.” It is confusing to us, so just imagine how crazy it would make a tourist who simply wants a nice seafood dinner.

Having a large vocabulary is terrific, and knowing how to use perfect grammar is superb.  However, none of it means anything if your audience is unable to understand you.  Pronunciation is of paramount importance in the study of the English language.