Russell McMahon wrote:=20
=20
> Of course, les yankees are not immune either
> Ask them how to pronounce "Tuolumne meadows" (paradise on=20
> earth in High
> Sierras in Yellowstone National Park).

After graduation, I took a liking for French language and did a short =
course
in Alliance Francaise. What sounded odd to me was that there is no =
neuter
gender in French. Everything - living or non-living - is either =
masculine or
feminine. For example, a pen is of masculine gender and an eraser =
belongs to
feminine gender! There is no logic; you merely have to memorise the =
gender
for each object.

But what impressed me was the standardisation in pronunciation. With =
very few
exceptions, you can pronounce the words correctly, based on the =
spelling. In
English, there is no such rule. For example, consider the following four
words.=20

Your
Hour
Tour
Four

Even though the vowels are the same in all the four words, the =
pronunciation
of each is distinctly different from the others.

Regards,
Bala

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