HOW O'NEILL LEARNED TO PRONOUNCE.
THE GOAT THAT RAN ROUND THE ROOF.--A HAS A BROAD SOUND.--NATIVES.
"I never could quite understand," said Bart van Dam, the big Cape
giant, who had carried off Boyton the week before, "how O'Neill
managed, out of such an extraordinary book, to pick up anything of the
pronunciation. For, as a matter of fact, he +does+ get quite close to
some of the sounds; and I can nearly always guess what he is trying to
say.
"When he is talking about that interesting Rotterdam street, the
Boompjes, he doesn't make the first part rhyme with the English word
loom, and then add +cheese+, a thing I have heard Britishers do who
should have known better. And actually, I have noticed he can
distinguish +goed+, +groot+, +goot+. That's promising.
"Some of my British friends at the Cape, even after I graduated on
English Literature and History, used kindly to drop Dutch words into
their conversation, either to make it easy for me, or to keep up my
spirits, so to speak. Oh never a talk of over five minutes, but little
familiar terms like +taal+, +zolder+, +maar+, and so on, would begin to
be showered in, here and there. One of these linguists had taken me
into his own back garden, (he was very fond of animals of all kinds and
we had gone out to inspect those he had) when he began to explain the
new improvements on his premises.
We got into a deep discussion on the right way of draining a flat roof.
"Come here", said he, at last. "Look up there, and you'll see a +goat
of mine+ running all round the open space!"
"Goat!" I exclaimed; "it'll fall!"
"Nonsense", he said, "not unless lightning strikes it. Firm as a rock!
Now, isn't that the right sort of +goat to carry the water off+?"
He thought he had said goot in Dutch!
Well now, Jack's beyond +that+. Who had been coaching him?
Naturally I turned up Boyton on pronunciation the very first thing at
home--and the mystery was solved! I was amazed. Boyton excels in
teaching the sounds. Here is an extract or two from his
=REMARKS ON THE DUTCH PRONUNCIATION.=
=A= =has a +broader sound+ than in English, bal.=
=A A= =has a +broader sound+, aal.=
=A A U= =+sounds broad+, as in graauwen, to snarl.=
=E U= =is described as resembling eu in Europe. For the +falsity+
thereof, let the word be pronounced by a Native, and the
+Mistake+ will be +felt+.=
=G= =is a guttural letter difficult to an Englishman; it can only
be acquired by hearing it from a +Civilized Native+, e.g.
gierig and gijzelen.=
=U U= =No Englishman can emit this sound. It may be well heard in
vuur (fire) and in guur. Consult a Dutch Instructor.=
=E I= =This sound is beyond the powers of the unassisted English
Organs of Speech. It must first be heard from an educated
Hollander.=
=U I= =It is +improper+ to make this identical with oy as in boy;
the native pronunciation must be followed.=
There you have some of the Rules! They won't lead you far wrong, in any
case. Then, to crown all, for fear the diligent reader wouldn't have
caught the point yet, Boyton goes back to his favourite "Doctrine of
the Native." Here it is:
=The Editor places the learner on his guard against receiving wrong
references, and directs him to an Instructor, or Native, whose Dialect
it is, for the sound peculiar to each letter=.
Bravo, Boyton!
Three kinds of Natives he recommends the beginner to consult. He has
them arranged in a sort of ascending scale--+the Civilized, the
Intelligent and the Polite.+
The two former classes will help you with the pronunciation, or with
Het.
From the latter you get idioms.