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I used to live in Portland before I moved to Japan. In Portland, I used to sell computers for a large computer maker. My co-worker was from England. Although he usually had an American accent, he would always ask
“Where is the shed-yul?”
"What is a shed-yul?" I thought. I was confused. He would say sorry and then say “skedjul” slowly. I would usually reply “Ohhh.... right.”
Even native speakers have difficulty with accents, so I can't blame my students for being a little confused. Let's practice some confusing differences.
First, let's talk about the pronunciation of 'schedule':
American English (AE) IPA - /ˈskɛ.dʒul/ British English (BE) IPA - /ˈʃɛdjul/
You can check the pronunciation at these two sites: forvo.com and howjsay.com
The British pronunciation is very close to the French word. The American pronunciation is based on the Greek spelling. The word schedule originally comes from the Old French word cedule from the Late Latin word schedula (strips of paper) from Greek word skhizein (to split, to cleave).1
Another word that is influenced by French is “garage”
American English (AE) IPA - /ɡəˈɹɑːʒ/ British English (BE) IPA - /ˈgæˌɹɪdʒ/
Again, the British pronunciation is very close to the French word. If you go to forvo.com you can hear the French and American pronunciation. You can listen to my accent too. My username is macanudo. You can also hear an excellent sample at howjsay.com and clear examples of both AE and BE at wiktionary.com
“Garage” comes from French from Middle French garer “to shelter, dock ships” (c. 1400~c. 1700)2
Thanks for stopping by. If you have an idea for a Teacher's Stumpers we would like to hear from you. Please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your ideas. 1"schedule." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 16 Feb. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/schedule>. 2"garage." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 16 Feb. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/garage>. |
| Last Updated on Sunday, 07 March 2010 07:14 |



Stick to the shed-yul - Teacher Stumpers



Comments
Both the schedule pronunciations also seem to exist in the UK nowadays too, but I think that is the American influence in that case.
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