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a: bedeutet lang aussprechen

English translation: a: means that the vowel is pronounced long; or: a: means it is pronounced as a long vowel sound


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16:39 Jul 26, 2010
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics
German term or phrase: a: bedeutet lang aussprechen
Ich uebersetze "Hinweise zur Uebersetzung der Lautschrift" fuer eine multi-sprachige Brochure.

Tschechisch

"a: bedeutet lang aussprechen."

How would you render it in English ?
lirka
Local time: 15:56
English translation:a: means that the vowel is pronounced long; or: a: means it is pronounced as a long vowel sound
Explanation:
Ich habe es schon oft verwendet und so gelesen, beide Beispiele sollten richtig sein.
Selected response from:

Dirk Heidersbach
Germany
Local time: 21:56
Grading comment
Thanks, Dirk
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +5a: means that the vowel is pronounced long; or: a: means it is pronounced as a long vowel sound
Dirk Heidersbach
3 -1a: use a long a, as in day, fade, date
jccantrell
3 -1ä as in 'bother', cot.
Michael Wetzel
Summary of reference entries provided
Info
Kim Metzger

Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
a: means that the vowel is pronounced long; or: a: means it is pronounced as a long vowel sound


Explanation:
Ich habe es schon oft verwendet und so gelesen, beide Beispiele sollten richtig sein.

Dirk Heidersbach
Germany
Local time: 21:56
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks, Dirk

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jim Tucker
1 hr
agree  British Diana
3 hrs
agree  Nicole Backhaus
5 hrs
agree  Andrew Swift: ... or 'lengthened vowel sound'
5 hrs
agree  Marc Christian
6 hrs
neutral  Michael Wetzel: See Jim's comments below. Intended reader of the English translation = English speaker? If so, "long" is not helpful. Long/short is clear in German ("Bahn"/"Bann"), but not in English, where vowels make many different sounds and examples are necessary.
14 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
ä as in 'bother', cot.


Explanation:
See the discussion above. This answer is for a US AUDIENCE!

For this audience, I would not refer to the vowel as long (I would reserve that for words like 'day' and 'fade'.

I cannot help you with British pronunciation and have no experience with Czech (my answer is based solely on the description of the sound in the discussion).

Example sentence(s):
  • "\ä\ as in bother, cot (IPA [Alpha]). (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary XI, 2008)
Michael Wetzel
Germany
Local time: 21:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Jim Tucker: The answer is for a US audience -- but not the German text, which understands "long" as quantitative.
8 mins
disagree  Andrew Swift: Asker: How would you render it in English? Your proposal: 'o' as in 'barther' or 'cart'.
2 hrs
  -> My answer = Webster's (enUS). "Bother" is not pronounced "barther" in stanard US. It sounds like the vowel in "Bahn". Webster's symbol is "ä" and not "a:". See Kim's answer for received pronunciation, where the description as "long" is also correct.
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5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
a: use a long a, as in day, fade, date


Explanation:
That is how it is given in the pronunciation guide in the back of my dictionary.

Or, you could use the pronunciation symbol (which I cannot figure out how to reproduce here). It is the letter a with a straight bar over it, like a tilde in Spanish, only straight.

So much for the USA.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2010-07-26 20:42:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

OK, maybe I put the wrong slant on this. Asker asked how I would render it in English and I gave him an example of how it was done in the dictionaries here. Not speaking Czech, maybe I should have used the pronunciation for "th" or "z" but the example stands nevertheless.

jccantrell
Local time: 12:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 3

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Kim Metzger: But is /a:/ a long vowel as in /day/ or as in /father/?
14 mins
neutral  Jim Tucker: Probably ref. to quantity rather than quality of the vowel. Your definition of long a applies to the English tradition, but not the German one of the intended readership.
1 hr
neutral  Rebecca Garber: English understanding of long and short vowel sounds doesn't match a lot of other languages.
1 hr
disagree  Michael Wetzel: "day" and "Bahn" are two different sounds (it sounds like a long German "a" and not a long English one)
2 hrs
neutral  philgoddard: "The sound in "day" is a diphthong, not a vowel.
9 hrs
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Reference comments


18 mins peer agreement (net): +2
Reference: Info

Reference information:
/a:/ is pronounced as a long vowel as in /father/

In addition, the vowels of Received Pronunciation are commonly divided into short and long, as obvious from their transcription. The short vowels are /ɪ/ (as in kit), /ʊ/ (as in foot), /ɛ/ (as in dress), /ʌ/ (as in strut), /æ/ (as in trap), /ɒ/ (as in lot), and /ə/ (as in the first syllable of ago and in the second of sofa). The long vowels are /iː/ (as in fleece), /uː/ (as in goose), /ɜː/ (as in nurse), /ɔː/ as in north and thought, and /ɑː/ (as in father and start). While a different degree of length is indeed present, there are also differences in the quality (lax vs tense) of these vowels, and the currently prevalent view tends to emphasise the latter rather than the former.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_length#Long_vowels_in_Eng...

In romanised Korean, the 'a' should be pronounced as a long vowel, as in father eg Chang should be pronounced as 'Chahng'

http://www.mccp.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/7...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 37 mins (2010-07-26 17:16:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

long a: ape, lake, etc.
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/reading/ref.htm

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 123

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Jim Tucker: This is probably not relevant to the passage at hand, as "long a" to a German (in contrast to the same in the IPA) refers only to quantity.
1 hr
agree  Rebecca Garber
1 hr
agree  Michael Wetzel: perfect source and answer for received pronunciation
14 hrs
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